Split (1)

train · 10.4M rows

date stringlengths 10 10	nb_tokens int64 60 629k	text_size int64 234 1.02M	content stringlengths 234 1.02M
2015/07/02	786	3,313	<issue_start>username_0: Just to ask some advice regarding tutoring students while pursuing a PhD to supplement my income. Is this a good idea? Tutoring pays well in my country, and I am intending to teach twice a week(2 hours each), which would generate a side income equivalent to 30% of my stipend. (Side info: I am researching Mathematics) Thanks for your advice!<issue_comment>username_1: In Germany, most Ph.D. students (with university jobs) do exactly this: they are responsible for tutorials, seminars etc., selecting problems, working with the student TAs that actually hold the tutorials. This is all part of their university job. The workload is probably comparable to 4 hours a week workload. (People on actual stipends are not required to do so; some do, some don't.) As to whether this is a good idea: we can't answer that question. It will depend on your stipend and your expenses, on how badly you need the money, on whether you could have meaningfully used that time to further your research or not (because you can't do full-power research all day long, and you might just as well include some planned lower-power time in your week), on how much quality of life tutoring gives you (or takes away from you) and so forth. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Of course, whether it is a good idea can only be known in hindsight. But many PhD students work as private tutors, so if it sounds interesting to you, you might as well try it. Some things to consider: * It will probably take you some time to prepare for each lesson. And unless your students will come to your home or office, also account for travel time and expenses. Four hours of lessons per week may require significantly more than four hours of your time. * What will you do if your students are late to their lesson, or don't show up at all? What if they don't study for their lessons? What if they are late in paying you? What if they (or their parents) demand some different style of tutoring than you had planned? What if they demand that you just do their homework while they Facebook? * Consider the time it will take you to recruit students. Assume that they will quit unexpectedly, requiring you to find new students and lose income in the meantime. Do not count on your tutoring fees as steady income. * Ethical issues: if you are working as a teaching assistant or something similar, you cannot be a private tutor to students who are enrolled in your class. Check for other ethics or conflict of interest rules that your university may have. In particular, although your university office may seem like a convenient place to meet your private students, this may not be allowed. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Mostly you should try in my opinion do proper teaching to a class rather than private sessions, per hour you'll get better pay, and it could be more valuable on your resume eventually. Unless your PhD contract has some exclusivity clause, making time for teaching should be ok, just clear it with your advisors beforehand (I need money boss !). Don't undervalue your skills, as PhD student you can already teach up to master level to a class, and should be practicing that skill. Teaching just one or two students is not the best use of your time at this level, imho. Upvotes: -1
2015/07/02	1,912	7,464	<issue_start>username_0: I need to add some images to my thesis. I would strongly prefer that these are free (no cost) and not restricted by copyright. I have used Google Image to find images, I don't know how to determine what the copyright restrictions are, or what license types apply. I will not use them in any published paper, just for my unpublished thesis. Thanks P.S. Here are the search options for Google Image: ![Google images usage rights](https://i.stack.imgur.com/AUVCP.png)<issue_comment>username_1: You can't rely on the options for Google Image search. Instead, you will have to do additional research for each of the images you find and intend to use. First, you need to find the original author/creator of that image. It may or may not be the same as the owner/creator of the web site where you find the image. (They may have copied the image from somewhere else, with or without permission.) You can use [Google Image search](https://images.google.com/) "search by image" option to find other copies of that same image on other sites. Second, you need to find the copyright statement for that image on the site of the owner. In many cases, you'll find a copyright statement as part of the "Terms of Service" for the whole web site. In other cases, there will be a copyright statement for each and every image. Third, when in doubt, you need to contact the author/owner and ask for permission to use the image. --- If all this seems cumbersome and so non-digital, be aware that copyright law (and intellectual property rights law in general) still lives in the pre-digital age. Lawyers still send faxes to each other and to the courts. Think about that. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: This depends highly on your countries laws and regulations. For example: The German copyright laws has some limitations for the use of works in the area of teaching and research. With the CC licenses you risk less mistakes. But you have to take care of the correct distribution. * name the author and source if the license contains BY. * don't change the file and only use it in the original composition when license contains ND (no derivate). * don't use media with licenses containing NC (not commercial) in a thesis or paper that contributes to (pending) patents. That could be interpreted to be a commercial use. * [changed:] according to the (IANAL-)comments one can use SA (share alike) licensed material without putting your thesis under the same license --- In any case, pages that give information about the media-license are good sources, because you mostly have a clear licensing statement for any file. So you can easily decide whether and how to use it. I doubt that an author will change the license later on. You could use a web preservation repository service like [WebCite](http://www.webcitation.org) to create evidence that the file had a specific license when you found and decided to use it. Suggestions for search: * [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org) * [Flickr](https://www.flickr.com) (thanks to [Henning](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/48204/31917) for the suggestion) Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: [Flickr](http://flickr.com/) makes it very easy to [find images](http://www.alicekeeler.com/teachertech/2014/08/22/using-flickr-for-creative-commons-images-in-a-presentation/) that have a "free" license in the sense explained in Andrés [answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/48200/31917). These also include beautiful images from [public archives](https://www.flickr.com/commons), such as the British Library. In contrast to a google image search (see username_1's [answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/48198/31917)), the author and copyright information on Flickr are reliable. However, one [caveat](http://librarianbyday.net/2013/01/27/the-danger-of-using-creative-commons-flickr-photos-in-presentations/) is that the author might change the license and you have no way to prove that the work was "free" when you first used it. If you are confused whether or not you can reuse a copyrighted image, this [flowchart](http://thevisualcommunicationguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Infographic_CanIUseThatPicture4.jpg) might help. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: In order to use images in your thesis you need to know who made them so that you can properly credit them, regardless of the issue of copyright. Proper accreditation is probably a more significant issue for your thesis than complying with copyright laws since failure to properly credit images including in your thesis is plagarism. Since you will need to identify the original creator of each piece anyway, I would suggest you rely much more on what you learn through this route than anything Google tells you. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: I'm a strong supporter of Wikipedia and her sister projects. One of those projects is exactly what you're looking for. The [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) is a database of 26,536,356+ freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute. There are millions of images (not just photographs) and thousands added each day. You can view all the licensing for every media file, although that might not be entirely necessary considering all of them are free to use. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: I wanted a very specific image for my dissertation, and found a simple solution - I drew it myself, and scanned the result. Since I created it, the copyright status was exactly the same as the words I was writing. It did not need any acknowledgement or reference. It cost me a few dollars for materials, and about an hour of my time. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: Another royalty free stock image site is: <http://www.sxc.hu/> I would also suggest take pictures of your own. You can pose for yourself or ask family or friend. Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_8: I think, if you guide yourself by the [creative commons](http://creativecommons.org/) it could get easier but Im not aware of how your contry takes this online practices so you might want to check that This is an article that helped me a lot some weeks ago with free photos and images ready to be used, some shared under the creative commons other freely shared by their owners <https://www.shopify.com/blog/17156388-22-awesome-websites-with-stunning-free-stock-images> Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: There are a number of sites where you can download images. For certain sites, attribution isn't required (but usually appreciated). For example: * <https://picjumbo.com/> * <https://pixabay.com/en/> * <https://stocksnap.io/> * <http://www.pexels.com/> * <https://unsplash.com/grid> Flickr (<https://www.flickr.com>) also offers a great database of free images. You can use the search tool and then filter by copyright types: * Images under "Commercial use & mods allowed" are free but attribution is required. This means you'll have to link to their author and to the License page. if you've modified the image, you also have to specify it * Images under "No known copyright restrictions" are in the public domain or universal commons (CC0 1.0 Universal) and no attribution is required. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: There are a few sites which allows you to use images copyright free. Just note that you cannot re-sell those images. Follow [this](https://pixabay.com/en/) Upvotes: 0
2015/07/02	397	1,877	<issue_start>username_0: I'm doing independent research in computer sciences and i develop some program that i think i might be could write a couple paper for this. My question is what should i do between 1. Publish a paper first then release its application 2. Release application first then publish its paper In actually i prefer the second choice because i start developing application already and this can finish soon. May be better to release it than waiting to finish writing a paper that a little bit take time. Any advice or concern please ans below.<issue_comment>username_1: Your threat model just doesn't work out in reality. By knowing your code well (because you wrote it), you have a huge advantage over everyone else in the world. It is very unlikely that someone, even an expert in Domain Specific Languages, will pick up your application, fully understand it, and be able to write an article about it before you can finish your article and get it submitted. I really wouldn't worry about it. Besides, my experience is that people are out there talking about their open source codes well before they get their marker papers published. It's good to be able to discuss your work with colleagues and to drum up users before you finish the paper. Perhaps you will find several collaborators in the process. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: You should likely publish the code first. While most journals require they be the first to publish the paper, the rules don't generally apply to related items (like a code library). If its like most research, a year from now when the proceedings are published, you will have likely made substantial improvements. Be sure to branch. You also have the advantage of being able to find interested parties BEFORE your paper is published, which will probably lead to a better attended talk. Upvotes: 2
2015/07/02	1,733	7,019	<issue_start>username_0: Does anyone know if it is possible for a Ph.D. graduate of mathematics to successfully do research in his/her spare time? The work environment and conditions in academia seem somewhat deplorable at the moment---no offence intended, but that simply very much appears to be the case from an outsider's perspective---and it just strikes me that mathematics would surely be the subject most suited to Ph.D. graduates who don't want to go there, but still want to research, as "only pen and paper" are required. If one were really, truly devoted...how much of a disadvantage would they have compared to someone who chose to stick it out? Are seminars entirely barred? Is it impossible to publish? Collaborate? How much (more) time would someone who stayed in academia have in a day to spend researching? Also, what about people who have not got PhDs? I would think it's more or less impossible for them to contribute very much of value if they only have a Bachelor's or a Master's degree, but I really don't know.<issue_comment>username_1: It should be possible, but it will be hard. * Whether seminars are barred to you will depend on your locale. Even if non-students are officially not allowed to attend seminars, you may find a sympathetic professor who may turn a blind eye. * Of course you can publish as an independent researcher. You may come in for some extra scrutiny until you have established a bit of a reputation. * Similarly, nobody will care specifically about whether you have a Ph.D. when you submit a paper, as long as you have a command of the specific specialty you are trying to publish in. * Of course you can collaborate, once you have convinced someone that you have worthwhile ideas. Getting a Ph.D. [may be helpful to distinguish you from random cranks in establishing contacts, as well as start you out on building a network](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/46900/4140). * As to the time you will have to do research, this will vary. If you are at an R1 institution, you will have a lot of time (but of course getting in is hard). If you are at a teaching college or in a research job in industry, you will have more time. If you have a completely unrelated day job, you will need to rely on your spare time. And when you come home after a typical job, you will not be as fresh and as enthusiastic for research as if you started out in the morning, at your desk in a university. ([If you ever decide to start a family, expect your spare time for mathematical research to drop to zero immediately.](https://parenting.stackexchange.com/a/20260/13545)) Academia still has advantages, for instance: * Your library will likely have subscriptions to the major journals, so you don't need to bombard authors with requests for their papers. * You will likely have at least some budget to attend conferences. If you go the independent researcher route, you will need to pay for these out of your pocket. * If you are not at a university, you may have to pay higher registration fees (which depends on the conference and may be negotiable). * If you hold a day job and want to attend a conference, you will need to use up vacation days for that. * Although you can collaborate as an independent researcher, it will still be easier at a university. There will be seminars right next door, guests, access to students you can mentor and develop into collaborators etc. I work in a math-heavy research job in industry and have been able to do some more-or-less serious research, mostly on the side. (And I obviously still have affinity for Academia.) It can be done, but it's hard. --- If what you want to do is research, do your Ph.D. first (I did). This will give you an idea of what's ahead of you and give you a bit of a network. If afterwards you don't find a job in academia, you can still get a day job and try the research-on-the-side route. (However, your priorities in life may have shifted by that time.) Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Publishing ---------- In mathematics, most people will judge your research on its merits, not based on your credentials or affiliations. So this is not an issue, if you are able to generate significant results and write them up in a clear way. Seminars -------- I have seen many members of the public regularly attend seminars. I've never heard of them being kicked out. It's not an issue. Funding ------- The primary drawback is that you won't be paid for your research if you are just doing it in your spare time. Unless you are already independently wealthy, that means you will have relatively little time for research since you need a day job. It is of course possible to get grants to fund your research without being in academia; there are a number of private entities in the US funded entirely by grants, and many of them include mathematicians. But you said spare time only. Collaboration ------------- Another drawback is that you won't be in close contact with other researchers by default. It wouldn't be impossible to establish that contact, but again you must consider whether you will have the time. And people won't take you seriously unless you have serious results. Not getting a PhD ----------------- In mathematics, even more than in other fields, it is almost impossible to make a contribution without spending several years learning what is already known. In principle you could do that without getting a PhD, but why would you? Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: As an academic mathematician, I can assure you that I do about half of my research in my "spare time" (that is, outside of paid hours) and I have done so for over 30 years. I expect most academics do similarly. If you are truly devoted, then just do it. I recommend getting up at 4am or 5am daily so you have a couple of hours before the family awakes. Regarding access to libraries, seminars, etc: contact a university (probably best near where you live) and ask about an "adjunct" appointment or affiliation that gives you access to facilities. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: A supplement to other answers: no one seems to have explicitly mentioned what might be biggest "disadvantage": you will probably have a lot less motivation to do "academic" research being outside of academia. Research is hard, and external motivation (e.g., constantly being around people interested in say pure math research) can make a big difference in your productivity. Here, where you work and what kind of community you are in and culture you are a part of can play a big role. My personal impression is that quite a few people in industry positions with a more academic math-heavy culture (like NSA, Microsoft Research, Google, IBM, once upon a time AT&T/Bell Labs, National Labs, etc) do a reasonable amount of academic publishing in their spare time. But at other kinds of companies, even where you do research, like banks or hedge funds, academic publishing seems to be less common. Upvotes: 3
2015/07/02	2,497	9,638	<issue_start>username_0: I am a student in computer science and I recently started working on my M.Sc. thesis. Now I am reading a 2011 paper with about 170 citations that was published in a well-known conference. In part of the paper, the author briefly states the complexity of their algorithm (in just one line) and claims a complexity order that I believe is false. But I am really in doubt because I think if there was a problem with that paper, that should have been caught earlier by the editorial board. I want to know, actually how common is it for such errors to be found in papers published in a well-known conferences?<issue_comment>username_1: I'll try to give a general answer from a non-CS perspective. tl; dr: yes, there are errors out there. A lot of errors, clerical and not, even in oft-cited papers and books, from any field. It's inevitable: though they do their best to avoid errors, authors are human after all, and reviewers are humans too (I know, you never find a damn robot when you need one). Thus, whenever you read a paper, maintain critical thinking. --- EXAMPLES I'll start the too long section with an anecdote. When I was working at my master's thesis, some twenty years ago, I needed a result published in a much cited paper from a renowned author in the field of electromagnetics. At the time, (almost) young and inexperienced, I thought that papers were always absolutely right, especially when written by recognized authorities. To practice the technique of the paper, I decided to rederive the results: after a week spent redoing the calculations over and over again, I couldn't find the same final equation. I was able to discover the correct equation – the one I was finding – in a book published later by the same author. Indeed, it was a clerical error that absolutely didn't change anything in the paper, but it was annoying and taught me an important lesson: papers and books contain errors. And, of course, I later published papers with mistakes in equations (not for revenge!) [\]. After that first experience, I've discovered that you can find more fundamental errors, even in well known books and papers. I'll give you here a few examples, taken from different fields, to underline how broad the phenomenon is (in bold, the mistaken claim; within parentheses, the field): 1. (Classical mechanics) In Newtonian mechanics, the correct equation of motion in case of variable mass is F = dp/dt.* This statement can be found in many classical books about newtonian mechanics, but it is plainly wrong, because that equation, when the mass is variable, is not invariant under Galilean transformations as it is expected in Newtonian mechanics (actually, the concept of variable mass in Newtonian mechanics can be misleading if not properly handled). For a deeper discussion see, e.g., [Plastino (1990)](http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1992CeMDA..53..227P&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf), [Pinheiro (2004)](http://iopscience.iop.org/0143-0807/25/1/L02) and Spivak's book Physics for Mathematicians, Mechanics I. As a curiosity, that wrong equation is used by [<NAME>](http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~chua/) in [this speech (14:50 min)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFdDPzcZwbs&t=14m50s) as an example to introduce the memristor. 2. (Circuit analysis) Superposition can't be applied directly to controlled sources. It was just a few years ago when I came across this statement for the first time, and I was stunned: hey, I've applied superposition to controlled sources since I was in high school, and I've always get the right result. How it possibly can't be used? In fact, it can be applied, the important thing is to apply it correctly, but there are really many professors (I have several examples from Italy and US) who don't understand this point and fail to notice that the proofs of several theorems in circuit analysis are actually based on the applicability of superposition to controlled sources. For more on this, see e.g. [Damper (2010)](http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/271202/1/superposition.pdf), [<NAME> (2009)](http://users.ece.gatech.edu/mleach/papers/superpos.pdf) and [Rathore et al. (2012)](http://www.enggjournals.com/ijet/docs/IJET12-04-03-013.pdf). 3. (Thermodynamics) The Seebeck effect is a consequence of the contact potential. This false statement can be frequently read in technical books and application notes about thermocouples. À propos of my own errors, a couple of weeks after having written this answer I discovered an error in an equation of a published conference paper which I co-authored. A fraction that should have been something like -A/B became B/A. Hey – I told one of the other authors – how could we possibly have written this? And how did it get past the reviewers? The fact is, that that equation was associated to a simple, well-known, example given in the introduction, an example so simple that probably neither us authors nor the reviewers gave a second look at the equation (of course, how can anyone write this wrongly?). I feel that many clerical errors like this one happen because of last-minute changes to notation: you have almost finished the paper and you realize that you could have employed a better notation... so, let's change it on the fly! And here is where certain errors sneak-in. Avoid last-minute changes, if you can. Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: username_1 gave many non-CS examples, so I give a CS one: in the paper of <NAME> that gave birth to Computer Science, [there were many errors in the proof](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing%27s_proof). However, in my opinion, although there are many errors in papers, these errors are only in the small details. For papers published in well-known conference, their main idea are very unlikely to be wrong. As you mentioned that the statement about complexity is only one line, obviously without proof, this is not the main focus of the paper. I will not be surprised if there is error in such a small detail. If I were you I would try to prove what you are thinking, this will help you to understand the paper deeply. And if it is actually wrong, you can notify the authors or publish your proof if the error is important enough. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: TL;DR: The number is probably a double digit percentage. I made a outlier detection algorithm for neuroscience data extracted from neuroscience journal articles. It is detailed in "Modeling of activation data in the BrainMap(TM): Detection of outliers" <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hbm.10012/abstract> The redundancy in coordinates and text allow me to catch 'strange' data, some of which are typos in the original article. I have not made a statistics on the number of articles with errors but perhaps 1% or more have the issue. Note here that the typos are rather minor (e.g., a sign error in a single coordinate among many other reported numbers). It does not affect the overall conclusion. (For the interested: Results for my database available here: <http://neuro.compute.dtu.dk/services/brededatabase/index_lobaranatomy_novelty.html>) Within the medical domain <NAME> has made a number of studies for estimating errors in claims in articles. The famous "Why Most Published Research Findings Are False" <http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124> gives a theoretical estimate where the assumptions are probably not entirely correct, but following his argument there might be a double digit number of percentage "false". In "Contradicted and initially stronger effects in highly cited clinical research" <https://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=201218> he found that in 16%-32% of the cases with highly cited original clinical research studies their claims were contradicted by subsequent studies. <NAME> in "Data Extraction Errors in Meta-analyses That Use Standardized Mean Differences" found discrepancies in 37% of meta-analyses. Ironically there was a comment for the Gøtzsche-paper pointing out a discrepancy in that paper. These examples are perhaps not so relevant for computer science. I do think that typos occur now and then. I recently found what I believe were typos in equations in applied computer science articles. The typos does probably not affect the results. I would say - generally - that errors in computer science articles are not necessarily rare. Update 28 August 2015: There has just been published a description of a large series of replications of psychology experiments, see <http://www.sciencemag.org/content/349/6251/aac4716.abstract> Among its reported results are: "Ninety-seven percent of original studies had significant results (P < .05). Thirty-six percent of replications had significant results". Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: As part of my graduate study we had to analyse several somewhat well-known papers in very reputable journals, published some 5 to 10 years before with no negative comments (yes, it was the time before Internet made such searches trivial). We found a glaring error in the central theorem of one of them. Not just the proof, the result was wrong. Sorry, I don't remember details (it's been some 25 years). Yes, the plural of anecdote isn't data. But a data point to be considered. To your question: If you are in doubt, check it carefully. Ask others to help you out if you get stuck. Yes, checking if previous work is right is part of research, as is trying to extend or simplify it. Upvotes: 2
2015/07/02	650	2,929	<issue_start>username_0: I am in talks with a PhD supervisor for admission to university who likes my profile but has given me an article to review. Although the article is related to my broader research area, there are some terminologies that I don't have proper background knowledge. I have read the article and have fair understanding of it. I have written a summary, problem statement, proposed solution and methodology in review format provided by supervisor but I am stuck at critical review section as I don't have proper background knowledge. I want to know how to go about in this case? How should I review this critically? Any help would be appreciated.<issue_comment>username_1: You have two main options here: 1. Write the review. When does he expect it by? Do you have time to learn any of this background knowledge? If you do have time, I suggest you start by finding the sources that the article cites. This might help with the terminology and it will certainly help you place the article within the context of current research. You don't say what field/discipline you study, so I can't provide more detailed advice until you do. 2. Tell him you don't have the background knowledge. This may sound like a bad idea, but if you start off an advisor/advisee relationship with dishonesty, you're heading for disaster. If you do a good job writing the review, he will assume that you have all that background knowledge and terminology. This will likely mean that you will be playing catch-up, trying to learn what he thinks you already know. If you tell him, be diplomatic. Show him what you've completed and point out specific terms and parts of the article that you're having difficulty with. Ask for books/articles that could help you write it. If the references in the article don't help you and you are unwilling to tell him that you're having difficulties, I suggest contacting a professor that you know from undergrad. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: This is really the whole point of the challenge the supervisor has presented you. I bet he was hoping to hit you with something that wouldn't exactly be easy for you. He's trying to get you to stretch a bit and get out of your comfort zone. I don't know what he intends by the review format that he gave you, but if you have any critiques, concerns, or other thoughts about this article, this is where you should put them. It almost doesn't even matter if you're right (almost), but you need to show him that you've thought about the article, that you can explain its implications, and that if there are things that worry you about it, that you can explain them. If you are really stuck, it's probably worth looking through some of the articles that are cited by the article in question to give yourself some more background. This should also help you set the article in the context of some of the rest of the literature. Upvotes: 3
2015/07/02	1,557	5,574	<issue_start>username_0: This question is a variation of my [earlier](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/42918/does-one-need-a-masters-in-math-before-taking-a-phd-in-math) [questions](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43926/does-one-need-a-bachelors-in-math-if-not-a-masters-before-taking-a-phd-in-ma). Okay so in the US, I guess one does not need a master's in math before pursuing a PhD in math since the US [apparently](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43313/why-are-us-phds-different-from-european-phds) [usually](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/42304/with-a-background-in-mathematical-finance-and-desire-to-apply-for-a-mathematics/42497#42497) [assumes](https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1219861/does-one-necessarily-need-an-ms-in-math-before-taking-a-phd-in-math/1219912#1219912) only a bachelor's. What about in Europe? Technically, my master's is in mathematical finance not mathematics. So I didn't have research experience in looking through (pure) math books or articles in order to try to prove something theoretical or anything like that except for a few problem sets. On an answer to one of my previous questions, user deviantfan [commented](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/42918/does-one-need-a-masters-in-math-before-taking-a-phd-in-math/42923#comment95425_42923) that: "In many european countries, it´s not even allowed/possible to skip the master degree." Perhaps my question may be rephrased: > > Is the master's in X PhD requirement in Europe satisfied by a > master's in Applied X rather than Pure X? > > ><issue_comment>username_1: It is a bit more complicated if you did not study pure math. You have to proof that your master degree is equivalent to a master in mathematics. If it is not, you will have to attend the necessary classes. It will get even more complicated if you studied abroad. It highly depends on the courses you took and on the amount of ECTS of each course. Furthermore, it will be decided individually by one or two people. At the bottom of the page from [university vienn](http://ssc-mathematik.univie.ac.at/betreute-studien/doktorat-neu/)a, you will find a text in english. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I will try to respond to the abstract question, with a perspective from Germany (that may or may not be valid for other European countries): > > Is the master's in X PhD requirement in Europe satisfied by a master's in Applied X rather than Pure X? > > > The general answer to this is yes. As opposed to the subject chosen for the Bachelor and Master degree, which is [usually supposed to be the same or closely related in Europe](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/47467/you-must-have-a-relevant-bachelors-degree-to-get-into-european-grad-schools-in), as Bachelor and Master curricula are closely coupled here, a PhD is often completely disconnected from the former studies. Note that the [Austrian website](https://www.tuwien.ac.at/en/teaching/doctoral_programs/) that [username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22893/moritz) linked to in the original version of [his answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/48246/14017) does not require a particular Master's degree, but a "relevant Master's degree". Without any further restrictions, this means that anything closely related to the subject (and the relationship between Applied X and Pure X might very well be sufficient) should do. At least, that would be the interpretation in Germany; it is possible Austrians interpret this differently. However, it is also very well possible that the suitability of the Master's major is determined based on the research projects at hand. In that case, it depends entirely on the decision of the respective department chair, and it would be worthwhile to contact departments you are interested in. As a concrete example, it is completely normal in Germany to see Masters of Physics, Linguistics, and Maths starting PhDs in Computer Science, not only Masters in Computer Science. EDIT: To clarify the last remark: None of them have to take any extra courses; rather, they are expected to bring their professional subject-specific knowledge from physics, linguistics, and maths, respectively, into their computer science research (while "informally" (i.e. without a class) catching up with the CS knowledge), just like Masters in CS are expected to use their professional CS-specific knowledge in their computer science research, while "informally" acquiring knowledge on (w.l.o.g.) physics, linguistics, and maths, as required for their respective research. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I'd say that one would need a Master's in Math or its equivalent. Then the question becomes, is your degree in Mathematical Finance an equivalent." Hopefully, you will have had the core courses in mathematics such as real and complex analysis and advanced calculus. Perhaps your mathematical Finance degree will differ from a true math degree in "engineering type" applications, such as stochastic partial differential equations. If that is the case, you may be ok. Perhaps, at worst, you need to take 2-3 "traditional" math courses as a special student to make up for what you lack. If you lack a traditional core curriculum, that would be different of course. Ultimately, it is for the faculties of the schools you apply to, to decide. And there is no one university "monolith" in Europe, only numerous schools, with meaningful variations in their admissions criteria. Upvotes: 2
2015/07/02	1,440	5,144	<issue_start>username_0: So from my previous questions and from what I heard, I found out (iirc) that people who apply for a PhD in the US make a [perso](https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1145334/can-i-get-a-phd-in-stochastic-analysis-given-this-limited-background#comment2373667_1145334)nal statement or [statement of purpose](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38237/how-does-the-admissions-process-work-for-us-ph-d-programs-particularly-for-wea) while those in the UK, and I infer most of Europe, [make a PhD proposal](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/42377/what-is-common-in-most-phd-application-procedures-in-the-uk). From what I understand, this involves [reading several textbooks or journals](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/42304/with-a-background-in-mathematical-finance-and-desire-to-apply-for-a-mathematics#comment96148_42497) (IMHO, there's a lot more reading to be done [if](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/42304/with-a-background-in-mathematical-finance-and-desire-to-apply-for-a-mathematics) one [is](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/42375/phd-dissertation-different-from-master-thesis-what-might-i-be-able-to-do-about) ch[an](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/42918/does-one-need-a-masters-in-math-before-taking-a-phd-in-math)ging fi[elds](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43926/does-one-need-a-bachelors-in-math-if-not-a-masters-before-taking-a-phd-in-ma)). So, is that what students intending to study in Europe commonly do? How long does this take? I mean, should much of one's PhD proposal research have been [done in masteral studies](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/42497/22511)?<issue_comment>username_1: Most of the people I know (in biotechnology, Austria) applied for a PhD position similar to a normal job offer. If they fit into the team, they are hired for 30h. It is on you to finish your PhD courses at university. About 50 % of the PhD students in our university are hired by external companies which itself are spin-offs from different universities with the purpose of collaborating with company partners from industry. About two third of the PhD students just inscribe at the desired university (which is free of charge and usually not a problem). The rest applies for a certain PhD program. Usually people start looking in their last year of the masters degree. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: While your background (education, skills, experience) should fit for a PhD vacancy, it is generally not necessary to write your own PhD proposal. Many (most) universities in Europe have a section on their website that lists open PhD vacancies (either on the top level of the university website, or at the individual institutes). It is best to find a vacancy that fits with your interests and background, and simply apply for it (by sending an application letter + CV). There are some websites that list open PhD vacancies for multiple universities, e.g. * for the Netherlands: <https://www.academictransfer.com/?language=en> * internationally: <http://www.careeredu.eu/> You can have a look there whether you find any position that suits you. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: As far as I can tell there is no one single commonly accepted application process in Europe, despite what you might have read/heard/interpreted. In my experience there are 3 ways to get enrolled in a PhD program in continental Europe: 1. You find a job advert at a uni where they are looking for a candidate to carry out (parts of) a project. In this case you are practically applying for a pre-determined job, and they assess you based on your skills, education and personality (for group chemistry) 2. You find a group you want to work for, based on your interests. You get in touch with a group leader/PI regarding your interest in doing graduate studies in that group/lab. If they have the money to recruit you and a project of common interest (a project that appeals to you and the direction that particular group is going with their research) you start there, often on a short term "trial period" initially (the actual/formal name of this period varies widely across the universities and countries) 3. You get invited to do a project at a group, with people you know previously. This occurs often if you do your master thesis/diploma work at that group, or if you know one of the prof.s at the department. Beyond that, the formalities of what you need to write/submit in your official application would be specific to each uni I would guess. EDIT: I have to actually correct myself, I do know people that had to pitch project proposals for graduate studies, however it still fits more into Option #2 above, where they got in contact with a group that worked on the field of interest and given that there's money for recruitment they were asked to formulate a short project proposal. These people were applying for PhD positions in more humanitarian sciences however, one was going for behavioural/organizational economics and the other was more towards sociology I think. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
2015/07/03	976	4,376	<issue_start>username_0: Those of you, who had a chance to read some of my questions on this site, are likely aware of my ongoing job search, which I am doing on both academia and industry fronts. Since, naturally, I am leaning toward research-focused work, recently I ran across some additional industry positions, which are also research-focused. Yes, you guessed it right: I'm talking about market research or research-intensive consulting jobs. With that in mind, I became curious about the following aspects in the context of long-term academic career perspectives: * What is the perception toward market research jobs (including a research & consulting mix positions, such as ones at Gartner, for example) and their temporary holders within the academia community? * If the perception is negative, is it to extent that it might prevent or significantly jeopardize one's career options (research & teaching) upon return to academia from stints at one or more of market research or "Big N" IT consulting companies? * Would negative perception, if any, and the corresponding career impact be decreased, depending on the organizational "brand" (i.e., Gartner vs. smaller market research firm)? It is important to note that my discipline (Information Systems) is a multidisciplinary field of study, which combines various aspects from hard sciences, such as computer science, and ones from soft (social) sciences, such as management science (which market research as well as business and IT consulting are actually part of). Therefore, IMHO there is no significant disconnect between academia and industry in terms of knowledge domains and research streams. I thought that this information will clarify the situation and, potentially, will improve the above-mentioned perception.<issue_comment>username_1: I can't speak for the IS field, but I think that there's a strong chance that your time in industry would be considered as a break from doing research relevant to academia. Unless you are regularly publishing papers in the relevant journals or conferences, your time working outside of the academy will be perceived as time idle. Now, that being said, market research is a field frequently included in Business Schools. I don't know where your IS degree is from (Communications? Business? somewhere else), but I think that Business Schools are much more likely than other departments to value time spent in industry when hiring professors. So, there are probably different standards for evaluating your output during your time in industry. Published reports about the state of a market might be more acceptable as a valued contribution to the literature, and therefore less likely to paint you as having been out of touch with the academic literature. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I am an IS professor, and here is my perspective: * Research: To remain "hireable" as a professor in a research-intensive school, your market research stint is neither positive nor negative in itself. All that matters is that you continuously publish research in highly-regarded scholarly journals. In particular, if you have a break from academic jobs, you need to show that you are continuing to publish high-quality research during that break. In that case, the market research industry experience will not be counted against you. However, if you also take a break from publishing high-quality research, then that "break" would be seen negatively--but that is also the case for professors who remain in academia and who stop publishing high-quality research. * Teaching: This kind of industry experience should be considered very favourably, as it would give you real-world experience that should translate into much more relevant teaching. So, in brief, if you want to leave the option to return to academia, then be sure that you remain active in research during your industry experience. The best way to do this is to establish one or two strong research partnerships with professors who actively do research. Ideally, you should be able to leverage your industry job to get data and access clients for surveys or interviews, and so this would be a very attractive proposition for many professors. (Of course, you might have to hide the identity of your company when you publish the research, which can usually be easily arranged.) Upvotes: 2
2015/07/03	347	1,489	<issue_start>username_0: Is it a good idea to include participation in summer schools to my CV?<issue_comment>username_1: I assume you're talking about summer schools aimed at teaching graduate students or postdocs about recent developments. At an early career stage, it's certainly worth listing participation on your CV. If you're a beginning graduate student, then you probably don't have a lot of other things to list, and attending a summer school means something (namely that you are energetic and eager to learn, and that your application was strong enough to be accepted). It's not a big deal, but listing it in your CV can't hurt and might help a little. As you progress in your career, it becomes less and less relevant. Eventually you'll probably delete it, on the grounds that when you're coming up for tenure, nobody cares at all whether you once attended a summer school for grad students. But it doesn't really matter exactly when you delete it. You can safely wait until you start to wonder why you are bothering to include it when you have so much more impressive things elsewhere on the CV. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Any worthwhile education that you have, especially if it came with a certificate, degree, or any other accolade should be listed in your "Education" section of your CV or resume. However, this is only true if it is 1) Relevant to the industry you are in and 2) there is room for it. Keep in mind no one wants a five page resume. Upvotes: 1
2015/07/03	609	2,518	<issue_start>username_0: I am in a bind. I just decided to take a voluntary leave of absence for medical reasons (also partly financial reasons) from my PhD program and I need to look for a job. I have stupendous credentials and recommendations but most of my recommenders are academics who recommended me two years ago for this doctoral program. My urgent worry is how to brand and market myself on my CV. If I list that I am enrolled in a PhD program there is always the risk that I will be asked to provide a transcript (which at this time shows failing grades for the last semester)? Also, if I don't list the program on my CV it looks like I have 2 gap years because I took a year to travel between the last employment and the start of the PhD. However, the benefit of listing my program is that because it is very prestigious, it is likely it will push my CV to the top of the applicant pool for interviews. If I list my PhD program on my CV I am almost guaranteed interviews, but in doing so, I run the risk of having to go into detail to explain my extraordinary poor performance and decision to suspend my study for a year. What should I do?<issue_comment>username_1: I recommend you list your PhD studies on your CV. Industry is full of people who have left a PhD program for one reason or another! It's also unlikely anyone will look down on you for your poor grades in one semester. There are two issues I would give some thought to: (1) how will you describe your reasons for leaving the programme (temporarily), and (2) will you tell them about your intention to return to the PhD programme. It's best if you can describe (1) in a way that won't give potential employers concern that you might not be able to handle the job. Being honest about (2) may discourage some employers from hiring you if they want a long-term employee, but others may be willing to gamble that you'll change your mind and stick around. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: You are only in your first year. By the time you are wrapping up your dissertation, it will likely be five to seven years from now. Ancient history. Postdocs are more interested in your research, publications, and letters of recommendation than in your grades. Many won't even ask for transcripts. Same goes for jobs. Grad school is a marathon not a sprint. Pace yourself and try to keep good energy reserves at all times. Steady Bs with occasional Cs and finishing is better than a semester of As followed by a flameout. Upvotes: 1
2015/07/03	1,634	7,383	<issue_start>username_0: Why faculty usually have two official email addresses, the university and the department address? 1. <EMAIL> 2. <EMAIL> Do they use the second more to communicate with students and the first for other tasks? They could use one and add emails to folders or labels.<issue_comment>username_1: While it is possible that some departments are running separate mail servers and faculty members are not linking the accounts, in the cases I am aware of this dates back to times when email and computer logins where managed at the department level and there was no concept of a university email account. Some departments I have been in are actively phasing out the departmental alias such that new staff members do not get a departmental alias while others are continuing to give out departmental aliases. In all cases I am aware of, both addresses link to a single email account. As to why a faculty member may give out one address over another, that comes down to personal preference. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: As <NAME> points out in his comment, the two addresses often go to the same place. Even if there are two different accounts, it's common to forward e-mail from one to the other (or to a third account). Nobody uses both accounts independently unless they have some idiosyncratic reason to do so. The existence of two addresses is not nearly as universal as you suggest. You don't usually see english.university.edu or art-history.university.edu in e-mail addresses, for example. The departments that do have special addresses (such as CS or math) often ran their own mail servers long before university-wide servers were common. Some still do, because they don't like the way the university servers are run or don't trust them to be reliable, while others simply provide aliases for the university servers. Either way, getting rid of the departmental addresses would be disruptive, so they are likely to exist for the foreseeable future. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: In addition to the given reasons, I know of two other common reasons why you may often see multiple addresses: 1. Some institutions have both a "fixed" and a "personalized" form of email address. Members of the institution generally have no choice in the fixed form, which is often set directly from their official legal name and sometimes even before they join the institution. Sometimes these are pretty horrible (I've seem email of the form [initials][3-digit-number]@university), and sometimes one's legal name is not one's preferred form of address (e.g., my own name), so most institutions also allow people to set up one or more preferred aliases. 2. Email is generally not actually routed through a server for the toplevel address (e.g., "ivyleague.edu") but rather through some arbitrary sub-element within that system (e.g., "mailmangler.ivyleague.edu"), and sometimes the electronic bones of this system are visible in multiple different equivalent email addresses. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: > > Why faculty usually have 2 official emails, the university email and the department? > > > Sometimes, the answer is simply "because they can". At various universities I am acquainted with, any employee gets several (more than 2) e-mail aliases for their one university e-mail inbox. * One of the distinctions is indeed usually a generic university-wide server part and one specific to the department. For departments that are subdivided into several groups, employees even get another e-mail address with the server part indicating the group name. And thinking about it, there is no real reason to discontinue this policy - the group or department-specific address has more "personality" in terms of representing one's group or department, while the generic one is easier to remember. * Furthermore, there are usually several alternative name parts available. For instance, everyone gets aliases for each of the aforementioned server parts with their unique account name, and aliases with a human-readable name (usually in "firstname.lastname" form). Sometimes, there is yet another set of aliases just with the "lastname" as the name part. Again, the difference is how easily the addresses can be recalled and read. To summarize: * It is fairly easy to configure e-mail servers in a way to provide multiple aliases based on various naming conventions to each user. * There is no reason to reduce the number of aliases per user. * Different aliases have different advantages and disadvantages, so different aliases can be picked depending on the purpose (displaying an e-mail address, memorizing an e-mail address, saying an e-mail address in verbal conversation, writing an e-mail address at the board, ...). Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: I would think there is probably multiple departments trying to provide this internal mail service for the university. The typical case is like there is a department-level IT infrastructure with its own mail addresses and its own policy, while there is also a central IT mail service provided by the university. The second can be needed, for example if the department has needs which are contradicting the policy of he university (for example, if the Uni wants to give mail addresses only internal employee, while the department want to give mailboxes even for guest researchers, too). Or the department-level mail address (and password) could be also used for authentication, f.e. to use the department-level computing infrastructure. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: This is in response to the OP's request in a comment to elaborate on my personal situation. This is not to explain why I have two email addresses, but just how I use them differently. In my department (math), we have separate department and university servers both with email, and I keep my email accounts separate, though many people in our department forward from one to the other (usually from department to university, I think) and only check one. Basically I use the department email for anything involving research or teaching or quasi-personal, as well as administrative stuff at the department level. Various factions within the university send out loads emails to us (often requiring no response and rarely urgent) which typically go to our university email addresses. Therefore I made the conscious decision to not forward from one account to the other because almost all of these are unwanted emails, and I probably only open about 5-10% of them. So they would just clutter up my department inbox and distract me with email notifications throughout the day if I forwarded them to my department email, which I check often. I know I could filter the forwarded emails into a separate folder, but I don't want to know when I get a new university email, and having this extra login barrier helps reduce distraction. So whenever I give my email address to someone, I give them my department email which I check throughout the day, whereas I usually check the university address about once every day or two. I honestly don't even know what my university email address is. Any email I send of my own accord will come from my department address. The only emails I send from my university account are replies to emails to that account. Upvotes: 3
2015/07/04	1,271	5,351	<issue_start>username_0: In the United States, what is the common way junior faculty address senior faculty in the same department or different department? 1. Hi First or Last name 2. Hi Dr \_\_\_ 3. Dear Dr \_\_ 4. Dear Doctor \_\_\_ 5. Dear Prof. \_\_\_ 6. Dear Professor \_\_\_ 7. No greetings, start the topic directly.<issue_comment>username_1: You would have to clarify what types of addressing you're talking about: conversational (casual and official), written (casual and official) or both. This is, because I believe that there are significant differences in addressing, based on this factor. There are most likely other potential factors, including geographical and cultural academic traditions, particular academic institution's or department's collegial or other atmosphere, professional personal relationships and more. UPDATE (per OP's clarification): For the written casual addressing, I would use the same type of addressing you're using (or would use) with that person in a conversation. On the other hand, for the written formal type of addressing, I would consider a "Dear Dr. -Last Name-" or "Dear Professor -Last Name-" to be the safest option. However, keep in mind that some professors insist on addressing them by first name, so, in that case, "Dear -First Name-" is appropriate. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In my experience in the United States, most professors invite even their graduate students to call them by their given (first) name. Junior faculty would be no less invited to familiar address. Whether you say "Hi, Name" or just dive into communication is often a matter of personal style and communication medium---for example, emailing from one's phone often has much terser communication, and this is generally understood and not taken amiss. Just because you are addressing somebody by their given name, however, doesn't mean you are actually an intimate or a peer. Many senior faculty in the United States will still expect deference by junior faculty; they will just expect it to be shown by the tone and actions of interaction, rather than merely the formality of address. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: If I'm asking the Chair what she's bringing to the department potluck, it's "Dear Jane" but if I'm asking for additional research funds or trying to get out of committee duty, it's "Dear Prof. Doe" or "Dear Chair Doe" depending on how much I'm trying to suck up. The more interesting question is how you address the provost or deans. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: An advice and manners column I once read suggested you start (as in, you have no real history with this person, and you've had little communication before this point) written communications off formally—the Professor title is superior to, and trumps, the doctor title, for the record— and then from there address them in accordance to how they sign their responses. If you write to "<NAME>" and he signs his response "Ben", then he has given you implicit permission to address him as Ben, and it would be appropriate for you to do so in the future. The nature of how they write their message will also give you indicators: if they're saying "howdy" to you then they're not looking to be on formal terms with you, and things like that. When in doubt: ask them directly. Everyone's familiar with this problem and has gone through it themselves. In my experience, in the US once you have your doctorate you can be on a first-name basis with your university's faculty by default: at that point you are officially their colleague. For some professors this extends down to their doctoral students, others to all graduate students, and to yet others it applies to everyone. The state you're in can even affect the level of formality a typical faculty member expects from any given person, due to slight cultural differences between states. Note that this will change wildly from culture to culture. In France, for example, it's a flat hierarchy with essentially no titular addresses. Students invariably address their (male) professors as "Monsieur", and a famous professor could be teaching problem sessions to a lecture run by an unproven fresh hire. Which is not to say there's no social hierarchy at all (the famous guy will most certainly be treated more nicely than the new guy and given more deference), it's just that an institutionalized hierarchy is nearly non-existent. Japan, on the other hand, is very formal (in some ways the language is really two languages: one formal, the other informal) and a first-name basis is generally reserved only for very close acquaintances, like family members and lovers (even friends may still address each other in a formal way). --- On that note, I just remembered a story a colleague once told me about the time he spent in Britain. There, he said, the extremely important and powerful guys that had a dozen titles (doctorate, professor, head of multiple societies, etc., for example) were always addressed as "Mr.". So if you were at a university, you'd know that those called "Dr." and "Professor" were pretty normal and weren't going to be the top dogs, but as soon as you were introduced to a "Mr." you knew you were in the presence of a very powerful and amazing man that you needed to show great respect to. Upvotes: 4
2015/07/04	845	3,644	<issue_start>username_0: Few days ago I received an email from the associate editor. He apologized for my paper has mistakenly been left outside of the normal review process. This happened almost 14 months after my submission. I asked the journal editor for information on the status of the review process about 7 months ago and received an email from the technical staff that my status is "in review" as can be seen in Editorial Manager system. The journal is highly ranked and the review process usually takes a long time. So, I thought everything was ok. The associate editor is asking me now if I still want to proceed this submission. Should I say yes?<issue_comment>username_1: Unfortunately, these things happen, and it sounds like the journal is at least being appropriately apologetic. If you go do a different journal, you'll be starting all over again. If this is a good journal for your field, and you think it's an honest mistake, then I would instead recommend asking for an expedited review process. Since the editors are acknowledging they messed things up, you are likely to get faster and better consideration from them than another equivalent peer journal. So: be collegial and gracious about their mistake, and next time you'll have good reason for when you send an earlier status query. Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Mistakes happen, no system is perfect, and if nobody is seriously damaged (physically, professionally or in some other way of importance), it is in our interest to allow them, so that we can claim such an allowance for our mistakes, when their time comes, (I apologize for the apparent cynicism, but I am an economist)... let alone of it being the peaceful thing to do. But this does not mean that the entity that makes the mistake is free to not do anything about it, apart from apologizing. The apology may be sincere, but I would accept it as effective, if it has been accompanied by something along the lines of > > "It goes without saying that, if you still want to move on with this submission, we will make every effort to expedite it as much as > possible, without compromising the quality of the review process" > > > ...which would mean, contacting reviewers, persuade them to shift priorities, explain why, etc. One should go some distance in correcting/mitigating the effects of, one's own mistakes. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Many years ago, a colleague and I sent out a paper for publication. My colleague did the actual work of submission. Six months later, he told me he had not received an acknowledgement of receipt from the journal. For this reason, he wondered if he had actually submitted the paper, or whether he had just prepared the submission, but forgotten to mail it. So I said I would handle it. I resubmitted the paper to the same journal, explaining in a very honest cover letter how we weren't sure if we had submitted it already. About a week or two later, my colleague received a reply from the journal telling him that the paper had been rejected. Not only had it been rejected, but it hadn't even been sent out for review because the paper was in a subject in which the journal didn't publish. Now the punchline: A couple of days later, I received a glowing acceptance letter! And it was obvious from the detailed comments in the report that the reviewer had read the paper very carefully! Even though this story sounds like an urban legend, this really happened to me! You just don't know what will transpire! Go ahead and give the journal another chance. Maybe they will give you special treatment. Upvotes: 5
2015/07/04	530	2,261	<issue_start>username_0: I have been admitted to a Master in the Netherlands, but my diploma will be awarded after the enroloment date there. However, the university says they can process my admission if I send them an official letter stating that "I have graduated", completed my course work, and that the diploma will be awarded later. In my country and university, the list of students that will receive the diploma is authorized by the Academic Council first and diplomas awarded later. When the list is issued, the Council gives a letter stating that you are graduating. I am not sure if such letter is the equivalent to what the Dutch University needs. Anyone at a Dutch university knows what they exactly want? Edit: Official documments at my University are issued in Spanish, not in English, therefore I have to get the document translated by an official translator. Hereby, I want to the document to be sharp enough to avoid changes in sense or missinterpretations in any stage.<issue_comment>username_1: I'm Dutch and did my bachelor/master and PhD studies at a Dutch university (Utrecht), but can't claim to know exactly what they want; for that you'd really need to get in contact with the people at the university who are in charge of the admission procedure. That said, I think they want an official confirmation that you passed all requirements necessary to get your degree, and so it seems that the council letter might be sufficient. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I also got my graduate degree in Spain and sent the transcript in Spanish to the Irish university where I did my PhD. They took care of everything else. Administrators understand there are different systems and will usually do their best to accommodate you, but because of the different systems they might not have a standard procedure. What I suggest is that as soon as your transcript is ready you send a copy to the Dutch university asking if that is enough (they might even have someone who speaks Spanish in their office) and at the same time send it for official translation to English in case you need backup. As for the diploma, I would not worry too much, I collected my graduate diploma itself (i.e. the piece of paper) after my doctoral one. Upvotes: 2
2015/07/05	1,010	4,248	<issue_start>username_0: I will be soon joining a PhD program in US on an F-1 student visa. I will be entering US about 20 days before the university academic session starts. The university will be providing health insurance to me, and coverage will start with the academic session itself. So I will not be covered by university insurance for my first 20 days in US. I would like to know if it is a good idea to buy a short term health insurance policy for these first 20 days in US ? Is it very risky to not buy this short-term insurance ? FYI, I do not have any chronic diseases or other things. Since US healthcare system is very different from everywhere I have been to (some European and Asian countries), I am in utter confusion regarding this whole health insurance stuff. Any answers would be really appreciated. Thanks in advance.<issue_comment>username_1: You are asking if it is risky not to buy the insurance. In absolute numbers, it is not risky. There is only a small probability that you need it. Also, doctors will offer also their services for a fee in case you need it. However, there are two things to consider. First of all, if you need medical attention, it is very expensive. For example, if you get a cold and need a prescription for medication, expect to pay more than 300 US-Dollars. Treatment is a bit cheaper if your insurance has a contract with the doctor, but if you don't health insurance, then you can't take advantage of such contracts. Also, there is always a low risk that some kind of emergency situtation can arise (traffic accidents come into my mind), and the insurance would give you support here. Such cases can easily cost a five-digit amount of money. And this is where an insurance would help you: by allowing you to make a relatively small payment that does not burst your budget, it allows you to have the (relative) certainty that your budget will be fine even in extreme cases. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Travel insurance is generally pretty cheap, especially if you exclude high risk activities like skiing and parasailing. My UK bank provides travel insurance for free and some credit cards provide travel insurance for free if you book your flights with them. If you were taking a three week vacation to the US, you should be able get insured for well under $100. The issue is that you are not taking a vacation. You are entering the US on a F-1 student visa and possibly do not have a return ticket. While many travel insurance providers will happily sell you insurance and tell you you are covered, they will also direct you to pages and pages of terms and conditions. The key to insurance is making sure you meet all the terms and conditions, otherwise they will not pay out when you need them. Assuming you can find reasonably priced insurance, the question becomes do you need it. Travel insurance generally only reimburses you for expenses and does not pay the bill up front. This means the benefits are often limited by how much you can afford to pay up front. There also things you can do to reduce the need to see a doctor (e.g., getting a round of general antibiotics from your doctor before you leave). Overall the answer is highly personal and depends on how you would pay a huge medical bill. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I would say yes. You can likely get fairly cheap insurance from your (or your parents') home insurance, or the credit card company that you bought your ticket from. Although, like username_2 pointed out in his answer, you need to make sure they are willing to cover you even though you don't have a return ticket. A fellow grad stdent tripped and broke her arm before term started and ended up with an emergency room bill of roughly $5000. That's considerably more of a financial burden on you or your parents than $100-200 worth of insurance. And you could end up with similar bills for a bout of food poisoning, or the flu, or a car accident, or any number of accidents. The insurance is even more important if you (like most of us) don't have a lot of money lying around. The cost of insurance is a slight inconvenience, but the cost of an actual medical emergency in the US is a disaster in that case. Upvotes: 2
2015/07/05	517	2,265	<issue_start>username_0: I am re-drafting my cover letter for the tenure track faculty positions in the U.S. While I was finishing my dissertation, I quickly moved to a new research direction. Although I can make the case of how my new research direction grows out of my dissertation, I wonder when do people stop talking about their dissertation in the cover letter? Or must the cover letter contain a dissertation paragraph?<issue_comment>username_1: You are mostly hired for what you are doing now, so you should avoid the impression that you are unsteady, and your interest shift every other year. However, there will be some members of the committee who are not from your current area. If one of them is interested in your Ph.D. topic, this might be a big bonus for you. So you should mention your Ph.D. topic unless your results are mediocre, or so much time has passed since your Ph.D. that a faculty member interested in that topic and not your current work would not see an advantage in having you in place of someone with a different Ph.D. topic. How much time this actually is depends on the subject area. In many branches of pure math this could be "never", while in applied areas of CS this could be 2 years. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: My usual advice about cover letters and vitas is to include everything that you can include "with a straight face". A some point you stop putting your high school awards, because it's too embarrassing to mention them; at some later point you stop putting minor honors from your undergraduate studies; etc. If you are a recent PhD and are applying for tenure-track positions, you should certainly mention your thesis, unless you have so much other research that it is no longer relevant. But you do not necessarily need an entire paragraph. Just now, I looked up two successful cover letters of mine. One had a single sentence about my thesis (for a research post-doc position). One had two sentences, the second of which just said that my work could be suitable for undergraduate research (this letter was for a tenure-track position). At least in my field, we usually submit a longer "research statement", and so there is little need to go into depth about research in the cover letter. Upvotes: 2
2015/07/05	1,616	6,897	<issue_start>username_0: 1. How do universities train MBA students differently from MS students? Statistics and quantitative reasoning are vital parts of the MBA as analytics have become crucial to many aspects of business. In what sense does an MS in Statistics have better training in analytics than an MBA? 2. How do MBAs add value to a person's career? Is their broad (if not deep) command of statistics, economics, finance, etc., the reason behind their astronomical salaries? Is there specific training that makes them 'managerial'? If yes, what is that training?<issue_comment>username_1: This largely depends on the type of MS degree. An MBA is geared towards business. A graduate from a MBA program should be able to immediately apply his or her learning to a business environment. MS degrees differ. Some are geared towards research, requiring a student to write a thesis. Others require only classwork. A MS degree in statistics that emphasizes research may not discuss how to use statistics to make business decisions. That MS degree may, instead, teach the mathematical underpinnings of statistical tests or how to analyze data. Data, here, means not just stocks or inventory, but time series in general. One can leverage a quantitative research background into a lucrative career in business. I have known a few physicists who are well paid for their knowledge of mathematics, programming, or thinking processes, all valuable in a business setting but not taught in MBA classes. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: From an educational stand point, a Master's degree in a specific discipline is not much different from an MBA degree, in that they both are Master level degrees. There is one caveat, though: Master of Science (MS) degrees are, naturally, focused on scientific research, whereas MBA degree is not. The consequences of that distinction can be found in different structures of academic programs as well as the typical requirement of a thesis or a similar major project for an MS degree. Those Master's degrees that do not use the MS designation are usually referred to as professional Master's degrees. Now on to the core of your question. In it, stating the importance of analytics for business, you are making an IMHO unfounded implied assumption that analytics is vital for business. There is a big difference between being important and being vital. While analytics and data-driven decision making are, certainly, important (more or less, depending on the industry, business type, size and other factors), I would argue that, in general and by the very definition, having excellent business knowledge, skills and experience is more vital to a business than the same traits in analytics department. In other words, MBA holders potentially have a more significant and immediate effect on a business' performance and other results, than data-focused professionals. The former are "closer to the bottom line", so to speak. For a case in point, an anecdotal example of <NAME> and his Berkshire Hathaway company. It is a well-known fact that computers and computer-based data analytics are almost unused by the company and, especially its boss, Mr. Buffett. However, that fact clearly does not preclude the company from achieving its tremendous growth and overall business success. Therefore, that is done by applying mostly general and specific business knowledge, skills and experience, rather than modern analytical approaches and tools. Note that above, when referring to knowledge, skills and experience, I used the word "excellent", which, usually (but often unfairly!), implies that MBA graduates are top business schools. Therefore, their higher salaries on average, when compared with similar graduates from analytics, data science or similar MS programs. If we would consider graduates from both MS and MBA programs from programs beyond top tier, the latter not only will not have "astronomical salaries", but, AFAIK, their salaries (especially, starting) will be lower than narrow technical professionals, graduated from MS programs. As for specific training for MBA graduates that "makes them managerial", certainly MBA programs offer specialized managerial courses (i.e., strategy, marketing, accounting), which are simply typically not offered in MS programs (or, are optional and significantly more limited). Hence, naturally, more significance of MBA graduates to business results and, thus, higher financial compensation (again, I imply here only top tier MBA graduates and their starting salaries). Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: An important aspect of MBA training that I haven't seen mentioned in other answers is networking. A huge amount of getting things done is business is about networking, and while you will not find a formal course on networking in an MBA program, most good MBA programs will have a lot of networking events and opportunities connected with them. MBA students are also often grouped together in cohorts or otherwise treated much more as a unified group of students than MS students. All of this adds up to a very important extra-curricular curriculum component that is often a key differentiator for success or failure after business school, and is largely neglected in the more technically focused track of MS students. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I believe an accurate rephrasing of your question is Why do some MBAs make so much? The upper decile of MBA holders surely earns more than the upper decile of those with a MSc, although that is my educated guess. I, similarly, wager that the average MSc earns more than the average MBA. I am not sure that an MBA derives its value from content, nor am I alone in that view point (See what [a graduate](http://poetsandquants.com/2013/11/07/an-mba-trashes-the-degree/) and [the FT](https://next.ft.com/2313a2f8-7c81-11e3-b514-00144feabdc0) say.) An MBA allows for powerful networking, especially if you already have a powerful network to barter with. As to the content, A Master's in Business Administration (MBA) differs from a Master's in Science (MSc) in many ways: 1. Curriculum: MBA classes do not cover technical subjects in as much depth as MS classes. An MBA student may take one class in financial economics that involves no calculus or concepts from analysis. An MSc student would take at least two courses, involving higher math and perhaps computer simulations. 2. Point in career: An MBA is a terminal degree in business, inasmuch as degrees matter in business. An MSc can be a terminal degree in engineering and computer science. In math or economics the terminal degree is a PhD and one picks up an MSc along the way. 3. Point in career (2): An MBA is supposed to be acquired after substantial work experience. Many pursue an MSc shortly after undergraduate education. Upvotes: 2
2015/07/05	504	2,069	<issue_start>username_0: Reading the German universities' regulations on doctoral programs, one often comes to paragraphs about sanctions that can be demanded by the PhD board (Promotionsausschuss) as perquisites before they admit a candidate. For example I have seen [updated to reflect the given answers]: * own publication(s) needed * take selected courses/modules offered by the university, which contents are related to the planned topic of thesis * submitting an exposé * letter(s) of recommendation * certificate of good conduct ("Führungszeugnis") * supervisor actually employed at the same university --- Are there other common requirements demanded by such boards?<issue_comment>username_1: Other requirements (not necessarily prerequisites) may include the attendance of doctoral seminars (i.e. presenting your work one or more times during your PhD and having a committee judge whether or not you can proceed as intended) and the presentation of a certificate of good conduct ("Führungszeugnis"). Source: <http://www.inf.ovgu.de/inf_media/downloads/forschung/promotion/2013/Promotionsordnung_2012_12_19-p-4194.pdf> Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Here you need a supervisor, i.e., a professor currently employed at the university and a letter where you state whether you have been involved in other doctoral programs before or if you even are currently involved in one. Other than that you have to write a formal application containing a curriculum vitae, credentials and a short abstract of what you want to do (which is usually already approved by your supervisor). If the PhD board thinks that you need additional courses/modules you just have to do the additional coursework during your PhD. So at least at my current university it's not a prerequisite. But these courses are not necessarily related to the planned topic, e.g., if you have a Master's degree in mathematics and what to do a PhD in computer science (CS) the board may requires you to do some basic CS courses (if you haven't done anything in this direction). Upvotes: 1
2015/07/05	677	2,822	<issue_start>username_0: Papers written for conferences and journals are today mainly available as PDFs. There are [several usability issues](http://www.nngroup.com/articles/pdf-unfit-for-human-consumption/) with the PDF format, one of which is that it is not especially well suited for the modern way of reading on screens. Unlike e-book formats such as epub or mobi, it doesn't adapt to a for the user desired text size, and is especially broken for e-ink readers that cannot rely on zooming and swiftly moving around as you scan for referenced figures and tables. Thus, I would like to contribute to the death of the PDF to the best of my ability. All my scientific writing is already done in either Markdown or LaTeX which can then be exported using [Pandoc](http://pandoc.org/) to several different formats, but this only works as long as you don't try to use anything beyond the most basic of features in LaTeX. I guess I could in this manner upload all of my papers to a blog for general consumption, but I'm not sure this is the most appropriate way. One problem is that I won't actually use a lot of the power the web brings, e.g. direct links to cited sources, without requiring extra effort in the conversion step. I am sure I'm not the first one thinking about this. Are there already people doing this, and if so how? Is there an ongoing discussion about the future of academic publishing in the age of the modern web?<issue_comment>username_1: Other requirements (not necessarily prerequisites) may include the attendance of doctoral seminars (i.e. presenting your work one or more times during your PhD and having a committee judge whether or not you can proceed as intended) and the presentation of a certificate of good conduct ("Führungszeugnis"). Source: <http://www.inf.ovgu.de/inf_media/downloads/forschung/promotion/2013/Promotionsordnung_2012_12_19-p-4194.pdf> Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Here you need a supervisor, i.e., a professor currently employed at the university and a letter where you state whether you have been involved in other doctoral programs before or if you even are currently involved in one. Other than that you have to write a formal application containing a curriculum vitae, credentials and a short abstract of what you want to do (which is usually already approved by your supervisor). If the PhD board thinks that you need additional courses/modules you just have to do the additional coursework during your PhD. So at least at my current university it's not a prerequisite. But these courses are not necessarily related to the planned topic, e.g., if you have a Master's degree in mathematics and what to do a PhD in computer science (CS) the board may requires you to do some basic CS courses (if you haven't done anything in this direction). Upvotes: 1
2015/07/05	1,141	4,317	<issue_start>username_0: I'm writing my PhD thesis (math) and struggling to find titles for the appendices. The thesis has three main chapters and for each one there is an appendix that contains some proofs that did not belong in the chapter itself (e.g. proofs of lemmas and technical details). What should I name the appendices? Currently I'm thinking about "Missing proofs for Chapter X" or "Omitted proofs of Chapter X". Any suggestions?<issue_comment>username_1: In a mathematics paper or thesis, the most common practice is simply to include all proofs in the body of the document, each one immediately following the statement of its corresponding theorem or lemma. So you should seriously consider just doing that. Placing proofs in an appendix might be appropriate if they are really ancillary to the main thrust of your thesis. For instance, maybe there is a result that is not really relevant to the rest of the thesis, but you've included it simply because it is interesting. Or you state a result that is well known, but you have written your own proof as an exercise. Or you have multiple proofs of the same statement; you might want to place one of them in the body, and move the other(s) to the appendices. But in any case, I would think there would not be more than a few proofs that would fit these criteria. As such, it would be most natural to place each proof in its own appendix, rather than to group them by body chapter or any other criterion. You could give the appendices names like "Appendix A. Proof of Theorem 1.2.3". Or better yet, something more descriptive like "Appendix A. Proof of the Snargleberg–Veeblefester Theorem (Theorem 1.2.3)". Of course, you will want to use LaTeX's `\ref` to produce the theorem number. It would be a convenience to the reader if in each appendix, you repeat the statement of the relevant theorem before giving the proof. If you feel the number of lettered appendices A, B, C, D, etc are becoming excessive, you could move down the hierarchy. Most thesis templates are based on the `book` document class, in which the top-level text element is the `chapter`. So if you want, you could write ``` \backmatter \chapter{Additional Proofs} \section{Proof of the Snargleberg--Veeblefester Theorem (Theorem \ref{snargleberg})} Blah blah blah. \section{Proof of the Dumbledore Lemma (Lemma \ref{dumbledore})} Expecto Patronum. ``` Producing something like: > > A. Additional proofs. > > > A.1. Proof of the Snargleberg–Veeblefester Theorem (Theorem 1.2.3) > > > Blah blah blah. > > > A.2. Proof of the Dumbledore Lemma (Lemma 2.3.4) > > > Expecto Patronum. > > > I disagree with username_2's suggestion to just leave the appendices with non-descriptive titles like "Appendix A". Using descriptive appendix titles will help keep the reader from getting lost. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I would think twice about including these results in appendices at all. You have one appendix for each chapter and each "contains some proofs that did not belong in the chapter itself (e.g. proofs of lemmas and technical details)". Why doesn't that belong in the chapter itself? That sounds like exactly the sort of material that I would expect to take up space in a math PhD thesis. You may want to organize things so that the most technical bits can be quickly identified and skipped by the uninterested reader, but putting them in appendices doesn't sound quite right to me. Appendices should contain material which is ancillary to the thesis, not the technical core of the thesis. Anyway, if you decide to go for the multiple appendices: I would call the Appendix "The Appendix" if there is one of them, and if there is more than one "Appendix A", "Appendix B", and so forth. Added: After more thought, I agree with @username_1's disagreement. If there is more than one appendix, you should probably give some help to the reader by saying what is in each one. Now that I seriously contemplate this possibility though [not that seriously; I still am not convinced that this is a good use of appendices at all, but whatever...] I find the question a bit weird: in that the OP can see his thesis, he is in a much better position than we to make the titles. But a simple, descriptive title should be fine. Upvotes: 1
2015/07/05	1,300	5,053	<issue_start>username_0: Somewhere around the 3rd year of my physics PhD. program I came into this amazing subject of complexity theory. May be a motivating factor was that I was digging in my spare-time into this physics/complexity interface. Anyhow I took up courses in complexity theory and a few associated regions in the CS theory department in my university and I started attending one of the group meetings there and tried to contribute to a project (sadly the project turned out to be very hard and didn't move enough) But how do I actually go about finding a career in this subject? Either in academia or industry? I won't be taken seriously if I make a regular CS PhD. application because my background has no overlap with an usual CS grad student and neither am I interested in CS per se. (like I found the graduate "algorithms" course extremely boring though the mathematical algorithms part was fascinating where they did stuff like LP, SDP, entropy extraction, pseudorandomness etc.) My interest is complexity theory and its interface with physics : which I see as a fascinating branch of mathematics! (and I do have quite a strong background in mathematics)<issue_comment>username_1: In a mathematics paper or thesis, the most common practice is simply to include all proofs in the body of the document, each one immediately following the statement of its corresponding theorem or lemma. So you should seriously consider just doing that. Placing proofs in an appendix might be appropriate if they are really ancillary to the main thrust of your thesis. For instance, maybe there is a result that is not really relevant to the rest of the thesis, but you've included it simply because it is interesting. Or you state a result that is well known, but you have written your own proof as an exercise. Or you have multiple proofs of the same statement; you might want to place one of them in the body, and move the other(s) to the appendices. But in any case, I would think there would not be more than a few proofs that would fit these criteria. As such, it would be most natural to place each proof in its own appendix, rather than to group them by body chapter or any other criterion. You could give the appendices names like "Appendix A. Proof of Theorem 1.2.3". Or better yet, something more descriptive like "Appendix A. Proof of the Snargleberg–Veeblefester Theorem (Theorem 1.2.3)". Of course, you will want to use LaTeX's `\ref` to produce the theorem number. It would be a convenience to the reader if in each appendix, you repeat the statement of the relevant theorem before giving the proof. If you feel the number of lettered appendices A, B, C, D, etc are becoming excessive, you could move down the hierarchy. Most thesis templates are based on the `book` document class, in which the top-level text element is the `chapter`. So if you want, you could write ``` \backmatter \chapter{Additional Proofs} \section{Proof of the Snargleberg--Veeblefester Theorem (Theorem \ref{snargleberg})} Blah blah blah. \section{Proof of the Dumbledore Lemma (Lemma \ref{dumbledore})} Expecto Patronum. ``` Producing something like: > > A. Additional proofs. > > > A.1. Proof of the Snargleberg–Veeblefester Theorem (Theorem 1.2.3) > > > Blah blah blah. > > > A.2. Proof of the Dumbledore Lemma (Lemma 2.3.4) > > > Expecto Patronum. > > > I disagree with username_2's suggestion to just leave the appendices with non-descriptive titles like "Appendix A". Using descriptive appendix titles will help keep the reader from getting lost. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I would think twice about including these results in appendices at all. You have one appendix for each chapter and each "contains some proofs that did not belong in the chapter itself (e.g. proofs of lemmas and technical details)". Why doesn't that belong in the chapter itself? That sounds like exactly the sort of material that I would expect to take up space in a math PhD thesis. You may want to organize things so that the most technical bits can be quickly identified and skipped by the uninterested reader, but putting them in appendices doesn't sound quite right to me. Appendices should contain material which is ancillary to the thesis, not the technical core of the thesis. Anyway, if you decide to go for the multiple appendices: I would call the Appendix "The Appendix" if there is one of them, and if there is more than one "Appendix A", "Appendix B", and so forth. Added: After more thought, I agree with @username_1's disagreement. If there is more than one appendix, you should probably give some help to the reader by saying what is in each one. Now that I seriously contemplate this possibility though [not that seriously; I still am not convinced that this is a good use of appendices at all, but whatever...] I find the question a bit weird: in that the OP can see his thesis, he is in a much better position than we to make the titles. But a simple, descriptive title should be fine. Upvotes: 1
2015/07/05	3,406	14,247	<issue_start>username_0: EDIT Since there are some misunderstandings regarding my question I'll try to rephrase, and also avoid posting questions late at night when I am really tired :) --- A typical part of my work as a bioinformatician/data analyst is to check the relevance of my results, when I am drafting my articles, by doing a series of literature searches to see how my results relate to the field in general. This typically takes me beyond my own competencies, and into fields like histology, oncology, tumor biology etc.. Quite often I run into very interesting results presented in articles that were published in obscure journals with pretty low IF (say for example 1.0-1.5). Sometimes the authors turn out to be from a rather unknown university from a unexpected country. I realize that this is a bit controversial, and I really don't mean to be looking down on anyone's creativity or work ethics but biomedical research is usually expensive, with all the lab consumables, customised reagents/antibodies/proteins/peptides etc.. One such example was an article I found yesterday where the authors claim prognostic potential for a particular protein which also happens to be significantly regulated in my dataset. Naturally I was excited at first but then two questions arose: 1. Could these people have really done what they claim they have done? 2. If the work is legit, then why it ended up going to a journal that's so obscure, considering that the findings might be very relevant for patient care. Cancer and biomarkers are two "hot" fields and there are literally lots of well known avenues for publication, before you come to think of [this one](http://www.hh.um.es/), or [this one](http://www.tmd.ac.jp/english/lib/JMDS/index.html). If the results are as interesting as I think they are then they should have surely been published in a venue where they'd get more attention. Am I being too harsh to be suspicious?<issue_comment>username_1: I don't think it's too harsh to be suspicious. I think that suspicion should be the default state of academics appraising each other's work. Nor do I think that you need to be equally suspicious of everyone: if certain indicators make you more suspicious, go for it. Having "a nose for the truth" is part of being a successful academic, and I don't think it's worth apologizing for. The question is what to do with your suspicion. In my field -- mathematics -- if you get suspicious of something, the remedy is in principle easy: you read it and check it. In reality this can take a lot of time and energy, but the more important the result is the more necessary and valuable that time spent will be. Note also that it may have the effect that you come out having completely understood the work, and then you can vouch for their work, so your suspicion will be a net positive for the authors. (And if their work turns out to be flawed and invalid, they should still thank you for your efforts. Even if they don't, your conscience is clear.) I'm afraid I don't really know what you should do in a biomedical field for which reproducing the projects would be an undertaking involving more capital than just your own time. I would guess that a sufficiently important biomedical study would get rechecked and refined by others. But if you really just think "I highly doubt that if I did that study correctly, I would get the result that I read about, and if I didn't, then it will have been a waste of time" then depending upon how skeptical you are it seems reasonable to contact the authors and ask for more information or simply ignore it altogether. The last sounds harsh, but it seems to to be necessary: what else are you supposed to do, go slavishly down a path that you firmly believe is wrong? Added: @Kimball asks whether by "ignoring" these papers I mean not to cite them. Good question. In my opinion, just because paper A is published in field X and you are writing a paper in field X does not force you to cite A. If your work contradicts A then you still are not necessarily required to cite it: e.g. when you write a paper about the transcendence of Pi you will probably not cite papers purporting to show that Pi is algebraic or rational. You need to cite paper A if you use or rely on it in any way. You probably should cite a paper A if you think that others in your field will be aware of it, take it seriously and that a lack of citation would create confusion in the field. I would say that except in the precise circumstances enumerated above, you should not cite work that you believe but do not know to be false. Further Added: I think that @The Dark Side made a crucial point in a comment above. In every technical field, papers get refereed, and serious/breakthrough papers get seriously refereed. This process however does not involve nontrivial expenditure of capital or systematic, large-scale reproduction on the part of the referee. But the referee must do something, and I would hope that the authors' institutional affiliation plays a small role in the evaluation process (ideally: no role at all). So the generalization of the answer above from mathematics to other academic fields seems to be: if you're suspicious of a potentially paper, you should re-referee it. In this particular case the OP seems to lack the expertise to fully do that. Okay, that's what friends and colleagues are for. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: I am concerned by your choice of words: * "Obscure": one person's obscure may be another person's core community. * "Low IF": IF is very dependent on both community and "trendiness." A lot of very good work is published in low IF venues because they are the appropriate place to publish the result. * "Unknown ... and unexpected": again, not unusual at all for something interesting to come out of an unexpected place. All of these words, to me, point to lazy "popularity-contest" thinking in evaluating the context of a work. Instead, I think that you should use more scientifically meaningful heuristics, such as: * Does the investigator have a history of solid work, into which this result fits? * Does the venue have a clear, well-defined focus and community, and does it have reputable management? * Is the work well-suited for the venue? If a work doesn't pass these filters, then I think you should be highly suspicious and not bother digging more deeply. If it does, however, then you should be just as skeptical as you should be for [work coming out of a high-prestige laboratory in a leading institution](http://retractionwatch.com/2015/07/02/corrections-propagate-for-distinguished-plant-biologist-olivier-voinnet/)---and no more. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: concerning your remark: > > Quite often I run into very interesting results presented in articles that were published in obscure journals with pretty low IF (say for example 1.0-1.5). Sometimes the authors turn out to be from a rather unknown university from a unexpected country. > > > I feel that it may be difficult for 'unexpected countries' or 'rather unknown universities' or 'underexposed research groups' to actually publish in a highly ranking journal just due to this suspicion, which also bugs the reviewers and journal staff. Also it happens in reverse. Well known groups can sometimes just a little bit too easily publish a sloppy experiment in a high ranking journal. In that sense, I think this suspicion is overrepresented in literature, and we should be careful to apply it too much... Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: > > This typically takes me beyond my own competencies, and into fields like histology, oncology, tumor biology etc.. > > > When I want to evaluate the plausibility of a result from outside my area of expertise, I typically look for a friend or colleague who has the necessary expertise, or who might be able to point me to someone who does. I think this is much more likely to yield meaningful results, and much better for science as a whole, than evaluating an article I'm not competent to read based on the impact factor of its journal or the authors' institutions and countries of origin. To put it more harshly: if you're not competent to do something, don't do it. Instead, collaborate with someone who has the skills you need. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: We all know that IF is a very problematic way to judge work quality, and most of what happens in science is not published in the "glamour" journals. We can also agree that every paper should be judged by its content and not by the journal it is published in. Finally, the notion of importance can be very subjective. However: I completely understand your concern and I think it is legitimate. I don't ever recall meeting a biologist that had an important result and would want to have it published in an extremely obscure journal. And yes, in biology even within specific subfields there will be several journals with IF higher than 1.0-1.5 (in this case the IF is not an indicator of quality but often is an indicator of what other people read). To be even more blunt, I don't remember ever seeing important results in a journal with this kind of IF. To me, this suggests that if the work ended up in such a journal, it is very likely the authors couldn't get it accepted in a "better" journal, so at least some people thought there was something wrong with it. The bottom line: It is technically possible that the results are very important and the author didn't care where they were published or the importance of the results was not realized. However, this is extremely unlikely in my experience. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: I think you are right to be suspicious - but as long as the journal is included in those abstracted by pubmed etc then I you should still include it in your review. Just put a "flag" by it (if you really don't like it put it in an appendix). Including the paper shows; a) your search was extensive b) you have some criteria for judging value (you've flagged it) There are "social" reasons why a good paper might appear in a low IF journal, eg: the author needed a publication quickly 'cause they were going for promotion, the author had a "spat" with one of the "silver backs" in the field, the author lacks confidence in their own ability or has been undermined by "colleagues", the institution they work for might be "behind the curve" in the obsession with IF etc etc. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: I think that the results are simply not as interesting as you think they are. A result from a new (while perhaps theoretically sound) statistical technique or data set that has not been subjected to rigorous cleaning (because if it were then there would be nothing left of it). As far as having the equipment goes, I'm not sure exactly what papers you're looking at, but from the standpoint of someone doing some biostatistics research at the moment, we often make use of data that has been made public or that which is obtained through collaborators as we have no wet lab. We have to wade through cleaning that data properly (which is extra difficult because it is hard to gather reliable biological data in a good form even when the biologist knows what is needed, many do not). We are often trying very new techniques, between potentially bad data and techniques that have not yet gone through the proving grounds... no matter how rigorous we are we will have some doubts about the result. If we are the first with such a result we would not be willing to trumpet it to too high IF journals. The results are not interesting to us unless: 1. it also reproduces good findings from others besides the new thing it finds or 2. the results are experimentally confirmed (which would usually be quite a while after publication, though alternatively a more biology based collaborator with a wet lab may do so). Your work is the reason their work is interesting, it's not interesting on its own. Balance this with some healthy skepticism in general of course though, statistics has a special case of irreproducible results, unreasonably so. Unlike some other posters, I believe that the magnitude of their results may not be very apparent at all to them in the case where they actually are major. This is because, like yourself, they may not have a deep knowledge of the field that the math is being applied to, they run their code on some data they got and oh, it turns out gene xyzl\_at is significant, that holds no meaning for them in the way it would for a biologist working on the disease. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: The only two valid metrics you should use to assess individual papers, as a rule of thumb, are recency and number of citations. When it comes to recency, the results might become disputed in the future, but it is possible that the paper reflects the latest developments. When it comes to number of citations, this is often a clear indicator of the impact of the paper. Web of Knowledge or Google scholar can provide you with a citation metric. For rapidly moving fields, such as the natural sciences, 3 years is an acceptable cutoff for recency, but may vary from field to field. Generally, whether a paper is either "classical" or "fresh" is used as a criterion for inclusion as a potentially citeable source (e.g. for a literature review) and not for assessment of quality. Due to the change toward open access the IF and related metrics are starting to become less valid. In addition, they are controversial. They can be useful for authors planning to publish, but without the background knowledge required to evaluate the validity of the paper, what others think becomes more important. Thus, the measure of the individual impact of a paper should be consulted. You could potentially use IF indirectly, by checking what the impact factor of the journals citing the paper amount to. However, citation does not imply that the paper is a "good" paper. For example, the paper by <NAME> "Behavioural Study of Obedience" has been cited 3847 times according to Google Scholar, but it is a text book example of when research ethics goes wrong. Upvotes: 1
2015/07/06	527	2,044	<issue_start>username_0: I took all my college level math courses when I was 16 in running start while taking 30 credits a quarter(don't ask me what was going through my head at the time). As you can imagine I got an average of about a 2.8, in most of these courses....However, when I went to a 4 year they restarted my GPA and I currently have a 3.67 and it has only been climbing the last few quarters. I am about to graduate and I would like to go to Grad school. I am an Information Systems Major e.g. business. Is it plausible to at least get into a decent business Phd program ? I see that most schools seem to look at these grades in particular.<issue_comment>username_1: Be prepared to explain that bad term and what you learned from it. Other than that: it's a given that frosh are foolish; that's why some schools run the freshman year as pass/fail. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: If you were officially a high school student at the time, then you may not need to submit those grades to the universities to which you apply for graduate admissions at all. In general, anything that is done before undergraduate is ignored in graduate admissions. On the other hand, if the grades appear on your undergraduate transcript (because you applied to have the credits accepted towards graduation), then you will need to explain the situation, as username_1 suggests. Again, though, the fact that you were so young is a reasonable justification for your performance, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: If you took your courses over ten years ago and you are in the state of Texas then you can use a program called the Academic Fresh Start. <http://www.collegeforalltexans.com/index.cfm?objectid=6D10C9BD-DD24-153F-90B91DA6C20D1C97> Basically any courses you took over ten years ago can be ignored for the purpose of enrollment. Note that you cannot also use these credits to satisfy graduation requirements either. It's likely that some other states might have a similar program. Upvotes: 1
2015/07/06	1,723	5,522	<issue_start>username_0: A colleague of mine recently used the word "herein" in a research article (of which I am a co-author) to mean essentially "in this paper". To me it makes the paper read more like a legal document than a research article, so I commented that I would I prefer a phrase like "in this research", "in this paper", or "in this work". A quick google search showed that sometimes researchers use such words, but I haven't done a detailed check of how common it is. I can only go from my own experience that I don't often see this type of language used in scientific articles and that it sounds awkward to me. My question for this community is would you use words like "herein", "hereinafter", etc. in a scientific research article, or do they belong rather exclusively to legal literature/documents as my intuition tells me?<issue_comment>username_1: I would not. I have no data to back this up, but in my experience (and field: physics), these words are uncommon, and I would probably consider such usage bad writing. The last point of course depends somewhat on the context; maybe it is more accurate to say, I would expect to see such usage only in a badly written paper. As alternatives, I would prefer “in this work” (but not “in this research”, which sounds wrong, nor “in this paper” which sounds too colloquial to me) or something similar (“in this article”; “in this Letter” for some journals); or even just “here”. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: As a quick attempt at a relatively objective answer to this question, I searched all the PDFs in my "papers" folder for the string "herein". I didn't restrict to whole words, because I think that any word containing "herein" as a substring is also one of the words you're asking about. ("wherein", "therein", "hereinafter"). The data set consisted of 1709 PDF files of scientific articles, most of them in the field of geosciences, the overwhelming majority published after 1950. Results of the search: 614 hits for "herein" in 286 documents; that is, around 17% of the articles contain this string. The real figure is likely to be a little higher, since not all the PDFs contain text (some are scanned images with no OCR); also, a few of them are in French, German, or Swedish rather than English, and should thus have been excluded from consideration. Conclusion: "herein" is not particularly unusual or unnatural, at least in my field. As a side note: personally I'm cautious about using phrases like "in this work", because I've come across many instances of ambiguity with such phrases. Sometimes authors use it to refer to the paper they're writing, and at other times to another paper they've just mentioned. I'd prefer "in the present work" over "in this work" for this reason, even though I consider it a little clunkier. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Here's [a factual and quantifiable answer](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=herein%2Cin%20this%20paper%2Cin%20this%20study%2C%20with%20this%20work%2C%20in%20this%20article&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Cherein%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bherein%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BHerein%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cin%20this%20paper%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bin%20this%20paper%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BIn%20this%20paper%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bin%20this%20Paper%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cin%20this%20study%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bin%20this%20study%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BIn%20this%20study%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cwith%20this%20work%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bwith%20this%20work%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BWith%20this%20work%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bwith%20this%20Work%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cin%20this%20article%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bin%20this%20article%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BIn%20this%20article%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bin%20this%20Article%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BIn%20this%20Article%3B%2Cc0) to your question :) ![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/XscH6.png) As you can see in the Google NGram, the word "herein" has been the popular way to convey this idea historically but has since 1920 lost popularity. "in this study" and "in this paper" together outweigh "herein" almost double up at this point. (end:facts, begin: speculation) Take the following with a pinch of salt; but if you consider why this is the case, I'd say "herein" is the old way of saying the exact same thing as the other two. Sometimes people associate older phrasing with being finer, more eloquent and indeed sometimes even more intellectual, in a Twain-esque way. Please note that I am not accusing your colleague of thinking in this way, but sometimes people tend to choose the fancier/older word because it "sounds better". I have to say I really don't buy the argument of "herein" being shorter; you save 2 words or 6 characters (incl. whitespace). I would presume that you don't refer to the article more than 4-5 times throughout the course of the paper, so your saving is approximately 10 words, or 30 characters, which is not that much. I am willing to accept that excuse for an abstract maybe but certainly not for a research article where you typically have 5000 words or more to describe your work. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: "Herein" is fine to use, even today, in English-language writing. It does not relate to "legal" documents only. However: Scientific research papers are often read by those whose native language is not English. Thus, in such writing, it is better to use simple English than sophisticated English. So why not use a simpler alternative to "herein"? Upvotes: 2
2015/07/06	864	3,524	<issue_start>username_0: I am thinking about going to graduate school soon after getting my B.A but I don't know if my background will let me in/what I can do to get in. I have an A.S and almost a B.A in marketing. Since High School I have worked in a corporate office in the marketing department. I have had to pay for college myself because my family and I don't have a lot of spare money so the entire time I'm in college I'm working a full and part time job, otherwise I wouldn't be able to stay. My grades aren't the best B-C average because of everything I have to take on just to go to school. I also never took the official ACT or SAT. I have severe ADHD so the longer a test is the worst my grade gets. I took the practice SAT exams in High School and did beyond horrible but once I got it back and it showed all my wrong answers I was surprised by how simple the questions were and that I got it wrong when I knew the answer. Anyway, my main questions is that I've seen people get in to grad programs without a GRE before but they were 4.0 students with 2 B.A's. I know I can take the GRE but I'm sure the test results won't show my true academic knowledge. Does anyone else suffer from ADHD in this way that can give advice or even the likeliness of getting into a grad program without the GRE? EDIT: I was confused by the SAT and GRE. SAT was changed to GRE<issue_comment>username_1: You seem a bit confused. The SAT/ACT is a test that most American students take to get into an undergraduate program. Once you are in an undergraduate program these scores become irrelevant (except possibly if you want to transfer to a different one), and they definitively become irrelevant once you have an undergraduate degree. The exam that most students take for American graduate programs is the [GRE](http://gradschool.about.com/cs/aboutthegre/a/gre.htm). Having said that it is indeed quite similar to the SAT: in fact, the last time I looked the quantitative section was almost identical. If you do not do well on timed tests in general then realistically I don't think the GRE will be much different. (But it is probably worth a try...) Whether you can get into a graduate program without taking the GREs depends mostly on whether the GREs are a required part of the application. For many types of graduate programs (still in the US, of course; the GRE doesn't exist elsewhere) the GRE will be widely required, e.g. if you are in the arts or sciences. For other types of graduate programs, maybe less so, but they may also have their own exams. Anyway, you should just browse the webpages of programs of interest to you: they'll tell you whether the GRE (or some other test) is required. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The short answer is that with very few exceptions, some kind of standardized test is required for most reputable graduate programs in the U.S. The flip side of that is most programs that don't require a standardized test are programs you probably don't want to attend, because they won't get you where you want to go and may not be worth the time and investment of money. (I'm speaking very generally, here.) The good news is that most standardized testing companies do allow for the arrangement of accommodations for students with disabilities, including ADHD. You can apply for extra time to complete the exam, for example. The GRE's information about accommodations is [here](https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/register/disabilities). Upvotes: 2
2015/07/06	1,492	5,461	<issue_start>username_0: If I am using images with a copyleft license (e.g. [CC-BY-SA](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/)), each of them as a separate, properly attributed piece, does it mean that the whole work (be it slides, a thesis or a book) need to be licensed in the same way? Reasoning 1 ----------- This work uses images, so it's a derivative work and it needs to bear the same license. Reasoning 2 ----------- This work is a collection. So, as long as I keep the images separate, and properly attributed/licensed, they do not affect the collection license. Practical implications ---------------------- * Using Wikipedia images in a presentation - does it mean that it need to be released as CC-BY-SA? * Is it possible to use images from two non-compatible copyleft licenses (e.g. CC-BY-SA and GPL) in a single book? Comment: My question is on what is legal according to these licenses, not what "won't put me in jail" or what can be waived by the law of a particular country.<issue_comment>username_1: I'm going to ignore the GPL case, since the licence is not intended for images. For the CC licences, one interpretation is that incorporating a CC licensed image in your presentation or thesis does not make your presentation or thesis a derivative work of the image. You only create a derivative work when you modify the image itself. As such, it is not required that you redistribute the entire work under the licence. This also affects share-alike. Share-alike is only invoked if you create a derivative work, so as long as you do not modify the image you are using, you do not need to redistribute it. Here is a series of blog posts by a librarian which discusses the use of [no-derivative work](http://mollykleinman.com/2008/10/20/cc-howto-no-derivatives/) and [share-alike work](http://mollykleinman.com/2008/08/29/cc-howto-share-alike/). Her interpretation is that these are examples of cases which are not derivatives: > > * Including a short story in a collection of short stories > * Reproducing an unedited image on a website > * Using an unedited video in the background of a live concert > > > This is not the only possible interpretation of the licences, but your use might fall under an exemption or fair use of the images in your jurisdiction regardless of the licence. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Including CC-licensed images as discrete elements in your work does not require the overall work to be CC-licensed. Reasoning 2 is correct here. (See [a similar discussion on opendata.se](https://opendata.stackexchange.com/questions/5378/can-i-put-a-cc-by-sa-photo-in-a-non-cc-by-sa-work/5380#5380)) The [BY-SA](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/legalcode) license works in terms of "collective works" and "derivative works": > > 1a. "Collective Work" means a work, such as a periodical issue, > anthology or encyclopedia, in which the Work in its entirety in > unmodified form, along with one or more other contributions, > constituting separate and independent works in themselves, are > assembled into a collective whole. A work that constitutes a > Collective Work will not be considered a Derivative Work (as defined > below) for the purposes of this License. > > > 1c. "Derivative Work" means a work based upon the Work or upon the > Work and other pre-existing works, such as a translation, musical > arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, > sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any > other form in which the Work may be recast, transformed, or adapted, > except that a work that constitutes a Collective Work will not be > considered a Derivative Work for the purpose of this License. (...) > > > An image reproduced as part of a larger document ("see Figure 17...") falls under 1a as a collective work. You have to comply with the formalities of the licensing (4a, identify the license, 4c, identify the author), but section 4b is explicit that it "...does not require the Collective Work apart from the Work itself to be made subject to the terms of this License." If you do modify the image (eg by adding a new element to a chart, making a composite of two photos, etc), then you have to release that new image as CC-BY-SA, but you can still incorporate it into your non-SA book as a single collective-work element. Having said all that, 1a could certainly do with some broader examples of what constitutes a collective work, to avoid ambiguity... --- Edit (October 2015): a US district court has [recently discussed](http://www.technollama.co.uk/us-court-interprets-copyleft-clause-in-creative-commons-licenses) a similar issue (a CC-BY-SA image being used as the cover of a book) and held that that situation clearly constitutes a "collective work": > > Because this 112-page book of maps is not in any way "based upon"” the Photograph, and because defendant did not "recast, transform[], or adapt[]" the Photograph when it used it as the cover art for the Atlas, see License § 1(b), the Court finds that neither the Atlas nor its cover constitutes a derivative work subject to the ShareAlike requirement. Rather, the Atlas is more akin to a collective work, because the Photograph was placed "in its entirety in unmodified form" alongside "other contributions, constituting separate and independent works" – that is, the maps." > > > Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
2015/07/06	440	1,335	<issue_start>username_0: I recently heard about the possibility of submitting a proposal for a book to the publisher as "NN". I assume it has something to do with the fact that a couple of possible contributors have not yet confirmed their contribution but the editors want to go ahead anyway and submit the proposal already. Am I right with my assumption? If so, what does "NN" stand for?<issue_comment>username_1: Nomen nominandum, "a name to be named" - if you don't know the person's name yet, this indicates that you will supply the name later. Which sounds a bit more reassuring than a simple nomen nescio, "I don't know the name". Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I think "Nomen Nescio" is the correct expansion of NN. My source: ``` Introduction to Scientific Publishing: Backgrounds, Concepts, Strategies By <NAME>; Page 77, table 7.3: "Some standard abbreviations from Latin language": ``` > > N.N. -- Uknown name, used as a placeholder for unknown names, (from Latin 'Nomen Nescio') > > > Google books [link](https://books.google.com/books?id=vA1accpGK5UC&pg=PA77&lpg=PA77&dq=nomen%20nescio%20publishing&source=bl&ots=gstQOx6CaC&sig=2_mrBDJVD3OsY9Xsz6jq_gM7SxU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=qv2aVdifJ4XLogSdmaegAw&ved=0CD8Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=nomen%20nescio%20publishing&f=false). Upvotes: 3
2015/07/06	3,728	15,966	<issue_start>username_0: I am in a situation that I think is not uncommon nowadays. I wrote software on my own time, by my own decision, and with my own resources during my undergrad career at a university in the US, and now I want to be monetarily compensated for it because my software is used on a regular basis by a department in the university. I have heard of a couple cases where a student wrote a program that he/she thought would be helpful to the university in some way, after which they purchased it because they also thought it was valuable. I want to go through the same thing, but the head of the department seems to refuse to pay (or at least say they are unable to pay for it). They claim it was a "senior project" even though that is not true, but somehow that means they can't pay for it. I think the intellectual property and my work that went into the software is worth money, so I feel I should be compensated. Since that department is already using it and finds it valuable, shouldn't they pay for the product? If they completely refuse, is it smart to take the software away? EDIT for clarification: Nothing has been signed. There have been no agreements written on paper that determine who has ownership. We have only spoken about this. As a "trial period" I gave them the software's source so they could use it while I was away (because I graduated and moved away) and so I could make updates to the code. This was not a senior project. My work on this project had nothing to do with the university while I was writing it. The only relevance was that I intended to have it be used by the people at the university once it was finished.<issue_comment>username_1: If you have previously given the software to them for free, with no license agreement in place, I don't think you can charge them for continuing to use those copies. You could charge for support, but they can always decide to support it themselves... Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: > > I wrote software on my own time, by my own decision, and with my own resources during my undergrad career at a university in the US > > > I want to go through the same thing, but the head of the department seems to refuse to pay (or at least say they are unable to pay for it) because the software was just a "senior project." > > > You have a disagreement about the copyright on this software. You say you wrote it completely independently, while they seem to assume that the project was part of some kind of undergrad project. One interesting question is how the department initially started to use the software if it was just your own, completely independent, project. Under what circumstances did you give them access to the software? Under what agreement? How did they even know that this software exists? If you just went to them and told them "hey, I wrote this nifty tool for the problem you talked about in this course, care to start using it?", I think an argument could be made that they could reasonably assume the software to be made available free of charge. Usually, if one wants to sell something, one does not just give away the product and then, later on, starts talking about money. In your edit, you say: > > As a "trial period" I gave them the software's source so they could use it while I was away > > > Was it a "trial period" or a trial period? That is, did you just intend this as a trial period, or was it at least verbally made clear that you expect to be paid for this project down the road? Your post somehow alludes to me that you did not. > > Since that department is already using it and finds it valuable, shouldn't they pay for the product? > > > Not necessarily. Open source and free software exists, so just that they are using something does not imply that you are entitled to getting paid. Further, if you in fact did work on this somehow connected to an university project, the legal situation gets muddy much more quickly than what you seem to assume. Further, I should caution you that most customers, including universities, typically expect more than just a piece of running code when they actually pay for software. If exchange of money is involved, part of the agreement may be that you are supposed to be available for bug fixes, feature requests, and user trainings down the road (paid or unpaid, depending on agreement). > > If they completely refuse, is it smart to take the software away? > > > Legally, you are likely free to do so. Technically, it may be hard to "remove" already deployed (in some grey-area legal situation) software. Even if somehow forbid them to use your software in the future, this sounds only like a good idea if you never need to deal with them again. You are likely going to be a very unpopular person in this department. Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: Senior Projects can be rough from an IP standpoint. I'm not speaking as a lawyer, but I am speaking as someone who manages many senior projects and is in the middle of working out the IP status of the students with our univ counsel. For your specific case, we're missing some of the specific details, like exactly what were the resources put into the project, etc, and exactly what were the circumstances and communications involved (please don't provide that as comment -- I'm not particularly interested, but will try to cover a variety of scenarios and you can place yourself in whatever box you see as appropriate). My recommendation is if you worked on this FOR a specific lab or department, and they helped you evaluate and debug, and no discussions of ownership took place a priori, and the ONLY possible users are the people you've been working with, then I would allow them to keep using your code without charge REGARDLESS of whatever legitimate IP claims you actually have, and chalk it up to experience and lessons learned. If the groups needs any further development or support, let them know that you're willing to handle it on a consultant basis. Note this has nothing to do with what's legal or what your real claims are. It has to do with professionalism, making payments and deliverables clear before work is started, leaving behind a swath of people who feel good about working with you as opposed to people who regret having worked with you. If you really plan to develop your code, improve it, and market and sell it beyond the boundaries of that one department, then there may be clear disadvantages to just handing them your IP, and you should start a business and consult with a lawyer. Personally, I would think in that case your best bet, or at least a good option, is to formally grant the users non-exclusive use of the code at no cost, just to make it clear that you are holding on to your IP and not giving it away. In all cases, you should make sure that if money is going to be made in the future with this code that you will be part of it or all of it! Thus, even if you decide to just let the department continue to use it, and have no plans to ever sell it elsewhere, you might want to go through the exercise of establishing a license, just to establish ownership in case the department ever wants to sell it on their own. Of course, getting the right sort of licensing contract might just mean hiring a lawyer, and thus spending money. You'd have to figure out if that's worth it, unless there are some kind of templates out there. In our own design course, we certainly don't want anyone taking advantage of our students from an IP perspective. That said, we have "customers" for every prototype we generate, and if we cut off our customers from the fruits of the project, we wouldn't have many future customers. We have had IP come out of the class, and some of the patents have been assigned to the university with students as inventors if the university has contributed substantial resources to the project, or if a faculty member is one of the inventors. Others, where the university has not contributed much in the way of resources, go to the students, who are free to do with it as they chose. Some have spun out businesses. In either case, we would NEVER cut the customer out from at least being able to USE the prototype. It would be shoddy. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: In addition to the other answers, I would like to specifically respond to one part of your question: > > Since that department is already using it and finds it valuable, shouldn't they pay for the product? > > > Not only with respect to this university, but also concerning possible future customers of yours, I consider this stance to be a very unwise one to express. The issue is that it can easily be understood as > > I let them use it for free because I didn't think it was valuable, but now that I see that they actually need it, I am going to start charging them for it. > > > That, in turn, means that you did not spend a certain amount of resources that you wanted to ammortize with the revenue from your software all along. Rather than that, it can be interpreted as waiting till your software (that the department seems to have assumed to be free) is in use (and possibly not easily replaceable), and once that has happened, you let the trap snap shut to make a few quick dollars. I would consider this deeply unethical, and if anyone outside of the department learns of that, it certainly does no good for trusting in future software of yours. If I buy a future piece of software from you, how can I be convinced that it will not suddenly be severely restricted once you realize it is much more valuable than what you charged me? It is bad enough that numerous companies in the real world already use this business model. Please don't become one of them. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: I would suggest a different tactic altogether: Give them a license to use the software as well as any and all updates for free. Support should not be free but done by others under your instruction. In return ask them to sign over any previously perceived ownership of intellectual property. Next ask that they help you by providing suggestions for improvements to your software. Sell it to every other university in the world. Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_6: First, I would check the IP guidelines/regulations of the university. Many institutes, university etc explicitly deal with such situations about patents, software etc. If you find any relevant part pro or contra, you have at least something to talk about with your department and with IP office of university. Second, even if you own the copyright and all the rights, you may not get money out of them. Not because you don't deserve, but because you are in a tricky position now and most probably you don't have the power to go full legal bottle (would it pay off). What you can do however to clear up the legal status, and make them sign a contract that they can use the software for free (maybe restricted to this version, so they actually have to buy any latter upgrade), but they acknowledge your rights, they do not give it anyone outside of the institute or given labs and they grant you to sell the software to other universities. If the software worth anything, you can make much more money selling it to other labs, and the people who use it know will be your free advertisements. You can explicitly ask them to reference you whenever they use your software. If you offer this option to them, they don't loose face, they don't need to pay any money, so it is a very smooth solution for them, too, on long term it and has merits to you, too, and you don't need to hire a full legal team. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: [Putting on my department chair hat] We're often cautioned by the administration to avoid conflicts of interest. This makes it difficult for us to sign a contract with someone who is not at arms-length relationship from us. A former (or current) student is problematic from this perspective. 1. If you were selling a commercial product and we happened to be just one of many clients, we could argue to our auditors that there's no special interest involved -- your product is simply the best on the marketplace. This is not the case in your situation. 2. It would also be different if we hired you as a work-for-hire student (or non-student) worker. Then we would own the product of your work. To the auditor, we simply hired the best student/worker that was available, paying the fair-market wage for that type of work. But you are presenting a third scenario where you want the department to license your software for an undisclosed amount. How do we justify to the auditor that this is a fair price and that it isn't simply a payoff to you? The people who suggest that you give the software to the university for free and instead contract your labor as support are using a variation of #2. You would have difficulty asking for more than the normal student wage, however. This doesn't solve the question of who owns the intellectual property rights to the software. If you weren't a student worker, then the university usually has little claim but you need to check your university's IP regulations. That being said, you don't want to burn bridges. The most amenable suggestion would be to tell the Chair that the software they are using is copyrighted by you and that you will allow them to use it for free, but they cannot redistribute it in any form. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: A number of issues yet to clarify. 1. Were you at any time, an "Employee". 2. What basis really exists for classifying the work as a Senior Project ? This should be black and white. Can they sanction you academically if you sue ? 3. Were you "supervised" in any way during the development, was it truly independent ? 4. What rights did you sign away upon enrolment ? 5. Is the source in their hands ? What copyright exists ? Can they alter the code to create a derivative work that differs substantially ? Your only other course of action would be to issue them with a non-exclusive license, and incorporate, transferring the rights to the corporation. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: Unfortunately you have painted yourself in the corner. You are facing two very prominent problems here: 1. Its one thing to get people to use/like a piece of software. Its a totally different ballgame if they need to pay for it. Going commercial changes everything, permanently, no going back. It also changes peoples perception of the usefulness of your software. 2. Your actions may be perceived as variation of a [bait and switch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait-and-switch) fraud. As such people in charge can react to this very unfavorably. Many times this would lead them to sever contact with you, possibly even in spite, regardless of cost. Its not so easy to get people to give out money. Especially by changing the deal retroactively. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_10: I feel you wrote the software for the university and out of your own curiosity, but you didn't sign anything and now you regret the time you spent on it. Actually, it happened to me and finally I abandoned it. But you said: > > Since that department is already using it and finds it valuable, shouldn't they pay for the product? > > > You can't force them to pay for something if they didn't agree it before, but in such situations, if you think they really need your software then you can do the deal. You are the owner of the software and if it really worth, customers pay for it, jut advertise it and negotiate on it as the university is one of the customers. If they get convinced they will buy it, if not you don't give it to them (However, you still regret the time you spent on it, but it was your own risk. When we don't specify our purpose of something and we don't sign an agreement, we should expect such things to happen.) Upvotes: 1
2015/07/06	286	1,248	<issue_start>username_0: US News and World only ranks about 100 graduate programs in computer science 300 research universities in the US. How do graduate programs of small and/or unranked universities attract graduate students?<issue_comment>username_1: I would think it is a matter of differentiating your department from those at other universities in ways that you are capable of. Perhaps you don't have the reputation and resources to compete with large programs, but are there other areas that make you unique? What makes your program special? What does your department/university/locale offer that is different than other places? Is it a particular sub-specialty? Specific industry-contacts? Killer internships? Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: 1. Not everyone has the GPA / research experience to be accepted to those top 100 Universities. 2. Not everyone is confident enough to apply to those top universities and they feel more comfortable going somewhere closer to home. 3. Many students have constraints making relocation impossible (e.g., cultural obligations to their family where they cannot move more than 10 miles from their parents), so they go to graduate school in the closest program they can. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
2015/07/06	1,550	6,025	<issue_start>username_0: Microsoft Word is the standard product for documents in my department as far as the administration is concerned. Final exams go through a work-flow that involves department secretaries creating a standard cover page, professors providing "content", and the final product is approved by the department chair. In 2001, this was OK. Now, after having used online course systems such as Moodle with question banks, I find it really frustrating. Word has been inadequate (for my exam preparation) for years. Here are some of the reasons: * There's no template (`.dot` or `.dotx`) file that contains the formatting information for that which is a university exam, including styles for short-answer questions, multiple-choice, essay, etc. Secretaries just send me last semester's exam, with the updated cover page, and I'm asked to update the content of my exam. I once attempted to define numbered questions in Word styles, but the Word styles have become polluted over the semesters (especially when other instructors are involved, who may or may not use Word styles properly). It's a nightmare to try to strip out the junk (especially since the cover page has some formatting styles that get introduced). Sadly, most secretaries use Word as a kind of hi-tech typewriter, and there's no separation of content from presentation. A template idea means nothing (which is a human problem). * Although there is auto-numbering for questions/pages/etc., I haven't found a way to automatically number the various question types, e.g., essay questions, multiple-choice questions along with the answers to questions, keeping them all on the same page, etc. Again, the result winds up being some hacked-up typewritten solution where one must manually re-start numbering at the proper place, etc. Moving or adding a question or answer is disruptive. I'm sure there's a clean way to do this, but I've never had the time to grok it or found the `.dot`/`.dotx` file that made it easy in Word. Customizing lists is a nightmare in Word (it has to be done with care or the numbering is all wrong). Surely someone has solved this problem for exams! * Exams are manually graded, so it's very useful to have grader zones to keep track of points when marking. The solution is to make a Word table on the cover page (or the last page) and update it for each question and its value. Again, it's a failure (to me) that in 2015 we must update these tables manually when the points/question or order of questions change. We're basically using Word as a typewriter despite the power of Microsoft. I tried in the past (2005?) to use Word variables for the point-values in questions, but short of writing a macro in VB, I wasn't able to generate a grading table automatically. So, along comes a graduate teaching assistant who points me to the [exam class in LaTeX](http://www-math.mit.edu/%7Epsh/exam/examdoc.pdf). Awesome! It solves all of the above problems! Except, it's a LaTeX environment, and that's going to cause problems with the non-technical part of our exam workflow. Getting the secretaries (or technicians) to 1) install the proper LaTeX environment on their machines or 2) to learn to use typesetting language is going to be a barrier for several reasons. What's more, I'm pretty sure I'll get stuck maintaining the cover page for the entire university in LaTeX if I convinced them to go down that road (the post-doc who created the LaTeX style for a PhD thesis here got stuck with supporting it). Even the more use-friendly [LyX](http://www.lyx.org/) is too much, because of the complex installation in Windows. The [Exam layout for LyX](https://makoyi.dreamwidth.org/117045.html) is far from easy to use (there are a lot of embedded LaTeX commands still necessary). ![Screenshot of LyX exam style](https://i.stack.imgur.com/7046f.png) But the exam class in LaTeX is awesome -- here are just a couple of examples: > > ![different styles of questions](https://i.stack.imgur.com/f83FC.png) > > > ![Exam class gradetable option](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4z4Xb.png) > > > I started using Word in 1984 with 5 1/4" floppies, before a mouse was needed (it was optional). I remember thinking how cool the idea of paragraph styles was... They have existed since then. But where is the Word equivalent of the Exam class from LaTeX? Did it die when Framemaker was bought by Adobe in the 1990s? OpenOffice has a couple of templates, but they're specific for styles of questions (e.g., [Multiple-choice template](http://templates.openoffice.org/en/template/multiple-choice-exam-sheet), [Essay template](http://templates.openoffice.org/en/template/essay-exam-sheet)). What powerful exam template do you use that's secretary-friendly?<issue_comment>username_1: So, you want LaTeX without having to write LaTeX. The solution? Write a LaTeX code generator! You don't seem to have many different kinds of questions, so your user can input them through a form, similar to how Google Docs works. Then, compile. Last time I tried, MikTeX was pretty straightforward to install on Windows, and it will automatically download necessary packages as needed. Another alternative is to offer it as a webserver. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: For LyX, I created my own, improved [`exam.layout` (available on GitHub)](https://github.com/fuhrmanator/lyx-layouts) that uses LaTeX's exam class and it's working well (although LyX does have its quirks). It's documented in `exam_layout_doc.lyx` and a sample is included as `sample_exam.lyx`. Here's an example from the cover page (based on the Exam Class samples in its documentation): [![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/7AuPa.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/7AuPa.png) ... and some questions: [![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/czVzg.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/czVzg.png) Not all Exam Class features are supported, but a lot of things are doable from LyX with my layout file. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
2015/07/07	1,859	8,013	<issue_start>username_0: I am wondering how many papers does an average academia-bound PhD student in math try to get published? I want to eventually work in a research-oriented university rather than a teaching-oriented university. Obviously the more good mathematics one gets published the better, but what would be average for someone who goes on to work as a professor at a research university? I am particularly interested in the field of combinatorics.<issue_comment>username_1: A short answer is that you should publish as much quality work as you can before going on the job market. Piling on junk publications in unknown journals isn't going to help much, but having at least one or two publications in reasonably high quality journals is important. In mathematics, expectations for what a PhD student should publish have grown in recent decades along with competition for post-doc and tenure track positions. For example, when I completed my PhD and interviewed for my first (and current) tenure track position in 1992, I had two papers submitted, but neither had yet been accepted. I defended my PhD over the summer before starting my first job as a tenure track assistant professor. That would never happen today. During a recent search for a tenure track assistant professor, I interviewed (by Skype and in person) 14 candidates. All of them had at least one year of employment post-PhD, and most had 3-4 years of experience and a dozen or more publications. I believe that all of them had coauthored at least one published paper before the PhD. I would expect any successful candidate for a tenure track position in my department to have a similar record of publications at similar stages in their career. You can look up my affiliation in my profile, or just trust me when I say that you've probably never heard of the institution where I work. In my experience (based on serving on a search committee once every few years) expectations have risen dramatically in the last decade. This is the new reality at a broad range of institutions. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Since I was asked to clarify my comments, I'll respond by saying that you're not asking exactly the right question. Both username_1's answer here and Pete Clark's answer linked by <NAME> give good advice, but if you read them carefully you'll see that they're talking mainly about what your application should look like when you apply for your first tenure-track position, which -- if you're aiming for a research-oriented job -- you will probably not do from grad school, but from a postdoctoral position. As Pete points out, you don't need published papers to get a postdoc. (The difference between accepted and published is immaterial and I'm ignoring it.) Many, maybe most new math postdocs don't yet have any published papers. But to get a postdoc you do need results which will lead to published papers, and to get a tenure-track position, you should have published those papers and written newer papers that aren't derived from your thesis. There used to be the idea that the first year of a postdoc would be spent turning your thesis into one or more papers and submitting them; as Brian hints, these days that would have you rather behind the curve. In any case, the bottom line is that as a Ph.D. student, your first priority is to write a really good thesis. How that work gets divided up into papers and when it gets published depends on too many factors to get into here --- and that's part of what you have an advisor for. You seem to really want me to quote a numerical range, so I'll say that in my subfield it's pretty normal for the work in a Ph.D. thesis to correspond to anywhere from two to five eventually published papers, but I know of at least one person whose thesis consisted of nine papers. But as I said, these things can vary enormously by subfield. Talk to your advisor! Final note: I just saw your edit stating that you're going into combinatorics. That's not my field so I don't know very specifically, but (certain parts of) combinatorics have a reputation for larger numbers of shorter papers than most other subfields. Again: talk to your advisor! Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I agree entirely with the answers of Mark and Brian. Since my name has been uttered three times and I've been summoned here already, let me add a few nuances. 1) Asking for a number is certainly the wrong question. What you want to show as a graduating PhD student seeking an academic career is substantial results and the promise of more (and better) such results to come. Multiplicity is not the point at this stage of the game. Better one very good result than five pretty good ones. 2) Zero is a very interesting number nowadays. It corresponds both to people who have not done any publishable work (note to academics in STEM fields other than mathematics: the standards for publication in a non-predatory math journal are quite high; the most common number of publications for a PhD in mathematics is certainly zero, and many PhDs are awarded for theses which could only be publishable with a significant amount of additional work which the PhD candidate is almost certainly not going to do) and future stars at elite places who do not need to show their partial work because their superstar advisors will tell the story for them. So zero publications is very common...but it's most commonly bad. 3) Publication quotas have been rising dramatically in mathematics, even in the last dozen years. I wrote elsewhere that I got my PhD in 2003, my first publication was in 2005, and I did well on the tenure-track job market in 2006 with five accepted papers. Well, it's true....but that story is so 12 years ago. Most postdocs we have hired at UGA in recent years have had some accepted papers or at least an arxiv preprint that the interested parties can look at and convince themselves is going to be accepted. Also at UGA we have numerous, highly systematized opportunities for graduate research, which results in [a substantial number of publications co/authored by graduate students](http://vigre.math.uga.edu/publications/). We also give 2-3 graduate research awards per year, and these awards are usually given for preprints or publications, not just "promising thesis work". All three of my graduated / soon to graduate students have had arxiv preprints or publications by the time they went on the job market; two out of the three had more than one. In the limit, Princeton students will get five years of postdocs and be able to release their Annals paper while they're on the tenure track, and everyone else who's serious will have some tangible product upon graduation. Well, obviously that's an exaggeration, but there's some truth to it. 4) It is true that numbers of publications are sensitive to the subfield. They're sensitive to a lot of other things as well -- e.g. the length and quality of the publications -- but if we want to sling generalities: applied math people publish way more than pure math people (and they cite each other with enough frequency to make the stereotypical pure mathematician want to roll her eyes every time she hears "impact factor"); they may even publish some of their good papers in conferences, which is almost unheard of in pure math. In pure math, combinatorics is one of the highest publishing fields, and the papers tend to be shorter (and often lighter, but even a weighty breakthrough paper is probably going to be short compared to other fields). Algebra and number theory publish a bit more than average, generally. Analysis is a broad field and seems roughly in the middle. Geometry depends sensitively on the subfield: discrete geometers publish a lot; differential geometers less; algebraic geometers really less. Topologists seem to publish very few papers. Well, it was fun to play but I wouldn't take any of that very seriously (though argue if you want, that's part of the fun). Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
2015/07/07	788	3,462	<issue_start>username_0: I am a tenure-track Assistant Professor, coming up for tenure next year (no concerns about getting tenure). There is another university I would like to move to. Their department is of similar strength to my own, but is a better fit for my research, and is in a city I would rather live in. However I don't have any personal connections with any of their faculty members. Is it appropriate to write to the department head, express my interest, and ask if there are any anticipated openings? Would there be any point in doing this? Thanks for any insights.<issue_comment>username_1: While I have no experience in working with a university I do work in corporate and I think I can make an accurate suggestion by comparing this to my corporate experiences. Contacting another corporation (University) about possible openings is absolutely okay but it matters how you approach it. First, I would contact the department head and tell them about who you are and what you do while also expressing interest in that university. Tell the department head that while you love your current position you believe that the city where their university would better yourself because of your research and x,y,z. After that you can ask if they know if any positions are currently open or will be open in the near future that you could possibly inquire about. The point of doing this is it establishes a network between you and the department head, and if you don't contact them you may be in a long pile of applications when the university opens the position publicly rather than the department head possibly giving you a heads up. The department head may also offer you advice such as how to increase your chances of a transfer to their university and what not. I hope this helps. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: You certainly could.It's a low-risk action with the following responses in roughly descending order of probability (assuming you're looking for a tenure-track job, and not just an adjunct/visiting position): 1) The e-mail is ignored. Chairs get many strange e-mails about things that are unanswerable. This goes into the e-mail folder labelled "To respond to when I have much more time than I do now" 2) The Chair writes back with a polite letter thanking you for your interest but that there's nothing in the immediate future, promises to write to you if there is, and then promptly forgets about your e-mail which gets archived along with the other people who wrote the same. 3) The Chair writes back saying that there's an opening for exactly someone with your specific research interests, teaching background, and desired seniority. They were going to have an open search and advertise this on all of the usual sites, but because you're such a perfect fit, they're skipping straight to hiring you. I should add that #1 and #2 combined represent about 99.99% probability and #3 only happens once in a millennium. But again, the risk is so low that you could do it and buy a PowerBall lottery ticket at the same time and see what happens. --- On a more serious note, many job sites have 'alert' functions that will let you know when a job that meets your criteria pops up. I'd subscribe to those. In the meanwhile, I'd become chummy with that department if possible so that you can hear about any gossip about spots. Or try to impress them so much that they decide to do a targeted hire with you in the spotlight. Upvotes: 3
2015/07/07	402	1,671	<issue_start>username_0: I studied in the US up until the 6th grade, came back to India, completed high school here and finished a bachelor degree in computer science here in India. All my education in India was completed in English only. I am also a US citizen. I want to pursue a masters degree in the US. Do I need to take the TOEFL exam or not?<issue_comment>username_1: The safest course of action would just be to take it. Each department at each university has its own policy on the TOEFL. Usually international students from non-English speaking countries are required to take it, but there may be exceptions. It is common for there to be an exception for students who have attended a university in the US, but that does not apply to you. So you'd have to check the policies of each department where you want to apply, to see if they have an exception that does apply to you. Or, if there is no written exception that applies, you could contact them directly, explain your situation, and ask them to waive the requirement (of course there is no guarantee that they will agree). So unless you can verify that every department you care about will accept you without a TOEFL score, you had better take the exam. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Most schools will say that they don't require the TOEFL if the language of instruction in your previous institution was English. In reality, if you're applying from outside USA/England/Australia/New Zealand, then it's a very good idea to have TOEFLs (unless your GRE verbal scores are very high - top 10 percentile). You want to extinguish any possible doubt about your English-speaking ability. Upvotes: 2
2015/07/07	522	2,346	<issue_start>username_0: I am a computer science student and am currently doing my Master Thesis in Germany. I am in the second month of the six month duration for the Master Thesis. I wish to pursue a PhD after Masters and I was wondering when the right time is to start applying for PhD positions. I found a few positions that start in September 2015 but I would be done with the Masters only at the end of November. Is it alright to start applying for a position from now itself or should I wait for a few months?<issue_comment>username_1: I'd recommend that you start applying a few months before you graduate. The process may easily take several months, and if you want a direct transition, you need to find something before you actually graduate. In most cases, it will be possible to delay the start of a position by a few months. So by all means, if you find an interesting position that starts a bit before you expect to graduate, you should still apply. Just state the date of you expected graduation (month/year is fine) with your application. Note that many potential employers, especially if they don't know you from earlier activities, will want to see results of academic work such as a Masters thesis (or at least a draft for it) or other academic texts. If you can't show anything in that direction, it would be good to first focus on positions where you know the professor. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: The best time to apply depends on the funding type of your Ph.D. position and on whether the start time is fixed. There are generally two funding types, namely, research assistants (wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) and scholarship based funding. For research assistants, a master degree certificate is a legal prerequisite to get employed and if the supervisor doesn't know you personally then he probably won't consider your application until a semi-final draft of your thesis is already done. Supervisors can delay the start of their project only if they find an excellent match. As for scholarship-based positions, you can apply a bit earlier depending on the application deadline. You may even start conditionally without having your master degree certificate issued yet which gives you extra flexibility. Note that issuing the master certificate may take a few months after defending the thesis. Upvotes: 3
2015/07/07	978	3,971	<issue_start>username_0: I am writing a paper in Computer Science / Information Technology. At several points in the paper, I mention the existence of particular types of software products. For example: > > Advanced web data extraction systems offer the possibility for the user to define and execute Web wrappers by means of interactive graphical users interfaces (GUI) (e.g. Denodo, Kapowtech, Lixto and Mozenda). > > > The examples I am referencing are commercial products. Some of them have some articles associated with them which I can cite. Should I add reference to these articles? If yes, how can I do that?<issue_comment>username_1: I suggest to add footnotes as an offer for further reading, if the journal you are writing for allows them. If your target journal does not, this answer may not be applicable to you. --- Citing articles is possible, but: Usually one cites only sources that are contributing to the own scientific work, sources that changed the authors mind on something, that the author argues about, that the author judge to be relevant. If you know a cite-able source that gives proof to your statement, than provide it with your usual citing style (APA, LNI, whatever), but if you just list examples, I suggest you to offer the sources (e.g. web addresses) as further reading in footnotes. In any case web documents are tricky to cite, because they can change over time. This makes them not the best sources for scientific citation. You can lower the risk of changing web documents by using a web preservation service like [WebCite](http://www.webcitation.org). See footnote 1 below as an example. --- Your example could look like this: > > Advanced web data extraction systems offer the possibility for the user to define and execute Web wrappers by means of interactive graphical users interfaces (GUI) [Aut15] (e.g. Denodo1, Kapowtech2, Lixto3 and Mozenda4). > > > --- ``` Footnotes (same page): 1 http://www.denodo.com/ checked on 2015-07-08, archived at http://www.webcitation.org/shortlink 2 http://www.kapowtech.com/ 3 http://www.lixto.com/ 4 https://www.mozenda.com ``` --- ``` Bibliography (appendix): [Aut15] Author Examply 2015 - "On Web data extraction systems" in Paper xyz ``` Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Like any other external resources you mention in your paper, in my opinion, the sources for the examples should be listed as regular references. This can happen in various forms: * If there is a scientific paper that in some way presents the external resource, cite that paper. * If the resource is only presented on a website, cite that website like you would cite other web sources. This can take various forms, though you should be consistent within any one paper you write. The author, unless a single person, should probably be the name of the entity that published the resource. The title can either be the website title, or the name of the resource (e.g. software name). This has various benefits: * All external works are collected in your references section. * If you refer to the same source several times (especially on several pages), you can use the usual mechanisms by placing cite references. * Readers will not get confused by different formats and places for finding external works you refer to. --- In an afterthought, I would find it extremely hard to consistently distinguish "examples" from "normal references". By "normal reference", I imagine a paper that confirms a statement you make. Now, imagine a simple statement like > > In past works, users have been provided with feature X. > > > for which you want to supply a paper that describes a commercial software that does provide feature X. Now, is this paper an "example" or a "normal reference" that serves to confirm your statement? Clearly, it can be seen as both ... which is why I generally advise against trying to distinguish between any such "categories" of cited works. Upvotes: 3
2015/07/07	1,325	5,771	<issue_start>username_0: My question is related to the fact that at a specific conference, if a submission is rejected then the reviewers may instead recommend that it be presented as a poster session. Specifically, consider a paper that has no technical contribution. Rather, assume that it is a superficial survey of the main topics included in a scientific domain, i.e. This new domain should take points A, B, C, etc. into consideration, and some of these points may use technologies D, E, F as solutions. Not much literature surveyed and no results by the author included. Now, it is my understanding that poster sessions are normally works in progress. My questions therefore are: * Can weak surveys fit as poster sessions? Is this normal or unheard of? * Using the case described in paragraph 2 above, have you witnessed papers of the same quality presented as posters at conferences? Most importantly, is this acceptable behaviour? Thanks in advance. Edit: In response to the discussion between xLeitix and O.R. Mapper (thank you both, honestly), I believe my use of the word superficial is a little vague. Let's for example take the combination of two large domains: virtualization and the automotive industry. Instead of the author surveying specific works integrating these two techs, let's assume the author takes the following broad and hence superficial approach: * The author mentions and discusses a few of the major considerations involved in virtualization. * The author mentions and discusses a few of the major considerations involved in vehicular networks * The author mentions a few of the major considerations involved in integrating virtualization and vehicular networks together. * The author ends the paper by discussing how some technologies may address some of the aforementioned issues. The solutions are not in themselves surveyed extensively, but more so: + "This person did this, that one did that to address X, etc.", without any deep or insightful comparisons. + "To address this issue type 2 hypervisors may be more useful", no evidence backing this claim. + etc.. Very brief, the paper is useful in that it groups together eloquently quite a bit of information, albeit, not in an informative way for the expert, but more so for a person starting their research in a similar domain. Hence, my dilemma; the paper would make a great article in a technical magazine, but not as a conference paper. Perhaps as a poster it would be stimulating and beneficial to the authors and for non-experts interested in the domain (possibly stimulating inter-field synergies etc.). I have not seen something like this before, but I am not seasoned; hence, why I ask if this is acceptable, or even normal. Note: The example given is fictional.<issue_comment>username_1: > > Now, it is my understanding that poster sessions are normally works in progress. > > > Not quite. Poster sessions normally readily accept work in progress. However, I have yet to see a poster session that requires the presented work to be in progress, or unfinished. The reason why you normally see much work in progress on poster sessions besides few finished results is that authors who have complete, final results will rather aim for something more reputable than "just" a poster, by trying to publish a regular conference paper. However, it is completely acceptable to present final results on a poster, if you deem a poster to be the best way to draw benefit from your results (e.g. get in touch with other researchers). EDIT: As explained by the updated question, the "final results" are actually just final for a very early step in a research endeavour. It seems that they are meant to show a direction into which future research could proceed. This kind of statements, especially when it refers to the future research that the author would like to start, is rather common on posters. Like this, posters serve two purposes: * On the one hand, they show a small contribution. Even though they are comparably abstract and superficial, the early conclusions on how several aspects can be combined and thus lead to new research questions may provide a good overview of the new topic to other researchers. In this interpretation, the content of the poster is a newly discovered research question that is possibly interesting to other people beside the poster author. * On the other hand, they serve as a request for comments on the author's work. Poster sessions are perfectly suited for finding opportunities to let experienced researchers have a look at one's work and provide comments or enter into a discussion with them. In this interpretation, the content of the poster is a kind of a research proposal. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: > > Can weak surveys fit as poster sessions? Is this normal or unheard of? > > > I feel a poster is a terrible format for a survey, good or bad. Surveys are almost by definition long texts with many, many tables, references, and cross-references. Posters are meant to present an approach or tool in a very, very cursory way (usually with one or two figures and some catchy statements). I see no way to compress a survey into a poster and still achieve any sort of value to the community. > > Specifically, consider a paper that has no technical contribution. Rather, assume that it is a superficial survey of the main topics included in a scientific domain. > > > Just for my sanity - if you yourself think that the survey is very superficial and doesn't add help your community, then why do you want to publish it at all? Even in a "publish or perish" mentality, a poster contribution counts for so little that I wonder why you even bother? Upvotes: 0
2015/07/07	563	2,593	<issue_start>username_0: Typically, scientific debates are published in the form of "letter to the editor" to comment on or criticize a previously published paper. Alternatively, papers within the same volume can refer to each other. In both cases the actual nature of the debate that takes place is rendered incompletely. Are there some viable alternatives or experimental forms of publishing scientific discourse? Maybe on the level of layout and typesetting?<issue_comment>username_1: *caution!* This Answer may only be applicable for Germany / the German intellectual style described by <NAME> in 1981. --- I suggested my supervisor to put my dissertation into a publicly available Git repository. So she or others could peer review it at any time. Suggestions or changes can be merged or rolled back depending on my decision if to accept pull requests or not. A repository saves all the documents history and is offers absolute transparency about the contributions of others (corrected typos, named a new source and so on). Issue tracking can be used to organize open tasks (e.g. chapter needs more clarification, shorten this part, add an example ...) She found the idea nice, but advised me to wait with experiments like this until I have received my degree with a classically published monograph. --- One problem I see lies in the structure of the science community and it's particular public particular industry founded fiscal base. The system makes scientists or research groups to competitors. So no one pre-publishes works or data outside of the (mostly double blind peer reviewed) journals etc. The in-transparent and anonymous review comments that you receive mostly contain more offense than helpful constructive criticism. The scientific discourse, as I experience it, sadly relies mainly on concurrency instead of collaboration. No one risks that another scientist or team publishes first and in doubt receives the founding they (both) applied for. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Some of my work involves development of international standards, on which it can be quite valuable to record the debate leading to a decision. Originally this was done in a very ad hoc fashion, via mailing list archives and notes from meetings, then attempting to write "rationale" into the standard. We are now trying to be more intentional about recording significant debate by using a bug-tracking system on Github. The jury is still out as to whether this will really work or not, but it seems to be an improvement over not having any system in place. Upvotes: 1
2015/07/07	366	1,486	<issue_start>username_0: My PhD is self-funded and I probably change in 2016. Can I apply for a grant now and then change my PhD later? Does it legally or ethically force me to stay and finish the project? Or my Prof can hire another PhD student after me to continue working on that project? UPDATE ------ Let's put it this way: I have a self funded position and everybody including my Prof know that I'll most probably leave next year but I want to get some money as long as I'm here (before changing). Can I apply for a for example 2-year research grant and quit after a year or it obligates me to stay and finish the project?<issue_comment>username_1: You are self funded, so you have no employment contract. You can quit at any time. However, this might not look so good on your CV. You should try and avoid burning bridges with your current supervisor, since a good reference from them would be beneficial. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Of course you are not forced, nor obliged, to finish your current project. But it might very well be that, depending on your grant conditions, you will have to pay back the grant money, fully or partially, when you do not finish the project. Furthermore, it might be wise to try to keep being on good terms with your current professor and colleagues. This is most likely achieved by involving them in your decision and motivations (which you might already be doing, as you write in your question). Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
2015/07/07	1,258	4,956	<issue_start>username_0: I want to have a career as a tenure-track research professor. I have a little over a year left in my PhD in a science/mathematical field, and I don't feel I learned enough during graduate school. I know I can (read: have to) finish my thesis in a year because my adviser is the type to just cobble something together and get you out of here (and there is no funding left)! However, I really love science, I love learning, I love reading, and I love thinking! I just feel due to various reasons (adviser putting me on projects that failed after which I had to switch, etc.), I am grossly underprepared! I have grown intellectually so much since staring my PhD, but when speaking to professors and postdocs at conferences I feel like I can't hold my own. I know part of this is imposter syndrome that I have always struggled with, and part of it is that people can always "talk about" their research and "sound smart" in the short time we're all discussing, but I want to feel like I really understand these topics and that feels like I need more time! They say "thats what postdocs are for!" but I get the feeling its the exact opposite! Professors hire postdocs to do something well and fast, not really bolster their education or mature as researchers. How can I convince someone to hire me as a postdoc, and allow/help me to "fill in the gaps"? Note: this question was also [posted on quora](https://www.quora.com/I-want-to-have-a-career-as-a-university-researcher-How-can-I-correct-for-a-less-than-optimal-PhD-experience), but has so far gone unanswered.<issue_comment>username_1: There are multiple different types of postdocs out there. Some people are just looking for a warm body to fill a technician job more cheaply. Other postdocs give a chance for re-skilling or for more exploratory research, and some (especially in non-university research institutes like foundations, national laboratories, and think tanks) are specifically targeted at giving people the freedom and opportunity to develop their own research identity. So yes: "that's what postdocs are for." You just have to look for the right types of postdocs. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: That's great! That's just how you should feel (1st 2 paragraphs, at least if you're a normal mortal). It means (i) you're not an arrogant fill-in-your-favorite-anatomical-term-here, and (ii) you're motivated to understand things rather than just get out papers. This is what a scholar should be. I felt like there were too many huge gaps in my learning when I was a grad student. I felt like that when I was a postdoc too. I felt like that when I was a new tenure track. I have tenure now, and I still feel that way. I just learned a lot of basic things over the past year that I can't believe I didn't know 5 years ago. Part of this is the impostor syndrome, but part of it is just realizing that there there is so much out there to learn. There is so much out there, and fields are so rich after centuries/millenia of development that you can only learn bits at a time, and you need to find a balance between solving new problems/getting out papers and learning what has already been discovered. This is true for bigshots as well as littleshots. <NAME> (an algebraic geometer at Stanford) says the following, quoted from [this MSE answer](https://math.stackexchange.com/a/3819/11323): > > ...mathematics is so rich and infinite that it is impossible to learn it systematically, and if you wait to master one topic before moving on to the next, you'll never get anywhere. Instead, you'll have tendrils of knowledge extending far from your comfort zone. Then you can later backfill from these tendrils, and extend your comfort zone; this is much easier to do than learning "forwards". > > > I was surprised to hear one of my friends, who is a hotshot and always seemed to know everything, once tell me something like: if we weren't expected to do research, we would spend all of our time just learning the beautiful mathematics that was already discovered. At least in math, any postdoc mentor will expect you to have gaps (otherwise you wouldn't need a postdoc), and most mentors will want to you learn a lot of new things, though it is true that some mentors focus on being productive while learning as little new as possible. So, instead I think you should focus on finding a mentor who you think you can learn a lot from. Here are 2 things to look for: * They work on things at least somewhat different from, or at least from a different perspective than, what you/your advisor do. Then you will be forced to learn more new things working with them. * The professor themself seems to know a lot, so you'll learn a lot just from regular interactions with the professor and their colleagues. This also indicates they're less likely to be of the philosophy of publishing without learning. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
2015/07/08	470	2,087	<issue_start>username_0: I have a website and blog where I discuss an original topic for which I am considering trying to get a grant for undergrad research. I have basically fleshed out the entire theory on these websites. My question: do I need to worry about self-plagiarism if I were to attempt to get a research grant and publish a paper on this topic?<issue_comment>username_1: I would think that "normal" rules would apply here with regard to plagiarism. Writing about similar ideas in different mediums is perfectly fine, however the re-using of text in multiple forms might be problematic (as it would normally be in multiple journal articles on the same subject, for example). Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Generally, no. Self-plagiarism normally refers to reusing material from your previous published, peer-reviewed works. Using material that has not previously been published in a book, peer-reviewed journal or conference, or similar outlet, should not be an ethical problem. Regarding grants: a grant application would normally ask what work you have already completed on the topic. Ethically, you should include any progress that is described in your blog posts. If you've already solved the problem, and you just need to put it in a paper and submit to a journal, you probably won't get the grant. But if your existing, not published-in-journals work, is only preliminary in nature, it shouldn't stop you from getting the grant, nor from using your existing work in a paper to be published. Note that for this, it is irrelevant whether your existing work has been posted on your blog or not; either way, it's progress that you should report in your application. (Note: some of the awkward wording above is intended to clarify matters to readers who use the word "published" to include non-peer reviewed documents posted on web sites, arXiv, etc. That is not my understanding of the common usage of the word in academic circles, but I do not want to be misunderstood; otherwise I would just say "material that has not previously been published".) Upvotes: 3
2015/07/08	559	2,046	<issue_start>username_0: I am interested in using truly free (FLOSS) fonts for my academic writing. What are the most popular free fonts used in academic writing?<issue_comment>username_1: Use what your target journal's guide for authors, and style guide, tell you to use. And if the journal supplies a template, use it. Typefaces vary by journal and by discipline. There is no meaningful single answer of a particular typeface. Assuming you actually do want to get published, then make your submitted paper look as much like existing papers in that journal as possible. And follow the target journals' guide for authors, and style guide. Those documents exist for a reason. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I don't think there's any specific font for academic writing. I don't think anybody cares about the font, you have so many other things to worry about when you are writing an article.. If you are referring to piece that's not professionally edited before publishing, like a poster, or non-published like a blog-post; then there are several guidelines for making a poster visually appealing and easily-readable. In general for printed media, where the resolution is much higher compared to 72 dpi screen) the rule is to go for sans-serif headings/titles and serif text, because it makes it [easier to read](http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2013/03/serif-vs-sans-the-final-battle/). Because posters are supposed to be roomy and not [crammed with text](https://www.google.se/search?q=horrible%20scientific%20poster%20design&safe=off&espv=2&biw=1516&bih=1302&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=6fScVYmoJqq_ygOz0Y-ABQ&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&dpr=1) it's totally viable, and lately popular too, to go with non-serif text in posters as well. Thanks partly to Apple's branding lately Helvetica, and the derivatives thereof, are pretty neat and work well (IMHO). --- PS: I don't think it's on-topic here, but couldn't place it into a category. I don't agree with the close-vote about this being a shopping question. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
2015/07/08	726	3,111	<issue_start>username_0: I was re-writing my CV and I thought that it could be a good idea to include the general/ultimate questions that "drive me to do science" or in particular "the kind of science I want to work in". I don't want to make this personal. I would like to know if this kind of questions are acceptable/desirable or not a good idea. I am a little bit prone to Biology questions because that's my area but I would love to have this question edited with other areas questions (example for physics: How do particles X and Y interact when condition=Z?) Independent Examples I can think of: * How do we learn? * What drives animal instinct? * How does an ecosystem work and fluctuates? * How do plants deal with stress factors? * Which is the origin of the cell? I know that this might be quite naive/text book questions. However, I also believe that the eagerness to answer them is what really drives science forward. UPDATE I believe that the best/most used place to put these questions is the Statement of Purpose, or any other type of "motivation letter". I've found that many CV templates free available have an area dedicated for "Career Goal" or something equivalent. My understanding is that this is a brief place where you must include the most important part of what you would develop in a longer text. Also, when you send your CV (to a PI for example) you don't send a motivation letter with it. They are most used for application to universities and grant proposals.<issue_comment>username_1: Ignoring exactly where you would put questions (e.g., CV or SoP), your example questions are inappropriate everywhere. They are such broad, unanswerable questions that they tell the reader little about you. The combination of questions makes the already broad even worse. If you are going to put questions/topics that interest you, they need to be specific enough, and ideally well thought out enough that they tell something abut you. Instead of "how do we learn", maybe something like "in associative learning how does the saliency of the unconditional stimulus affect learning outcomes", if that is what you are interested in. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: It's always a little risky to put "ultimate" questions on your CV -- often they're questions that everyone else has as well and that people don't know how to answer. You risk coming across as naive or even pretentious because you're effectively trying to associate yourself in people's minds with hard problems that you don't (at least right now) know how to solve. It's much better to stick to (a) things that you've done, (b) things that you're working on right now, (c) achievable things that you want to work on and that you have some specific ideas about. Basically, being eager and keen to work on things is great, making your CV focus on your eagerness to do things rather than your ability to do them is not so great. It's clearly important to say what you want to work on, but the goal is to say it in a calm, measured way that makes it sound plausible to everybody else. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
2015/07/08	265	1,152	<issue_start>username_0: Google Scholar allows you to do forward search via cited by - that is, you can get a list of references that cite a given reference. Is there any way to do backward search, i.e. get a list of references cited BY a given reference? I realize that you can always click the reference, go to the journal page, and likely get the reference list there, but I am wondering if there is any way to do it within the context of Google Scholar.<issue_comment>username_1: Weirdly, I don't think that Google Scholar provides that feature, even though they clearly parse and store this information internally. This does indeed sound like a nice feature to have access to. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Unfortunately, Google Scholar only provides the list of publications that cite a given reference. However, if you have access to Web of Science, to look up a list of references cited in a given publication, you can use the "Cited References" tool. Note that some journals are not indexed by Web of Science. In that case, you will need to look up the bibliography in the full text of the publication. Upvotes: 2
2015/07/08	647	2,540	<issue_start>username_0: I am currently doing a PhD in maths, in the UK. UK PhD scholarship are typically only 3 years, and mine can't be extended. I do need every day of these three years to finish my thesis. For a small fee, I can hand in my thesis up to 1 year after the money has run out. I now received an offer from a german university for a half-time teaching position in theoretical computer science. The position would start 3 months before my PhD scholarship ends. Should I accept this offer? A [similar question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/849/can-i-pursue-a-phd-while-working-as-an-instructor-lecturer) has been asked before, but there are a few circumstances that make the decision harder: * The university where I could teach is in germany. It typically takes a day to go from one place to the other, and it isn't too cheap. (There might be some financial support from the german uni.) So I would be meeting my supervisor significantly less often, but possibly this is not so much a problem towards the end of the PhD? * I would have to switch fields. While there is enough overlap between the particular topics so that I can learn the teaching material without too much effort, I'm unsure how risky this is for my career. In the worst case, I will not be able to establish myself in computer science because I would "only" have a maths PhD, and could neither return to maths because I left the field for too long a time. But again I'm not sure, how realistic these apprehensions are.<issue_comment>username_1: First you have to ask your advisor. You can't just leave with 3 months left on your scholarship. Angering your advisor is a terrible idea in a field where it's likely that everyone knows everyone else. Second, you're going to be extremely overwhelmed at how much work it is to teach a new course. Even though you're only teaching half time it's going to have a huge impact on slowing your thesis progress down. It's possible that you might not even finish. However, you do have to take into account your finances. If this is the only job you think you might get it might be necessary to pursue it so that you have income. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Of course, it's up to you, but since you asked …. If you were to ask me, I'd say 'no', but I am not you. What is your family situation? Lifestyle? It seems high-risk. Do you speak fluent German? I think that it's good (as said above) to consult with your advisor, other relevant colleagues, and consider their opinion. Upvotes: 0
2015/07/08	634	2,777	<issue_start>username_0: I used statistical language R to fit probability distribution to acquired data. Instead of doing it by hand I relied on code. I wrote something like "probability density function was computed using programming language R (for more details see appendix A)". And appendix A has exact code to compute this. I also put reference to R package documentation. Is it bad to rely external tools for proof?<issue_comment>username_1: It's very common to include code when code was used. That being said, it's not clear whether you should think of this as "proof" of something in a rigorous mathematical sense, or whether is constitutes evidence in your argument. How accepted this is will depend on the community you are trying to convince. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: It is fine to put it in your appendix / supplemental info, but it's not really necessary. Computing something as simple as a PDF should be easy for anyone. It's along the lines of including your work to convert from atomic units to Joules. However, enough people have forgotten to normalize correctly so there's nothing bad about including it. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: From what I can guess about the context, I would avoid putting the code in your paper unless: 1. the code is really short (say no more than half a column); 2. the code is interesting in itself; 3. and you know that your average reader understands the language R. Otherwise, it would probably better to omit the code altogether and write, in a note, something like: > > To those interested, the authors can provide the R code employed to compute the probability density functions described in this work. > > > Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: You can put the source code in the appendix but it is not necessary. 1). For it to really matter that there is code in the appendix the read would need to have a basic understanding of programming to at least get the general idea.Other wise as soon as they see something like randomCode = NSString.format"string here"; they are so lost they'll skip over it. 2).If the length of the code is short and doesn't take up much space then even if the reader doesn't understand it you could use it as a "Hey this is the code" and not take up too much space for something the reader may have no understanding of. If the code is lengthy and takes up too much room (this is all dependent of the overall length of all of the other content) then even if the reader is a code junkie it's just too much. 3). You could post the code or at least parts of it and then explain what it actually means for example "This algorithm above is what takes all of the students grades and compiles them from a numeric value into a letter grade. Upvotes: 0
2015/07/08	769	3,327	<issue_start>username_0: I just received an email of my paper which was submitted to a conference. The paper submission webpage has the following type of status: > > active (under review), discuss, withdrawn, rejected, minor > revision, major revision, accepted, no show, published > > > The status of my paper shows "accepted". However, the reviewer of my papers have pointed out some shortcomings of my paper. (Personally, I think what the comments meant is that it would be nice to have things include in my paper). So the question is, do I need to make that adjustment for the "camera-ready" version? Is it true that only if the status says "minor revision" then you will have to adjust according to the reviewer's comment?<issue_comment>username_1: I would interpret "accepted" as "accepted in its current form", i.e. you do not have to make any changes. But in order to be sure, ask the editor or program committee. If you want to make changes based on the reviewer's comments, that is most likely possible; but again, you should ask the editor to make sure it is okay, and to find out when those changes would be due. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: If it is accepted, then it is to be presented and subsequently published, regardless of whether you make the changes or not. Accepted pending changes (i.e. minor revision or major revision) means that you have to perform the requested changes before the paper may be accepted. Generally, reviewer comments are there to strengthen the paper's quality, your research, or both. If you ignore the comments because they don't make sense or simply because you decide not to put the effort, then at least be prepared to justify your choice come time for you to present your work at the conf. Tldr: You are not obliged to make any changes once it's accepted. Accepted = it'll be presented. It's better that you do the changes. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I would make the corrections if the criticisms are valid. Regardless of where it is published, you want your work to speak for itself. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: If the reviewers have suggested revisions, you should try to incorporate the suggested changes as far as possible, unless you strongly disagree with some of the comments. Reviewer comments are meant to improve the quality of your paper, and making the changes will ensure that you present an improved version of your paper to your readers. Regarding the new graphic that you wish to add, I would suggest that you ask the Editor if you can do so. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Conferences usually do not have a "revision" process, where the reviewers could demand changes prior to publication. They either reject, or accept. Nevertheless, they may make some suggestions that could improve your paper a lot. So unless the suggested changes would require major reworking, I suggest to consider them. Better spend a few hours now to make your paper better, than to regret later. In a few years, you may wish to had mad some of these changes. A better paper gets more attention and citations; even better spelling and presentarion can pay off. In particular if a reviewer makes some suggestions on what is confusing, it may also confuse other readers in the future. So improve the explanations, too. Upvotes: 2
2015/07/08	398	1,884	<issue_start>username_0: I'm writing a research paper and there are some concepts which I think would help a reader to understand the study better. However, I'm not sure where to put this section. Should I put it right after the Introduction? Or before Literature Review?<issue_comment>username_1: Conventions like this vary between fields. Look at other papers in your field or subfield, and do what they do. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Right in the introduction / Background. That's where you introduce everything, including concepts the reader needs to know. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: I would put the section in question before the first section, where the concepts you want to define are mentioned. However, note that, generally, you have two options, in my opinion. The first is to collect definitions (potentially, with brief explanations) under a separate section, which is usually called "Definitions of Terms". The second option is not to have a separate section, but to present the concepts' definitions and explanations as your paper's story line unfolds. While the benefit of having a separate section is clarity and ease of use for less advanced readers, the advantage of embedding concepts' definitions and explanations into the paper's main text is an opportunity to provide much more detailed explanations as well as smooth integration with the rest of material. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: Definitions of key concepts are important to the understanding of your paper. Hence, it is preferable to have them as a separate section under the title "Definition of terms." This section should be be placed towards the beginning of the paper, before you start with the major content. I would place it in the introduction, immediately after the statement of the problem at hand and the purpose of the study. Upvotes: 1
2015/07/08	1,103	4,959	<issue_start>username_0: Short and simple question. Am I allowed to not include my email at a publication? On a related note, what should I do if I don't have an e-mail address, or have an e-mail address at my university which will expire when I leave the university?<issue_comment>username_1: You should put your email on your paper. Not doing so means people who want to contact you can't, and it's obnoxious, non-collegial, and extremely unusual in science. As for what address to use, I see two main paths: "permanent" and "traceable": For the "permanent" path: many universities have a permanent alumni email address, which you can set up while still there and which is an excellent choice for long-term usage. If you don't have access to such, you can get a free address (Gmail is a good "professional" choice, but others can be as well; don't use AOL, Hotmail, or others with a poor reputation). The advantage of this approach is that your address need never change; the disadvantage is that you may not be using an email associated with your primary affiliation. For the "traceable" path: it is worth recognizing that even when you have a "permanent" position, such as a tenured faculty post, that it may not be permanent. People relocate away from long-term jobs for all sorts of reasons, and an email address thought to be forever is not. Everybody who wants to contact you will understand this. Thus, rather than use Gmail, you might instead just make sure you always maintain an easily identifiable web presence that includes information about your former affiliations and papers. Thus, when somebody searches for you, they can easily link you and your paper, even if your email has changed. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Whether you can choose not to include your email address in your paper depends on the journal. Some journals make it mandatory for the authors to include their e-mail addresses, while others do not mention anything about email addresses in their guidelines. Read the journal guidelines carefully; you can choose to not include your email address if the journal does not have any problem with it. Having said that, I would say that you should provide some other detail that will allow readers to contact you. This is required for two reasons: first, to establish your credibility, and second, to be available to readers if they wish to contact you for some clarification. I can understand your concern that the university email is not permanent. However, you can definitely use a personal email address (although an institutional email looks more professional), or provide the link to your website or any other webpage that will provide your updated contact information. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: If you are the only author, providing an e-mail address (or at least another form of contacting you) is highly adviseable, as explained by several of the other answers. *If you are not* the only author,** and some of the other authors can provide a more permanent e-mail address, then it depends on the conference or journal whether you can skip providing your e-mail address. If the conference or journal allows so, you do not need to provide an e-mail address, as the other authors already provide some contact information that is probably more reliable/durable than your own address. Otherwise, in the worst case, future readers might, of all of the indicated addresses, pick yours, with either of the following results: * If you manage to convince someone to prolong it, for one reason or another you might not check it any longer (e.g. no convenient forwarding feature) and the reader will not get a quick response. * If your address is deleted, the reader will get back an error message (which, IMHO, is worse than implicitly having them write to a more reliable address in the first place by not listing an address that is known to expire soon) or, even worse, no indication that something was wrong, even though no-one will ever receive the e-mail. * If you set up an extra address specifically for the papers, once again you might end up not checking it (unless it actually is your personal address, and at least I personally can very well understand if you would not want to divulge that in any publicly accessible place like a paper, same as you possibly wouldn't publish your home address). Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: The main reason I don't like putting my email address on the paper is because my inbox becomes rapidly flooded with requests to become a reviewer for some vanity press or international journal or an endless list of requests to publish in journals that are not PubMed indexed or charge money to submit. What's more, I would prefer not to put my institution on their either, particularly if the work was not supported by my institution or reflects controversial views not sponsored by my employer. I haven't found a way around that, though. Upvotes: 1
2015/07/09	1,318	5,308	<issue_start>username_0: When starting a Ph.D. position, one naturally expects that there should be some kind of supervision of his work. That is, their advisors should be aware of the state-of-the-art and be willing to sit and discuss research directions and provide pointers to the literature. In some cases, advisors may be too "bossy," expecting their students to be "good soldiers" doing what they are told to do without many questions about its research value. However, it's also not uncommon for advisors to be "hands-off," basically leaving their students on their own and so they come back only when they have something to publish. Navigating solely through the literature is arguably the worst part of [Ph.D Grind](http://pgbovine.net/PhD-memoir.htm). It's all too easy for a student with undeveloped "feel" for problems to spend months trying to shape a proper research plan. That is what happened in my case, where I needed more than a year. Now that I've started with actual experimentation I realized that the workload may be a bit high for a single person. Therefore, I'm expecting that I'll need more than a year before I start publishing results. Given that I'm working totally independently on my Ph.D. degree, can I state that to future academic employers as a justification for what could be sub-optimal research work? or would that sound like I'm not taking full responsibility?<issue_comment>username_1: You should be very, very careful about seeming to criticize your own department or supervisor. It might be unfair that you received sub-optimal results, but if you try to blame somebody else for your results, search committee members are much more likely to just think you are a complainer or a malcontent. The best advice at this early stage in your career: either find a way to work together better with your advisor, or switch advisors. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: > > Given that I'm working totally independently on my Ph.D. degree, can I state that to future academic employers as a justification for what could be sub-optimal research work? or would that sound like I'm not taking full responsibility? > > > Well, are you taking full responsibility? It does not sound like it to me. Basically, playing the blame game is never a good idea in the hiring circuit. You will try to frame your situation as "I was in a bad spot, but I made the best of it even if the outcome wasn't great", but to everybody who is hiring it will sound like "I was in a bad spot, and I made no attempts to change the spot". Even worse, in your specific situation, what I hear is "I was in a pretty regular spot [my advisor did not spoon-feed me with ideas, and I needed some time to get started], and now I am pretending like I was in a very bad spot". What you should do: * Re-evaluate your expectations. Being "more than a year in" when you start publishing sounds quite normal to me. Having "wasted" some time researching directions that did not work out is also the most normal thing in the world in science. * Start taking responsibility. Do good work in the environment you are in, or change the environment. * Accept that in a PhD study, the by far dominating factor of your success is you. Advisors, topics, environment matter. You matter much, much more. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: You never want to pass the blame to someone else that's career suicide. Consider quitting a job and then at an interview you are asked "Why did you quit?" and you going to answer with "My boss did not pay enough attention to my work so I could not perform as well" while that might be true that doesn't mean it's a good idea. As soon as you throw someone under the bus during an interview the employer is to assume you'd throw them and/or their company down the same way. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: > > Given that I'm working totally independently on my Ph.D. degree, > > > Well, it seems quite normal to me. That's your PhD, your research. The advisor is here to provide guidance, not to work with you or for you (while the former is of course the ideal situation). > > can I state that to future academic employers as a justification for what could be sub-optimal research work? > > > You can state whatever you want, but keep in mind that the hiring process in academia is a competition. If your application is weaker than the others, you won't be recruited, even if there are solid explanations to the weakness of your application. I'd like to add a point on your sentence "Navigating solely through the literature is arguably the worst part of Ph.D Grind. ". I don't know in which field you're at, but if you don't like this part, you will have a painful academic life. In some fields most of the time is dedicated to literature (art, history, etc.), and even in the most recent fields (CS for instance), it's still a large part of the working load. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: The whole point of being awarded a PhD is that you're able to develop your own research ideas and carry them out. If you go whining that you did badly because you were forced to develop your own research ideas and carry them out to get a PhD you're not going to get sympathy from anyone. You're definitely never going to get a postdoc. Upvotes: 1
2015/07/09	1,325	5,824	<issue_start>username_0: I am wondering this because I love electronics, but I go to a college which is mostly for vocational training. Often times I feel like our courses are 40% waste of time (usually too much industry software and/or uninterested lecturers giving compulsory classes). So I had this idea of taking a year off to focus on my own projects as I did over last summer. Since I am not sure a masters degree will teach me anything that a book can not, I was wondering whether I could do applied research at home permanently and potentially make money off of it? Right now I earn some money at home online via a site I own. Not much, but enough to get me by. I know how to read and I spend 10 hours in the library with ease (as I have been told this is how grad students work their way through projects). I mostly work on small-scale electronics, like currently an abbreviated type of joystick for paraplegics (that a paraplegic friend suggested). I work alone, at least at the moment. Could I work on projects on my own and make a life out of this or should I try to join a good university for my masters? How are people without degrees regarded?<issue_comment>username_1: In the academia, degrees matter, being used as the main gatekeeping mechanism for identifying the pool of eligible applicants for positions at universities. Typically, the higher up you climb up the degree ladder (Master's, PhD) the more (and fancier) doors open. In private industry, the majority of companies still require at least a bachelor's degree. So if you are considering working for a company at least for a short period of time to develop additional skills, I would highly recommend finishing a bachelor's degree. In some startups (especially Internet startups), you may be able to secure a position through networking with the founders (who sometimes themselves are dropouts). But it sounds like you prefer to lay your own path in this life. I think you could make a living out of this by becoming an independent inventor, receiving and then either selling patents to corps or developing them into businesses on your own. You could also work as independent consultant (formally, a sole proprietor) offering software and/or hardware engineering solutions to businesses. In this case, it is important to develop expertise in a fairly narrow niche, such as robot sensors, a programming language (e.g. Java), or a particular manufacturing process in a specific industry (e.g. programming car electronics for auto manufacturers). Typically, a way to develop such skills is to actually work for a company with a focus in this niche, then striking on your own. To build up experience, also consider design competitions (e.g. [dexigner.com/design-competitions](http://dexigner.com/design-competitions)). While some of these are for students affiliated with universities, others are open to anyone. These options are not necessarily either/or, so you might be able to stitch a successful career and comfortable living by combining two or three of them at once, varying only the extent to which you allocate your time and energy to each of these pursuits. The most important thing is, to make sure you have fun no matter what you do. If it ain't fun, it ain't worth doing. You seem to have the talent and motivation to pursue your interests, which many people dream of but only a few have the guts to actually do. Good luck! Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: IF you are planning to work for someone else then it could be difficult to get hired next to someone with a Grad degree. Though if you were to work for yourself it IS indeed possible to make a living based on your research, findings, and application. The hardest part for you though will be accreditation. Are you someone who knows what they are doing and have good intentions or are you an 8 year old who can make things up? When things come to the online medium you never really know who you are dealing with. You need to get you name out there in order for people in the higher education and professional realm to take your research seriously. Work on getting your name out there and if you can do research with someone who is accredited and has a Grad school degree. The hardest part is getting started because if you do hit it big and have something viable to sell to a company or even a good you are able to make yourself there's no sales unless people know who they are dealing with. Networking is a powerful thing. If you can find people who do what you want to do reach out and ask them how they got started find out how they networked and who to look for in connections. The more connections you have the better your chances are of "making it" with your solo venture. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: Probably best to have a combination of personal projects and formal schooling. Electronics is one of those fields where you can make something useful on your own and enjoy moderate success (especially if you can interface them in useful ways to technology; search for "Maker's Movement" and related topics like arduino/micro-controllers for some ideas). A standard type of job using electronics will probably require knowledge of at least some of that industry software you've seen in your current program, or other useful skills that might be harder to pick up on your own. Additionally, lack of formal qualifications could be viewed with suspicion and might prevent you from getting a job that you are a perfect candidate for. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: If you really mean research -- as opposed to experimenting with components already made, which is almost always going to be development -- you probably can't do it without a major investment in lab equipment. It's unlikely many of us can afford that on our own. Upvotes: 0
2015/07/09	3,247	13,352	<issue_start>username_0: I am currently in my second year of my PhD and I am having a horrible time. I feel like I am not cut out for academia and I frequently have anxiety attacks. I would like to do something else, and if it was a normal job I would definitely start looking for another job. I'm worried I'll lose my reference (And he's a good reference to lose :() and I'm also feeling guilty. I have taken two years of funding and now I just want to leave unpublished? Ethically I feel terrible. The trouble is it is massively affecting my mental health. I have had to seek help from the student services with this. I cry all the time. I've lost my motivation. I'd really like a job in the charity sector or in health education where I can help people and feel like I make a difference. The trouble is I don't imagine quitting a PhD or considering leaving a PhD looks particularly great on a CV. I have so many reasons to leave and so many to stay. Any advice?<issue_comment>username_1: 1- First, you would not be losing 2 years. In those 2 years, you learned things and developed your skills. In your current mental health state, it is probably hard to view this experience as positive, but I suggest you give it a try. Maybe make a list of the skills and experience you gained with your PhD. 2- Get professional help, as stated in the comments. Once you feel a bit better, you'll be ready to take a decision. 3- I get the feeling that most of your reasons to stay are linked with advisor-related guilt (funding, no publication, no reference for future work). You would be surprised, but most advisors are human, and did a PhD. He/She can probably understand your problems and help you reach a decision. Maybe he/she could even suggest some ideas to reduce your guilt (quit the program, but write an article on the side or help another person to pick up where you left). If your advisor is not human (which, seems to happen sometimes), there's probably a department head that could mediate discussion between you and your advisor about quitting the program. But you need to discuss with your advisor. Good luck and take care. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: I've never been a PhD student myself, but I can offer this: I've worked with several people who did not finish their PhDs. In those cases, not finishing their PhDs did not count against them. In fact, I've worked with companies where finishing a PhD did count against those people (the hiring managers assumed that if you finished a PhD, you probably weren't actually interested in a job outside of academia). It also doesn't seem to be an all-or-nothing proposition. From what I've heard (again, from my not-finished-PhD coworkers), it is usually possible to go on leave from your PhD program. There are actually many good academic reasons to do this - for example, because you want to see how your ideas fare in practice, or because you want to understand what problems practitioners in a field actually face. The change of pace might re-invigorate your desire to finish your PhD, or you might find something you care about more than finishing your PhD. I don't know your particular situation, but this might be something worth looking at. If you have any idea that you might want to move to work in industry instead, it would be a good idea to reach out to someone who works in an area you might work in, discuss with them what it's like, what the job prospects are like, etc. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: I would suggest trying to figure out what you want and not worrying about feeling guilty about displeasing your advisor or using up some funding. Remember that advisors don't use their personal dollars to fund you, and when you're funded, it's for work you are performing, not for some future promise. Also, it's your life, and whether you stay or go matters a lot more to you than to anyone else! You can also look into whether you can get a Master's degree if you quit now. This is common at many universities. And it can help you feel like you haven't wasted two years. As a side note, if a student of mine told me he/she wanted to quit, I would try to offer the best advice and be supportive. I wouldn't "hold it against them" ethically, and I would still write them a letter of recommendation. I think most advisors feel the same way. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: If this is helpful at all, research wasn't right for me (it didn't fit my personality and it was very stressful being a grad student; it robbed me of my social and family life, my hobbies--all I did was work and felt guilty taking any time for myself or others) and so I quit my PhD after 4 years of coursework (I had finished my coursework but had not yet found a workable dissertation topic after a year or two of false starts and one change of advisors; research just wasn't for me). I received a guilt trip by my advisor for having "wasted" funding, but of course I never planned to quit at the outset, so it was not unethical to leave if it wasn't working out. Almost 6 years later I am extremely happy with my decision though it was extremely scary at the time--I felt like I was failing and ruining my life. But I found a good job at a good company, and not having a PhD freed me up to not do research-type jobs at that company (it seems that having a PhD in industry can sometimes pigeon-hole you into research jobs). I already had a Masters for what it's worth, which was plenty for what I wanted to do (computer related field in the U.S.). Also I think that just having 4 years of coursework at a good grad school really helped me get the job; no one seemed to care that I didn't finish the PhD (I think many very smart talented people start PhD's and don't finish them, so it doesn't seem to be a negative thing at all--most people I tell about it just smile understandingly, realizing that a PhD is extremely grueling and there's no shame in not finishing it). In summary, I'm not telling you to quit or telling you to keep going, I just wanted to give my story in case it helps you in any way. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: I've been in your position and am currently on my way out of my PhD program by mastering out. When I first felt that my Chemistry PhD program was not the right path for me I was three months into my first year. I was doing rotations at the time, and everything felt wrong. I forced myself to do homework, forced myself to do research, forced myself to read papers. I had never had to force myself to do anything during undergrad, so this feeling was terrifying. I didn't enjoy any of the work I did and I was starting to realize that I didn't even like doing basic research. I didn't want to be cooped up in a laser lab for the rest of my life. I realized that I wanted out. But it's not that easy. When you first start having the inkling that the academic life may not be for you, it can be frightening. It can feel like you are a "quitter" or you may have some reservations about what other individuals in your cohort may think or you may feel that you are harming your future career. All of these feelings are mind games that we play with ourselves and they are games that are hard to let go. I just want you to know that all of these thoughts are pointless, and quite frankly, untrue. Another issue that came along is the guilt of wanting to leave. Since PhD students are getting monetary support in some form or another it can feel very dishonest to our advisors to continue to take support with the intention of leaving. We want to leave gracefully on good terms, but it always seems as though we're leaving our advisors in a lurch. The guilt of this dishonesty began to affect my life physically and mentally. I began having constant anxiety and severe headaches that ultimately landed me in a case of depression. I sought help from my university's mental health program and I'm back on track towards being my old self again. The point of me sharing all of this is that this is your life. You do not have to do anything you don't want to do. When I first told someone I care about what I was feeling he said, "If I was doing something I didn't like, I wouldn't do it." A PhD is a commitment of time, body, and mind. If you are not doing what you want to do or gaining something in your future career by being in this program, then it's time to move on. First, seek psychiatric help. Immediately. Until you start to stabilize your mental health, you will not be able to make any rational or helpful decisions for your future. I initially made the mistake of thinking that my issues were not important enough to seek help (compared to other people) and that the counselors would think I was just being pathetic. This is not true. That's the anxiety talking. Get in there and get the help you need. Second, think about why you initially wanted to go to graduate school. Was it because you wanted to be an academic? Or because you didn't know what your next step should be, so more school sounded right? Are you passionate about your subject? Or is it something that you and others believed you were good at so you should keep on doing it? This was my number one big mistake about grad school. Make sure you are there for the right reasons. Third, think about your personality in grad school. Oftentimes (especially in the sciences), PhD students are alone. We are in environments that foster individuality, competition, and (to be honest) very little constructive advice. It can be very alienating. Does this environment fit your personality? Personality isn't always a great factor, because you can overcome this issue if you really love your work. For me, it was just another affirmation that the program was not a good fit. Fourth, try your best to not worry what others (including your advisor) will think of you. Try to control that guilt, that "I'm a quitter" feeling, that embarassment. You are making a decision for you. In my experience, when I told others in my cohort why I was leaving and what my next step was no one was condescending, snide or hurtful. Everyone was encouraging. As for advisors, they know. They can tell in your work. I finally let mine know, and it's been fine. As long as you're doing the work that you're getting paid for, there aren't any bad feelings. No one wants to force you to do something you don't want to do. Lastly, start outlining what you want your future to be. I started by talking to the graduate advisor and switching to the Master's degree track and finishing the requirements. (This is very important. If you can, finish the Master's degree. You should earn something for the time that you spent in your program and this shows your future employers that when you set out to do something, you finish it in one form or another.) I then began making a list of tasks and aspects of my previous work that I enjoyed and incorporated that into something I am passionate about. I have been volunteering at charities and non-profits to get experience. I started networking through employment fairs, county fairs, and anything else I can get my hands on. Now, I'm applying to internships and I'll have my Master's degree by December. I no longer feel remorse or am upset by my choice. I'm excited for what is coming next. The long and short of all of this is: tell people you care about what is going on, get the help that you need, and keep your chin up. Hang in there. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: In addition to some good advice (especially, the answer by @username_1, +1), I would recommend to use one of more calm periods to analyze (and, if needed, readjust or set) your goals and corresponding priorities, both short-term and long-term. Doing that might clear your mind and, hopefully, will help you to build a pragmatic strategy, based on the above-mentioned priorities and goals. As others have said, do not hesitate to ask for any help, both professional (medical and/or psychological) and simply human support from family, friends and beyond. Just keep in mind that many people struggle with similar issues, but you need to figure out what would work best for you in your particular situation. Best wishes! Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: Having left grad school for stress-related reasons myself, I can tell you I don't regret leaving at all. I was very excited about the research I was doing, but upon finding a job that would allow me to do something else I equally enjoy (but without the PhD), I knew it was the right decision. If I were you, I would start by looking at what else is out there. You mentioned going into charity or health education - what types of jobs in those fields would interest you? Are you qualified to do them? What's the competition going to be like to get the job? Once you have a list of potential options, try doing an interview or two just to see how you can expect to be received into those fields. I guarantee you will have an easier time making the decision when you know what your options are. Also, don't worry about how an incomplete degree looks. The company I currently work for is extremely proud of having "stolen" me from grad school, and if you leave to start a career, I bet your company will be proud of "stealing" you too :) Upvotes: 1
2015/07/09	2,806	11,587	<issue_start>username_0: One common piece of advice for weak students who want to go into academia is that they do a terminal master's degree first before applying to PhD programmes. This, however, bothers me for two reasons: * If I'm not mistaken, master's degrees are, in some places, often seen as the first of a two-part process to getting advanced degrees, where the PhD is the second part. (This is the sense I get of many non-American systems.) So finding a terminal master's programme doesn't sound that simple to me, although this may depend on the field. * I would imagine that there's still a need for decent grades / recommendations / etc. to get into a master's programme in the first place. Something like GRE scores can be readily fixed via preparation, but a lack of appropriate coursework (due to concentration mismatch) or poor grades cannot be, and this might also mean very weak recommendations. In some fields where doing research assistant jobs after graduation are common, this might be still resolvable, but it does not appear to be so in something like math or the humanities. If so, how viable it is actually to get into a terminal master's programme in order to boost future applications to PhD programmes?<issue_comment>username_1: As per the comments, you are interested in finding information from various places around the world, so I will provide a perspective from Germany (possibly limited, as there is a partial focus on computer science and closely related degrees, with which I am more experienced compared to other areas): > > If I'm not mistaken, master's degrees are, in some places, often seen as the first of a two-part process to getting advanced degrees, where the PhD is the second part. > > > As described [elsewhere](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/47467/you-must-have-a-relevant-bachelors-degree-to-get-into-european-grad-schools-in), Bachelor and Master often form a consecutive unit in Germany. The reason is historical, as the former Diplom degrees were cut into two parts approximately in the middle to insert the Bachelor degree after the first part of the studies. Studying for a doctoral degree optionally followed for some students after graduating with a Diplom, and likewise, it now optionally follows for some students after graduating with a Master's degree. Therefore, at least in Germany, the Master's degree is the second of a two-part process of getting "basic, industry-level" degrees (the first part being the Bachelor's degree). Accordingly, in [2011](https://www.bmbf.de/de/7222.php) and [2012](http://www.faz.net/aktuell/beruf-chance/studie-der-master-ist-der-regelabschluss-11819371.html) (sources only in German, sorry), about 3/4 of all students who graduate from a German university with a Bachelor's degree continued to study for a Master's degree. The doctoral degree is something separate that only a smaller fraction of students who graduated with a Master's degree start, as it usually focuses on research rather than educating a highly skilled employee for the industry. Therefore, as an answer to your first question > > So finding a terminal master's programme doesn't sound that simple to me, although this may depend on the field. > > > While there are some disciplines (chemistry maybe?) where traditionally many Master graduates continue for a doctoral degree, entering the Master's degree as a terminal degree before completing one's higher education and starting to work full-time is rather the default in Germany. > > I would imagine that there's still a need for decent grades / recommendations / etc. to get into a master's programme in the first place. > > > Again related to the aforementioned historical development, there is a strong feeling that whoever has successfully completed their Bachelor's degree must be allowed to continue their studies if they so desire (as with the former Diplom degrees, no-one would be kicked out in the middle of their studies, either, unless they actually failed the requirements). While I am not sure whether it is always possible at all universities to accommodate everyone who would like to continue with a Master's degree, I could get some limited insight into the "selection process" for which Bachelor graduates may continue with the Master studies on a few occasions. The general guideline was that unless there were any absolutely terrible obstacles (with previous marks that are bad, and just enough to fulfil the minimum requirements to get a Bachelor's degree explicitly not counting as such an obstacle), every applicant should be accepted. Hence, getting into a Master's programme is not an overly hard problem; chances that one has to abort these studies due to failing exams during the Master studies are likely to be considerably higher. This leaves two final summarizing statements: > > If so, how viable it is actually to get into a terminal master's programme > > > In Germany, probably rather viable. > > in order to boost future applications to PhD programmes? > > > In Germany, it's not a "boost" in the sense that improves chances prior to getting the degree; [for most, if not all doctoral programmes, having a Master's degree is a minimum requirement](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/16035/phd-in-germany-after-bachelors). Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Speaking from a humanities perspective, I know of people who have gotten Master's degrees before going on to do a Ph.D. (usually at a different university). If the question is whether this will boost an applicant's chances of getting into a Ph.D. program, it depends. The real measure is always going to be the quality of the student's work, the strength of the recommendations, and their previous academic record. Obviously, these are all things that can be improved on by getting a Master's first. But all of this will still be measured against all the other applicants to the program, and in that reckoning it is not necessarily an advantage by itself. Most top Ph.D. programs (again, I can only speak for the humanities) do not even offer a terminal Master's, so the value may be negligible when applying to them. Even those schools that do offer them will not usually offer an increased chance of admittance to the higher degree program, and the student would still be evaluated on an equal footing with other applicants—ideally, too! Furthermore, the credits earned in the Master's program may not even transfer to the Ph.D. program. They could satisfy certain other requirements, but as far as I know you have to start over from the beginning when embarking on a Ph.D. It's a complete package, in other words, so while you may get valuable experience doing the Master's (and probably pay a premium for it), you'd have to repeat much of it again anyway, further putting its value in question. But, like I said, I know people who have done it. Job prospects and rates of attrition being what they are, the advice you will often hear is a Ph.D. is only worth doing if you can get into a top program, and if you can't get your Ph.D. paid for, then you shouldn't get one at all. That's rather cynical, and you can counter it with talk of dreams and perseverance, but if a person hasn't demonstrated an academic inclination by the time they graduate college, it may be wishful thinking to presume it's possible to change, catch up, or otherwise compensate for what is lacking in the initial application package. This is just my own perspective. Your question cannot be answered definitively because there is no formula, and admissions decisions are made by human beings who tend to have strong opinions, who negotiate over the make-up of any incoming class, and who may value different things than their colleagues for different reasons. It's worth considering the opportunity cost of spending money on a Master's that may lead nowhere versus some other, more promising career path. Of course there's no harm in furthering an education for its own sake (and you can tell yourself this if things don't work out), but I would say it's not worth it to get one of these degrees, for the most part. Most Master's programs seem to me to be cash cows for the universities, and you won't necessarily learn more about a subject by sitting in graduate seminars than you could on your own for free. That's the really cynical opinion! But graduate education is about professionalization, for the most part, not just teaching you more information. You might say that in college you learn how to acquire knowledge, whereas in grad school you learn how to use knowledge to create more of it. Only a very few number of people end shaping any given discourse compared to the number of people who try to get there. It's a long shot for everyone. The best advice is to get as much advice as possible from different people who know what they're talking about (professors, admissions officers, deans, other grad students, etc.) and then see how you feel. Much of what you hear will be contradictory, because people have different opinions and varying degrees of innate optimism. But you will notice patterns. It's a difficult decision to make this kind of commitment. No one can make it for you or predict the odds of your success. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: I am someone who got into a funded masters program after a weak undergraduate degree in the US and leveraged that masters degree into the PhD program of my choosing. In short, I got lucky. My undergraduate advisor went to graduate school with my masters advisor. He vouched for me, and I had done plenty of research as an undergraduate, just my GPA was exactly a 3.0 (not good enough for top programs). I was also lucky that I had high level math skills and programming skills that many people in my new field do not learn but people in physics do learn. The masters degree came at an unranked program, but the research results were great for such a short time, at least i've been told (and reviewed). To put it bluntly, I applied to 5 phd programs and got into 0 before I had my masters degree. 2 years later I got into 6/8 PhD programs I applied to, with the 2 rejections a personal note saying that funding that they expected to come in to take me did not come in. My best advice in the US is to get your foot in the door in any kind of research, leverage those recommendations into a program, and take it from there. It really is no different than anything else, you just need to find a way to establish a track record, and get lucky. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: In the UK at least, most PhDs are separate from a Masters, so I don't agree with your first point. In fact it is much more common to have the Masters and Bachelors combined into one program. I believe it is the same in most European countries that people applying for a PhD are required to have already done a masters. For your second point I believe the logic would be that if you are a poor applicant now, then getting a masters, which presumably has lower entry requirements will give you another opportunity to show how good you can be and improve your prospects. It stands to reason that the entry requirements for a masters should be lower than the PhD as the masters is the lower degree. How much lower is likely to depend on the demand for separate masters courses. If most strong candidates go directly into a PhD program and then entry requirements for a separate masters must be lower or places will not get filled. Upvotes: 2
2015/07/10	934	3,857	<issue_start>username_0: My friend moved to Los Angeles a few months ago and she wants to go to law school in here. She got a Bachelor's degree in Economics from another country (she is a resident in USA). The university she studied in is one of the top in the country but is not known in the world. She is thinking of going maybe to UCLA or USC law schools. I am trying to help her to see what will be the best for her. We are planning to talk to a school counselor hopefully next week, but doesn't hurt to ask the question here :) What is better? 1. If she goes to a community college, then transfers to a 4 year university and majors in something different (maybe engineering or something else), and then applies to Law School OR 2. She takes some classes in a community college (she needs to improve her English so taking the classes will be helpful), then evaluates her BS degree in USA, then applies to law school? Another friend thinks that if she does the second option then she won't have a chance to be accepted the schools she wants to since the BS degree university is not a known university. What do you think she should do? Thanks a lot.<issue_comment>username_1: If she needs to improve her English skills she may want to take an ELL (English Language Learners) course depending on her current language skills. As long as the college in the other country is accredited she shouldn't have too much an issue when compared to students with a BS from the US. She talk to an advisor at her choice of law school before applying to see about transfer credits and if she is likely to make the cut with her current education background. She should be mostly fluent in English if she wants to go to law school so an ELL course is advisable. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: There is a lot more we could know to help give a better answer, but from what you've said about your friend's situation, I think that the second option would probably be better. If your friend already has a bachelor's degree, that would mean she completed the equivalent to an undergraduate program in the U.S. and can apply for a law school program. Since you mentioned her English skills needing to be improved, it would be advisable for her to go to a community college as either a transient student or for an English language course. You mentioned that she has residency in the U.S. but "residency" is different from "citizenship." If she is a Green Card holder and English is not her first language, she might have to take the TOEFL (Test of English as Foreign Language). Universities vary on TOEFL rules for Green Card holders, [explained in this link here](http://magoosh.com/toefl/2014/toefl-for-u-s-green-card-holders/). Despite not having a name brand recognition, if the university your friend attended and received her BS from is truly one of the top schools in that country, that should not be much of a problem. Smaller universities may not have the same impact when mentioned like Yale or Virginia Tech, but it won't diminish its rankings or its graduates. What will effect your friend's admission chances however is her GPA (or more likely GPA equivalent). Obtaining a degree is no small feat, and is rewarding in itself. However, a law school like UCLA will most likely weed out applicants with lower GPAs. Going to a school counselor is the best thing that your friend can do. A counselor will know more about the ins and outs of the admissions process at UCLA or USC and might have experience in counseling students from similar situations and backgrounds. Again, of the choices you presented, the second one is the best option. She already has a baccalaureate and taking non-credit courses at a community college can not only improve her English skills, but acclimate her to how college classes in the U.S. are structured. Upvotes: 1
2015/07/10	4,256	17,816	<issue_start>username_0: Sometimes I have simple ideas that can be useful. They could be obvious or not, or it is possible that no one ever considered them the way I did. For example: To gather information about the statistics of the unemployed in a city or state, I suggest to build a website in which unemployed people register and enter their information. This information is very useful for decisionmakers on unemployment. But, after a while these statistics are not valid. On the other hand, unemployed people are very reluctant to update their employment status via the Internet or they don't have access to it. To solve this problem, we can send an SMS to them and they answer with 1 (as employed) and 0 (as still unemployed), then we integrate these answers to the central database. This way, we have up-to-date information in periods. The idea was that simple, however maybe no one in our country implemented it. Could it be a paper? If yes, what can it include? Because it is as short as the above. Should I, for example, explain how we integrate the SMSs to the database (however, it may be simple too or the subject of other tools or papers). If I implement the system, should I provide the statistics of unemployment in a city or the percentage who contribute the plan? Totally, I don't know what else such a paper should cover. For another example, suppose that I am the first one who invented the sliced bread. How long could my paper be and on what would I probably argue? --- However it was just an example and after some research I may realize it is not workable, but I should say I actually built the website for an organization in my city one year ago (However not the SMS and updating part), then I was thinking if I can make a paper out of it. Maybe I could use some parts of the real data I gained in such paper, for example the people who registered (which was more than 80% of all the unemployed ranging from 20 to 40 years old) and those who had a cell phone (which was more than 98% of them), this topic shed some lights on my way.<issue_comment>username_1: I like papers about simple ideas. (I am writing one right now, hope others like it as well.) They are far easier to communicate and understand than complex ideas. Then again, the question is why nobody else has thought about an idea if it is all that simple. In your specific example, the idea may not be workable, because people may simply delete the update SMS without replying to it. (And those that do answer may not be representative of your sample as a whole.) So I would say that writing a paper about a simple idea is good, but it needs to meet the same conditions as any other paper: it needs to show that the idea actually works. An idea by itself is usually not worth an entire paper. Having the idea is often the easy part. Showing that it works is where the actual work happens. So: Build your website for one city, let it run for six months, then write a paper about what you learned. How to show that something "works" may well be the hard part. (For instance, in some parts of machine learning it is easy to "show" that a method is better than an established method by testing both on many datasets but then only reporting those on which the proposed method is superior.) Some journals/conferences/reviewers may be more stringent about what they consider proof that something "works". You may be able to get a publication out of a proof of concept by just building the website, without running it productively. Or by running it productively, but without assessing in some way whether the statistics collected by the website are actually more accurate than those collected in some other way. Look at what kinds of papers your target venue or community publishes, and let yourself be guided by that. --- EDIT 2016-04-07, about that article based on a simple idea: it turns out that this simple idea (a randomized probability integral transform) was really good. So good, in fact, that multiple people had had the same idea previously, and at least partly independently of each other. Happily enough, a guru in the field pointed this out to me when I circulated a preprint and didn't savage me, but pointed out shortcomings of the rPIT and possible new lines of inquiry. The [paper](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169207016000315) has just been published. Bottom line: your simple idea may be good, but chances are that those ideas that are both simple and good have already been worked on. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: No, you cannot write a paper out of a simple idea. A simple idea contributes nothing. I guess we all have simple novel ideas every day. However, if you ground that simple idea within theory, and/or build a theoretical framework, with suitable references to existing literature, and you demonstrate that this hasn't been done before, and maybe explain why it hasn't, and suggest how it might improve on existing alternatives, then that's a paper. If you take that theoretical grounding and then set out a plan of implementation, together with a monitoring and evaluation framework to assess its impact, together with a comparison against existing alternatives then that's a paper. And if you implement it and evaluate it as above, then that's a paper. If you want one higher impact paper rather than three lower-impact papers, and if journal space allows, you could do all three of those things in one paper. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: It all depends on various factors, most importantly your target audience and/or journal (or other publishing outlet) as well as, potentially your field of study. For some people, outlets and fields of study, a simple idea might be very well appropriate, when "wrapped" into a research paper format, for others it might not (either due to being too simple, that is, obvious, or due to being "wrapped" inappropriately). Obviously, it also depends on how you "wrap" your idea, in other words, what contents, level of detail and level of rigor you would employ for presenting the idea to community. In regard to suggestions by previous answers' authors that one need to fully implement an idea and present corresponding findings, I respectfully disagree and think that for many ideas building a prototype or, even, presenting a design or architecture of a proposed system is enough for a paper (usually, that would be a working paper or a conference paper or other work-in-progress paper). Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Warning: Harsh answer following. @energynumbers has covered some of the aspects of why a "simple" idea is not enough for a research paper. It needs prior literature search, must improve on previous methods, a theoretical justification why it should work and an experimentation section providing the benefits of the idea, compared to previous state-of-the-art. Still, when I read your original question and your later comments, initially I thought you were joking. Without wanting to be harsh, I could not believe that sending bulk SMS to unemployed people is your idea of fighting unemployment or meaningful research. As a computer scientist myself, I try to refrain from suggesting ideas about problems I do not have not the capacity nor the knowledge or the necessary background to understand. And your comments like "even cats and dogs have cell phone" not only show you know nothing about unemployment but you are also indifferent and ignorant to this huge problem's social implications. But let's stick to the "scientific merits" of your idea. Any EU country has an unemployment rate of (very rough estimates) 4% (Germany, Austria) to more than 20% (Spain, Greece). That means that even in countries with low unemployment rates (e.g. Germany), sending a SMS to unemployed people would require 3,4M SMS. Since, the unemployed should answer these SMS by yes or no that means another 3.4M SMS. Who will pay for those 7M SMS of your idea? Even for a big city (1M people) that would require at least 8K SMS for Germany or 20K SMS for Spain. Perhaps you are implying that the unemployed people should pay the response SMS from their pockets, for their "right" to participate in your "novel" research? You also seem to assume that all unemployed people have internet connections (for filling in their data) and cell phones, when usually unemployment benefits (if they have not expired) can only cover very basic needs. And you also want to force those unemployed people to fill another form for giving you their data (and who authorized you to collect this data? It will be probably illegal in many countries) besides registering to the respective unemployment agency and sending bulk CVs to potential employers for hoping to land their next job. This is not only insensitive but borderline silly. Bottomline: Research is a very serious job. Not everyone can do it. Especially when there are sensitive groups and people involved. Treat it as such. If your concept of research is ideas that come to you when you are ordering french fries or you are in your bathroom during your "physical" duties, you are WRONG. Otherwise your "research" ideas would sound like the infamous French phrase "[Qu'ils mangent de la brioche](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake)". They will not only lack any scientific merit but they will also sound insensitive and ignorant. UPDATE: a) At the OP. You (and I) are no Newton. Even if someone hit you with all the apples of the world, you will most likely develop a head trauma than the theory of gravity b) As others have commented, brilliant ideas can come anytime but ONLY after studying a problem for weeks, months or year. Check the term [Eureka effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka_effect), why that happens. c) Even after studying a problem for a long time, the majority of the ideas that one comes up with are not necessarily good d) Even if you come up with a brilliant idea, it needs weeks of work on pen / paper, pc or lab for that idea to actually be publishable. e) What "most people grasp" is not scientifically correct. People believed for thousands of years (some people still do) that the earth was flat and the sun revolves around the earth. So, basing your scientific ideas on "common sense" has no scientific merit. f) If you do not believe me or the others commenters, try to publish your "simple" idea and wait until the peer review replies back. Then you will have your answer. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: You can't publish "an idea" alone, whether it's simple or not (with some notable historical exceptions). I'll copy some of the things I said to someone who was [trying to sub-contract the scientific work necessary to make her/his ideas worth publishing in exchange for authorship](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/47180/10643). > > Ideas have very little value by themselves. The chances that they are absolutely original is very low and it's the rigorous test of their validity along with informed discussion about why they work that is worth publishing > > > and further down in my comments: > > An idea like 'We should build space elevators!' is not worth a lot compared to 'I have made these rigorous calculations/experiments about the strength of carbon nanotubes that could, maybe, constitutes wires going from Earth to Space' > > > So, like username_1 implies in [his answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/48586/10643), it doesn't matter if the idea is simple or not, you need to test its validity in some way, whether experimental or not, to make it into a paper. I can't think of a scientific discipline in which to put your idea (or sliced bread for what matters). I'm not sure using 1980's technology to obtain data of dubious quality would be considered a breakthrough. Nonetheless there are many things you can do with this idea other than trying to publish it, if you believe in it, like convincing your local government to hire you to implement it. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: Academic papers are (or should be) not really about presenting ideas, but about answering research questions. So your paper should state the question, the answer, and why the answer is true. So even if your research starts with an idea, you should ask (and answer) questions about it, such as: * how effective is the idea? * how expensive is the idea? * is the idea better or worse than other related ideas? * is the idea different or similar to other related ideas? * is the idea expected or unexpected given other related ideas? The exact questions you can ask depend a bit on your idea, of course. For your example idea of sliced bread, some questions come to mind: * is sliced bread more or less healthy than unsliced bread? * how long can sliced bread be stored? * how expensive is bread slicing in the bakery vs. at home? * are customers prefering bread sliced vertically or horizontally? * how should a knife for slicing bread be shaped? * should we ban sliced bread in war time? * will people eat more or less when sliced bread is available? * how does the bread-slicing machine work? * how much time is sliced bread saving the average family per day? * overall, is sliced bread cheaper or more expensive for a society? Scientific research is about delving deep into such detailed questions, and figuring out the actually true answer. So research is not just about asking these questions and answering them somehow, but about finding the true answer, and convincing other researchers that you found it. Since each question usually requires substantial investigation (by experiments, computation, simulation, thinking, ...) , usually a paper will only answer one question, or sometimes you even need multiple papers just to answer one question. For example, if you ask lots of customers whether they like their bread sliced horizontally or vertically, and more say "horizontally" than "vertically", that might be a paper. Now if you actually observe lots of customers buying more vertically sliced bread than horizontally sliced bread, that's another paper. Yet another paper can then ask the question: Why do people say one thing and buy another? This way, an understanding about an aspect of the world (here: people's bread-buying preferences) is build paper-by-paper, in an collaborative effort of the scientific community. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: I myself conclude that it follows the same common steps to write any paper, to explain them I directly go to the examples A (SMS to the unemployed) and B (sliced bread) 1) You should first ask what is the problem? An idea without mentioning a problem is lame. * For A) After awhile the unemployed statistics is not up-to-date and people don't update them for these reasons... For idea B, some scenarios is possible * 1) Many breads is wasted because of the way people buy, store and use them * 2) A plan to increase the consumption of bread or jam (It looks like more a business idea? it works if bread and jam company are partners) 2) What is your idea or plan? * For A) Sending periodical SMS to the unemployed to gather short data * For B-1) Sliced bread * For B-2) Sliced bread 3) Then you may ask What is the contribution of this idea to my field of study? Gathering data about unemployment using SMS, for example, might be a useful contribution to the field of economics (if it is indeed demonstrably better than existing methods), but as currently described it is not likely to be a useful contribution to computer science 4) How does it solve the problem Description of the idea and the way it works 5) How are you sure? why it is better than other solution? There could be several ways to show it for A: * Based on the statistics of cell-phone penetration in "the unemployed" their usage pattern, previous researches, arguments like "Concerning the penetration of cell phones, SMS is a cheap and effective solution to gather periodical and short data..." * Testing the idea in a small city and showing the results For B: Test it on some families, or better a city * Do they buy it? * Problems with its consumption, (with which foods they can consume it) * Is it have any affect on you or them to consume jam more... * Is the cost for slicing bread compensated? * .... Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_8: I read the answers and I am going to take a different view. I think every idea should be written down as a paper. I agree with other answers that a simple idea is not suitable as a research submission etc. You also mentioned that you have now realized why your idea is not going to work. I would say that both of above conclusion (i.e. is idea going to work and if it is, then is it worthy of being called as research) should be drawn after the paper writing. Not the polished, final draft paper writing but may be after zeroth draft. Paper writing is not the culmination of research. It is an integral process of coming up with an idea, developing that idea into a testable hypothesis, carrying out experiments (real and simulated), and writing it up. You may ask that above mentioned process talks about writing at last stage so how is it an integral part? Because you should plan by writing. You should leave placeholders for data you are waiting for. If your data does not validate your hypothesis, go back to writing and draw new plan and repeat. Doing this will tell you when your idea is not going to work, writing literature review will tell you whether or not your idea is worthy of publication in good journal. It is possible that once you start writing, your paper may go in some other direction. For all this to happen, you should always write things as paper. Upvotes: 1
2015/07/10	962	3,416	<issue_start>username_0: I'm currently a postdoc interested in finding a tenure track faculty position. What are the best places to find job postings for such positions? Seeing as this might be a very context/field dependent question, I am specifically looking for appointments in physics departments (preferably in the US).<issue_comment>username_1: If you're a member of the American Physical Society (APS), I would recommend looking there first (<http://www.aps.org/careers/employment/index.cfm>). Many universities will post here, as it's the official representative of physicists in the United States. In addition, I recommend looking at university department webpages. If there is a certain region or state you'd like to work in, narrow your search to universities there. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Though not specific to physics, I think [The Chronicle of Higher Education](https://chroniclevitae.com/job_search/new) job search site seems to cover several fields fairly well, and I looked there often when I was searching. In fact, narrowing down the search at the Chronicle job site for physics faculty/research positions in the US yields [several relevant hits.](https://chroniclevitae.com/job_search?job_search[distance_from_zip]=10&job_search[employment_type]=&job_search[institution_type]=&job_search[keywords]=&job_search[location]=88&job_search[position_type]=72&job_search[start_date]=&job_search[zip_code]=&utf8=%E2%9C%93) For completeness, here are a few other job sites that I've used that you may find useful: * [AcademicKeys](http://www.academickeys.com/), with a listing of current physics openings in the US [here](http://sciences.academickeys.com/seeker_search.php?q=&advanced=1&form[category_IDXs][]=2&form[category_IDXs][]=3&form[category_IDXs][]=29&form[category_IDXs][]=4&form[category_IDXs][]=33&form[category_IDXs][]=7&form[category_IDXs][]=5&form[field_IDXs][]=185&form[field_IDXs][]=186&form[field_IDXs][]=187&form[field_IDXs][]=188&job[ctry]=1). * [HigherEdJobs](https://www.higheredjobs.com/), with a listing of current physics openings in the US [here](https://www.higheredjobs.com/faculty/search.cfm?JobCat=106). Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: One of the best sites for job seekers is the Academic Jobs Wiki. Not only does it have postings, but people also update whether they've gotten past the first round, second round, phone or physical interviews, and other status changes including searches being shut down by provosts, etc.. This lets you know whether to keep hoping or to give up. <http://academicjobs.wikia.com/wiki/PhysicsPositions> There are academic job wikis for other fields, I've only posted the physics one above. Update 2019.7: please note that in the four years since posting this, I’ve heard several reports of people gaming the wiki jobs system: reporting a position closed when it isn’t, reporting a different direction to the search to throw off competitors, etc. As with all crowdsourced systems, use with some caution and only as a supplement to other sources of information. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: [Brightrecruits](http://brightrecruits.com) is a UK based website, run by the Institute of Physics, which advertises jobs in physics worldwide, in both industry and academia. There's also [jobs.ac.uk](http://jobs.ac.uk); also UK based, also has adverts for jobs in academia globally. Upvotes: 1
2015/07/10	1,489	6,334	<issue_start>username_0: For a recent position for which an offer has been made, a colleague of mine has been waiting for more than eight months for a visa to be issued. Is there any reasonable point at which it makes more sense to try to withdraw the offer (as the candidate has been unable to secure a visa, which would enable him to work) and look for a replacement? Or must the offer "stand" until a final visa decision has been made (even if there's no such date in sight, as is the case here)?<issue_comment>username_1: Visa issues can be seriously problematic, especially given the high degree of arbitrariness that is often applied toward people coming from disfavored countries in the developing world. For example, consider the [apparently arbitrary visa denials faced by students coming to the US from Iran](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-09-20/iranians-denied-u-s-visas-hit-by-political-crossfire). Given this I would recommend using the following criteria in making a decision: 1. Is the person being reasonably aggressive in acting to secure a visa? If the student is attempting to secure a visa and being blocked/slowed by outside forces, time to secure the visa should not be held against them. If the person is not bothering to act towards securing a visa, then it's the same as not bothering to physically move, and they can be let go with a clean conscience. 2. Is there a concrete time limit on the funds? If external requirements mean the money is on a short-term "use it or lose it" status, e.g., a 1-year externally funded project that includes a task for a postdoc, then the person may be disqualified through no fault of their own by the circumstances. In this case, I think it is appropriate to put the deadline early enough to have a reasonable chance at hiring an alternate person to fill the post. The deadline should be made clear to candidates as early as possible, however. If the timeline can be flexed and the person is being reasonably aggressive in pursuing the visa, however, I think that it is morally important for the ideals of science to continue to extend the offer. Science should be, to the extent possible, practiced openly for the general benefit of humanity, and it needs all of the diversity of strong intellectual contributors that it can obtain, no matter where they may originate, so long as they are honest and open contributors. Giving a person time for visa issues to resolve is one small but important thing that an individual scientist can do to support that ideal. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: This varies wildly between countries, and with how much you're willing to pay. A given consulate may expedite requests if paid an additional amount, but even then they are likely to include clauses about how exceptional cases may take an exceptionally long time no matter what. You can find details on [visa processing times](http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/general/wait-times.html) and other visa information at the [travel.state.gov site](http://travel.state.gov). The processing time (time to mail out the acceptance/denial) says it takes about a day if it's the US consulate in Tel Aviv; the Baghdad consulate is currently closed; and the Kabul, Afghanistan consulate takes about 33 days to arrange an appointment and then about 4 days to process. As for the intervening time between an interview and completion of processing, meaning the time to actually make the decision, the site says the following: > > Administrative Processing > > > These estimates do not include time required for administrative processing, which may affect a small number of applications. If necessary, this additional processing is usually resolved within 60 days of application, though some cases may take longer. When administrative processing is required, the timing will vary based on individual circumstances of each case. > > > Administrative Processing Information > > > Some visa applications require further administrative processing, which takes additional time after the visa applicant’s interview by a Consular Officer. Applicants are advised of this requirement when they apply. Most administrative processing is resolved within 60 days of the visa interview. When administrative processing is required, the timing will vary based on individual circumstances of each case. Visa applicants are reminded to apply early for their visa, well in advance of the anticipated travel date. > > > Important Notice: Before making inquiries about status of administrative processing, applicants or their representatives will need to wait at least 60 days from the date of interview or submission of supplemental documents, whichever is later. > > > About Visa Processing Wait Times – Nonimmigrant Visa Applicants > > > Information about nonimmigrant visa wait times for interviews and visa processing time frames are shown on this website, as well as on U.S. Embassy and Consulate websites worldwide. It should be noted that the “Wait Times for a Nonimmigrant Visa to be Processed” information by country does not include time required for administrative processing. Processing wait time also does not include the time required to return the passport to applicants, by either courier services or the local mail system. > > > You may be able to find additional information on expected timeframes on the website for the specific consulate. Eight months sounds like a lot to me, but there's always the fine print that sometimes it takes a lot longer. If you haven't already, I would request that the relevant candidate make inquiries with the consulate they applied for their visa at about the status of their application, and if there are any additional details or documents that they want. As for withdrawing the offer and pursuing someone else, the conditions for this may be spelled out by whatever is providing the funds. Worst case, consulting with your chair or your dean (who is, ultimately, responsible for approving all hires) would be appropriate. People have lost positions due to visa problems before. While I was doing my Ph.D. a hire from a "sensitive country" was made, but ultimately his visa was denied and the department had to scramble to find at least a lecturer to cover his teaching load. Upvotes: 3
2015/07/10	2,671	11,663	<issue_start>username_0: It seems like Stack Exchange sites would be a great resource for real-world open-ended research-and-answer projects. E.g., as a teacher I might select one or several recent good questions from an on-topic Stack Exchange site and have students actually submit their answers on Stack Exchange. For more advanced students I might have them find good questions on their own. It's sort of a free peer-review system. But I am not aware of this having been done. Is there a reason? (I have a particular interest in why or why this might not pass academic muster because the recently-launched [Law.SE](https://law.stackexchange.com/) has a built-in lack of experts, and the only likely pool of expert participants would be students and professors.) --- Clarification: It seems that some people are reading this question and thinking of Stack Overflow. I'm thinking more of Stack Exchange sites like Law, Chemistry, or Cross-Validated, where there are a lot of good questions that are hard to provide with good answers because of the amount of time that has to be invested in a good answer. If only there were a source of people not only studying those subjects, but also compelled to spend extended time crafting good answers.... Also, I was thinking first of graduate-level students, perhaps down to advanced seminar students in an applicable major. Not shotgunning something like this out to an introductory lecture. (Although [apparently you can use the latter approach to create your own SE site](https://cs50.stackexchange.com/)!)<issue_comment>username_1: > > as a teacher I might select one or several recent good questions from an on-topic Stack Exchange site and have students actually submit their answers on Stack Exchange > > > In the following, I will assume that you imagine this in a way that a teacher assigns a certain question to all students, and each student (or each of several teams of students) has to post an answer. As I will outline below, finding suitable questions could prove difficult, so using each question only for one student/team of students would probably be too uneconomical. I would be opposed to this procedure: * For a homework question, submitting what you think could be a valid answer, if you are not reasonably certain, is fine. After all, you're "entitled" to an attempt at solving the problem. Actually, if you do not have any idea how to respond to a question, even an almost random guess is OK as a response to a homework question, if you see a small chance it might be at least partially true. And likewise, a partial answer is totally fine for a homework question, as you have to use your chance to show even the partial solution that you have found, if you cannot solve the whole task. * For a question on a Stack Exchange site, submitting any of the aforementioned "non-perfect" answers on purpose (especially on questions for which various more valid answers do exist) is unacceptable. Unless you are reasonably convinced that what you are posting is, in your opinion, a valid answer, you should not post it on a Stack Exchange site in a way that pretends to be an answer. Each posted answer takes time to read, and posting an answer that you know is quite likely wrong or incomplete (read: insufficient for the question) is simply disrespectful to all the people who take their time to read, evaluate, comment on, vote on and edit answers. There are some further issues with your suggestion: * Stack Exchange answers are public. As soon as one of the students has posted a good solution, nothing will stop other students from copying any information from that answer. You may still be testing your students' skills, but not the skills at solving the problem, but the skills at individually presenting a ready-made solution they found elsewhere. * While votes on the Stack Exchange network indicate quality of the answers to some extent, there is no guarantee that this measurement works reliably for each answer. In particular, when there are many answers, my hunch is that most of the lower-ranked answers will never be read, while the top-ranked answers will be read repeatedly and receive ever more upvotes. To some extent, the same applies to comments, where the Nth answer is less likely to receive any helpful coments than the first one. * Many Stack Exchange sites are not friendly towards duplicate answers. Exact reactions vary from site to site, but on various of the sites, the answer that proposes a certain solution for the 5th time might get harsh comments and even receive downvotes simply based on the fact that their answer does not contribute anything new. Therefore, I do not unconditionally agree with the statement > > It's sort of a free peer-review system. > > > It is a free peer-review system in the context of people voluntarily submitting posts for "peer-review" who want to submit something based on various preconditions (perceived good ideas, ...). The "peer-reviewers" spend their effort because they expect to read posts by exactly these people, people who thought they have good enough ideas to post. If you remove those preconditions, you are, in a way, abusing the system. You are adding considerable workload for the peer-reviewers, who will have to dig through loads of submissions by people who did not think they have a good enough idea to post, but who posted primarily because it is their chance for completing the homework task. This, in turn, might reduce the willingness of those peer-reviewers to invest much effort for the respective Stack Exchange site in the first place and thereby worsen the experience for all users of the site. After talking about the answers, I also have some thoughts about the questions. You wrote > > as a teacher I might select one or several recent good questions > > > and > > For more advanced students I might have them find good questions on their own. > > > Both of these can be problematic, as they are not guaranteed to yield good results. This is largely coupled to the fact that various Stack Exchange sites have strict policies against duplicate questions. These are fitting to build a consistent core of Q&A-shaped knowledge on each topic, but it also means that sooner or later, the less exotic (read: case-specific, or otherwise unusual or not too generalizeable) questions on any given topic will all have been asked. Asking new questions on the topic that are comparable without getting closed as duplicates can be come nearly impossible, whereas the task of finding interesting questions gradually gets reduced to checking a ready-made list of core questions on a given topic that gets circulated among students. In summary, I think it is not a good idea to use any Stack Exchange site for "free peer-reviews" of student submissions. What is realistically feasible, though, is to use questions from a Stack Exchange site you deem appropriate and ask students to submit their own answer to you, and then check all the submissions. This will still preserve the real-world connection by the actual Stack Exchange question without burdening the users of the Stack Exchange site in any way. --- As another note on this topic, from a privacy-related perspective, I am very skeptical of requiring any student to use a third-party service outside of the university's realm of control as a part of taking a class. Asking them to register somewhere (possibly, if they so choose, with a fake address, etc.) to retrieve software required for the class might still be OK, but I would never require a student to register with a third-party site (even one that I personally quite fully trust, like Stack Exchange) to upload anything that sheds a light on their performance as a student. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: > > ...real-world open-ended research-and-answer projects....as a teacher I might select one or several recent good questions from an on-topic Stack Exchange site and have students actually submit their answers on Stack Exchange...But I am not aware of this having been done. Is there a reason? > > > One of the reasons this hasn't been done is that Stack Exchange is not a venue for open-ended questions. In most Stack Exchange forums, the questions must be narrow, and, in technical subjects, are nearly all of this type: "I'm having trouble with technique X... here's my code... what am I doing wrong or missing?". In general, I think it is a very bad idea to promote Stack Exchange as a venue for problems/questions that are appropriate for academic tests and homework. I have seen such questions, and it's clear that the person posting is a student. Effectively, the student is asking someone else to do all the work of answering the problem. There's another word for that: cheating. --- However, it would be a interesting idea for a professor to take questions (and answers) posted on Stack Exchange and *modify* them to be more general, appropriately challenging, and thus suitable as test questions or homework problems. This procedure uses Stack Exchange as source material, but all the questioning and answering happen within the traditional classroom setting. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: The best thought I have is that students might pick questions from SE, research them, and submit their answers to the instructor (perhaps after passing thru a student-level peer process), with only those answers the instructor has approved as accurate, well-written, reasonably complete and addressing the actual question being passed back to SE. Admittedly this is a higher standard of pre-review than we hold the average SE contributor to. But you're proposing to address questions which are usually shut down with "you need expert local advice, not a web pundit no matter how knowledgeable, because the devil will be in the details and the consequences of getting it wrong are nontrivial." A student may know more than an experienced layman... or may only know enough to get the querant into trouble. There have been programs that have used volunteer student researchers – I think Nolo does so, for example – but I believe they are relying on having the results vetted by genuine experts before being published. Unreasonable? I don't know. But if you're going to publicize SE, I think you should also help to ensure quality of the results. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I teach a course on software tools useful for math majors with no programming background: > > A modern mathematics major should be familiar with software tools that > are changing some of the ways we write, learn and do mathematics. This > course, designed to be taken early in the major, introduces several of > those tools (Python, LaTeX, Mathematica or sage) and provides > opportunities to explore others like Matlab, Geogebra, Cinderella, > Geometer's sketchpad and Microsoft Excel. > > > Mastering any one of these software tools takes much longer than the > limited time available in an introductory course that presents all > three, and more. So the focus is on understanding the kinds of > problems each tool can address, on ways to approach new problems and > on using the web to answer questions. > > > The various stackexchange sites are an extraordinary resource for students at this level. I encourage them to look there for answers - and to cite (in their homework) and upvote posts they find useful. Since upvoting requires some reputation, students can't do that unless/until they are at a level where they can contribute to the site. That may or may not happen during the semester. Upvotes: 1
2015/07/11	1,774	7,250	<issue_start>username_0: I am currently supervising a Bachelors student for his thesis. I gave him a well-established paper to read of which I only knew the results but never checked the calculations in it. It was first published in 2006, is currently in its 6th version on arXiv and has about 330 citations, so I expected it to be mostly without mistakes... Well it turns out I was wrong. My student stumbled over several mistakes and I found some more while trying to explain some calculations to him. In total we have found about 10 errors - some minor like a wrong index in a formula, some major like claiming that a function is convex while it is in fact concave and an inverted inequality sign in the final result... Under different circumstances I would write the author, but I feel somewhat silly writing an email that basically says "Hey, this paper you wrote 9 years ago contains some errors." I really cannot imagine that we are the first to find these mistakes... I also thought about commenting on the paper on <https://scirate.com/> - this way the author needs not bother with it, but following generations could still see the corrections. On the other hand this could be a big insult to the author... Is there any other way to make sure following generations don't stumble over the same mistakes? (The results are basically so well established, that active researchers take them for granted and don't try to verify the calculations - but following students will surely stumble over the wrong equations) Should I just drop it? Should I still write to the author? What is the "proper (scientific) way" to handle this situation?<issue_comment>username_1: The most important thing, I think, is that the core results stand. This means that correcting the errors is not about substance (which might require a new corrective paper or a retraction, depending on the nature of the errors), but is instead about making the road to understanding easier for others who also read the paper. Since you say the paper has been revised multiple times on arXiv, it seems there is a decent chance that the author may still be tracking on it and be willing to update and correct it. I would thus start by writing to the author---it's entirely possible you're the first to notice the mistakes, simply because everybody else thought they saw the things that were supposed to be there (copyediting equations is hard). If that doesn't produce a result within a few months, write to the journal and see if you can get the errata corrected in their version of the paper. Beyond that, I think there is not currently a high incentive to put in further effort or to put material up on a third-party website, simply because I suspect that most people who look for the paper are unlikely to readily encounter such annotations. Search engines are pretty useful, though (as this site readily attests), so there's no reason not to put the corrections online somewhere as an FYI to help others who might happen to search for "errors in Paper X." Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I start my answer by emphasizing on the last sentence of your question: > > What is the "proper (scientific) way" to handle this situation? > > > One possible course of action can be this (I emphasize in the words "proper" and "scientific"): * Step 1 - Maybe not yourself, but get your student to write an email to the authors, stating that he/she was trying to work out the paper from scratch, but came across a few issues which appear to be some minor mistakes, and that his/her adviser (i.e. you, with your name and affiliation fully disclosed) agrees on their implausibility. Attach with this a detailed write-up of your calculations, and the error-diagnosis, and why all this is plausible. * Step 2 - Wait for some amount of time, for them to respond. (They would have schedules too.) Thereafter, depending on the type of response, Step 3 possibilities branch out: * Step 3(a) (If they respond and reason you out regarding the correctness of what they have done, and/or point out the mistake(s) in your calculations (which is definitely not impossible)) - Thank them for their time, and be magnanimous in accepting that you made a mistake, and you were making a fuss out of it. * Step 3(b) (If they respond, but it is more of a brush-aside-the-criticism type of a response, i.e. they don't reason you out, don't point out any flaw in your reasoning, or point out some incorrect mistake, or it is just some high-brow hand-waving) - Think about whether this responsible can be plausible at all, does it make any kind of sense whatsoever. Collect arguments in favor of why it doesn't if it doesn't, and prepare another detailed email. Repeat steps 1-2-3 again. * Step 3(c) (If they say they went through your write-up, you've made a valid point, and they will much over it and publish an erratum, thank you) - Say thank you, and move on. Wait for the erratum to emerge. * Step 3(d) (Either no response to your email for a very long amount of time, or some nonsense/personal attacks (that's theoretically possible, but practically a bit unlikely. Normally, they'll just go quiet.)) - Forget about them completely. Recheck your calculations once more, and post the write-up on arXiv as "Comments on 06NN.NNNN [cond-mat]" (or whatever it is). Be scientific in your approach. Start by praising the authors for their good work, make this explicit. Then say, "However, the following points are worthy of a careful consideration", and give a detailed exposition of what the mistake is, and why it doesn't make sense. With arXiv, this shall get linked to the original arXiv work, and your purpose is served perfectly well. Also, as pointed out by Wrzlprmft in [a comment](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/48639/how-to-deal-with-errors-in-well-established-papers#comment112431_48642), in this case, [Physical Review B also publishes comments on articles](http://journals.aps.org/prb/authors/comments-physical-review-b), so that could be a further option (if you are willing to avail it). The last one isn't an extreme response. There is a huge credibility that goes with a Physical Review B publication, and that's something even the APS people would want respected. Making a mistake is human, but when that human being is a scientist, one expects enough scientific magnanimity for the person to own up his/her mistake. You win respect when you do that, i.e. behave honestly, since the same is a virtue in science. If you know you made a mistake but are still misleading people/ brushing aside criticism, that's plain dishonesty, and that has no room in science. The truth always comes out in the end. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: It occurs to me that you might write to the journal's editor and ask what their policy is. I'm not privy to what happens behind the scenes but I imagine that they might contact the author themselves. Alternatively they will surely have experience about the best course for you to take - this won't be the first time it has happened.. I don't think you need give the actual errors immediately - simply say what you said to us and ask for the editor's advice. I hope this helps. Upvotes: 0
2015/07/11	1,001	4,522	<issue_start>username_0: So I know there's roadblocks like FERPA (this is in the United States by the way), but if I already knew: * Full Name * Date of Birth * Name of school (obviously, since I'd have to know who to ask) * (Supposed) Major Would a college/university be able to confirm or deny that the student is enrolled, since I'm only asking to have information I already know confirmed or denied, and not asking for any new information? If so, which office/department at a given school would I (generally) direct a question like this to?<issue_comment>username_1: Generically, no, a school should not be giving out that information if the person is not making it publicly available through directories, officially hosted webpages, etc. (By default such information is typically available). Think about it this way: how can an administrator distinguish you from an abusive stalker who wants to confirm the location of their target? If, on the other hand, you have a legitimate connection with the student, such as that they are applying for a job, then the student should be able to provide references whose connection with the school is clearly verifiable (e.g., their advisor) and who they can give explicit permission to confirm their status to you. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Unless a student has specifically opted out, FERPA does not cover the information of whether a student is enrolled and the degree that they are seeking (including major). The exact circumstances under which a school might reveal that info would depend on the individual school's policy. See [here](https://www.registrar.psu.edu/confidentiality/directory_information.cfm) for Penn State's explanation of this aspect of FERPA. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: In the US, under FERPA, institutions of higher education (rules are different for K12 education) are required to define what pieces of information about a student are "directory information." This typically includes the name, address, and phone number of a student and may include other information such as the student's dates of attendance, major, and any degrees that the student has been awarded. The list of what items constitute directory information has to be made available to students, and students have the option of to keep this directory information confidential. Other more detailed information (such as courses taken, grades, class rank, etc.) is automatically confidential and can only be released after an explicit waiver from the student. If a student has chosen to make their directory information confidential, then the university won't confirm or deny that the student has any connection to the institution. if the student hasn't opted for confidentiality, then the registrar's office will typically provide the directory information when asked. There are good reasons for this protection. For example, consider the situation of a student who has been the victim of domestic violence and is hiding from an abusive family member. The abuser could call the university, talk them into providing the student's contact information and then use it to track down the student and harm the student in some way. On the flip side, this confidentiality provision can cause problems with reference checks for former students. If a student chose confidentiality and years later an employer calls the university and asks "Did <NAME> complete a BS degree at your institution?" The institution would have to say "We can neither confirm nor deny this." In my experience, a fairly significant percentage of students (maybe 10 to 20%) at my institution opt for confidentiality of their directory information. Given the problems that this can cause with reference checking, I'm somewhat surprised by how many students opt for confidentiality. In general, the office to ask would be the registrar's office. They regularly handle requests from people who are conducting reference checks and background investigations. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: While it's got a few corner cases that make it unreliable in general - many if not, all universities have a predicable email address setup for each student (my former one is <EMAIL>). If you wanted to confirm a student with a name was at the college you would email that address and see if it bounced. That's the hard way. If I had someone's name, date of birth and so on. I probably know them well enough to ask them... Upvotes: 0
2015/07/12	302	1,345	<issue_start>username_0: How can you prove that you are a reviewer for a certain journal. For example, I have been invited to review a paper in a certain journal and on my CV I want to write that I have reviewed in this journal but since reviewers are supposed to be anonymous, how can I supply proof that I have reviewed in this journal?<issue_comment>username_1: Reviewers normally receive a confirmation email from the journal editor after submitting a review online. Such email should be sufficient to prove that you have reviewed for the journal. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: You don't need to prove it. If someone thinks you're lying, they can just contact the journal editor and check. Reviewers aren't supposed be completely anonymous, anyway. It's just that no one outside of the editors should know who reviewed which articles. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Some journals publish a "thank you to reviewers" list at the end of the year. If your name is on such a list than that establishes that you reviewed for the journal. As a practical matter, no one is likely to check your CV at this level of detail anyway. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: If you don't have any of the other documents by now, just write the publisher and ask him for a letter confirming your being a reviewer. Upvotes: 2
2015/07/12	300	1,180	<issue_start>username_0: I will go to a grad school this summer. I don't want to make mistakes in that email as I really work to work under him. I wrote an email before I applied and he said we can talk. What should I write now?<issue_comment>username_1: I think the main thing is showing a genuine interest in their work. I think the main way of demonstrating this is actually knowing of their work. Good ways of doing this is 1) reading some of their recent and most impactful papers and 2) talking with people in the lab about what the current research directions are. The other thing I would strongly encourage is not to commit to working with them unless you are absolutely sure you want them as a doctoral adviser. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: In addition to [username_1's good tips](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/37095/joesh), * make it short (less than 10 sentences; 5 is better) * introduce yourself briefly to make sure the prof recalls that they know you * provide something concrete to reply. this implies that you know the purpose of your e-mail. Useful tips for writing emails to busy faculty: <http://pgbovine.net/email-tips.htm> Upvotes: 0
2015/07/12	456	2,073	<issue_start>username_0: There are some fundings which support early-career researcher by letting him to work/visit another institute/university for few months. Those fundings normally pay for travel and accommodation expenses (not living expenses) and require a candidate to be affliated of one organisation, e.g. to be a post-doc. My question is that if a researcher who wants to apply for those fundings should let his boss, whose funding is paying his salary, know before applying or after knowing that his application is successful.<issue_comment>username_1: Absolutely let them know before you apply. At my university, postdocs can't PI projects without a special exception from the university anyway, so you would need a support letter from your boss to apply in the first place. These kinds of rules probably don't apply to the kind of funding you are seeking since the money will go to you directly rather than being funneled through your current institution. However, if you are going to leave the group for a few months during your time there, your current boss needs to know this. Also, they should be glad to have you go and spend time with another group where you will undoubtedly get additional training and/or facilitate connections between your current group and the remote one. As such, your current boss might be able to help you write the funding application. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Your PI has a grant that's paying your salary as a post-doc. You can't just take off some number of months without OKing it with them. They need you to make progress during the grant timeline and publish it so that they can get more grants for future projects. Sometimes a grant can be extended for one year at no cost and it will be fine for you to do this sort of thing. Some time they can't, or maybe your progress is already really slow and you aren't getting the work done that they need to show productivity. Either way you'll need to ask their permission for a leave of absence, so why not earlier, rather than later? Upvotes: 2
2015/07/12	1,303	6,000	<issue_start>username_0: I am in the field of computer science, I developed some software to solve some problems and would like to write some papers about them. But I don’t know what to call the software in each of my works. For example I developed software to extract structured data from web pages, (I called it system). In another project I developed software for foreign language learning (I called it software tool, however I may rather to call it system again). In general, what is the difference between software and system? When I should use the terms application or tool?<issue_comment>username_1: Software, system, framework, application, and tool, along with several other words are often used to describe computer programs that accomplish a task. Application tends to be used when it is a standalone program that accomplishes the task, whereas library is more used when the code in question is intended to be used directly by other programs through an API of some sort. Frameworks often incorporate multiple libraries and/or applications to accomplish a broader set of goals. Tools tend to be smaller programs that are sharply focused on particular tasks, though through scope creep they often lose this focus over time. System frequently implies a much larger whole and is often used to speak of hardware/software systems (like a whole computer) as well as software alone. These words have specific meaning in some contexts, but are often used somewhat interchangeably as well. It would be best to have a native English speaker in your field look over a few sentences that use your preferred words to make sure that they are consistent with your field's use of the terms. You may also compare to similar works, especially those you reference and those in journals or conferences where you'd like to publish, to get a feel for what the norms are. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In academic writing, it is good to be precise, clear, and consistent in your use of terms and their definitions. Unfortunately, not everyone in Computer Science follows this practice when it comes to terms like "system", "application", "software", and "tool". Following the practices of other people may lead you to follow their ambiguous or loose usage. --- One useful way of thinking about each of these terms is to define them in terms of their opposite, or what distinctions they are drawing. For example, a "system" is a set of interrelated components (modules, subsystems, etc.) that work together to form some cohesive whole, especially when the performance or functions of the whole is more than the sum of the parts. In contrast, a "non-system" is a collection of components (parts, modules, subsystems) that do not cohere as a whole and have no significant interrelatedness. (Look up "General Systems Theory" for more on this distinction.) "Software" as a term is most meaningful when you use it to distinguish from "hardware" or even non-automated information processing by humans. However, it is also generic, like "program", and so it can refer to any code that runs on digital computer. An "application" is software that is not part of the operating system, and not part of the utilities that go with the operation system (e.g. database, compiler, networking utilities.) By implication, "application software" is what end users use to get value from computers, as opposed to "system software" which is what computer specialists use to create/support application software. (This terminology arose in business computing in the 1960s, and continued through the early 2000s). A "tool" is software that doesn't provide end-user value on it's own. It generally needs a "tool user", usually a skilled human but could be another software program in special circumstances. A "tool" performs a set of functions that are generally useful and not tied to any particular circumstance, problem, or approach. Tools are often are designed with general use in mind (e.g. easy interchange with other programs using standard interfaces and data formats). In contrast, software that is not a "tool" has features, functions, and interfaces that constrain it to a particular need, context, or purpose, and it is these specifics that make it valuable. For example, Microsoft Excel is a "tool" for math, but a sales commission calculator within a CRM system is generally not considered a "tool" even though it may perform spreadsheet-like math, because it has many specific features and functions unique to sales commissions at a particular company. Finally, in academic papers in Computer Science, it is often the case that what is most important is not the particular implementation of software, but instead it is the algorithm or maybe the software architecture that is most important. If so, then you should use those terms rather than the more generic "software" or "system". --- In your examples, I would call "software to extract structured data from web pages" a *tool, because the end-value is the structured data* that some researcher will use for some purpose. Your software is a tool for getting structured data from a wide range of web sites, and would suit a wide range of research purposes. I would call your second example, "software for foreign language learning", a *system* if it includes all the functionality and usability features needed for an end user (however you define it) to use the software for some language learning purpose. (I assume you mean "...to help people learn a foreign language" rather than "machine translation between natural languages".) However, if your software is not a complete system from the viewpoint of some end user, and instead you want to focus on the algorithms that the software implements, then I'd call it an *algorithm*. There may be other possibilities, but I would need to know more specifics about the software and its use, and your purposes in publication. Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]
2015/07/12	710	2,631	<issue_start>username_0: I am working on a research paper where I am trying to format values in a table: From −0.2 to −0.14. Is this formatting correct? ``` -0.2 - -0.14 ``` Another question: From −3 to 3. Is this correct? ``` -3-3 ```<issue_comment>username_1: You probably need to use the right kind of dashes. Most computer typesetting or word processing programs, including MS Word, LaTeX, support hypens, minus signs, en-dashes and em-dashes at the very least. The en-dash is usually used to give a range of numbers. I've tried to reproduce the way you would write this in LaTeX, but this particular StackExchange site doesn't appear to support MathJax which allows for inline LaTeX on websites. $$ -0.2 -- -0.14 $$ and $$ -3 -- 3 $$ Edited to add: The MathJax above might be a bit misleading. In a LaTeX table cell, I would probably write `-3.5 -- 12.3` or whatever. I would probably use `\text{}` around it in math mode to prevent the dashes from being treated as unary minuses and allow the double-dash to become an en-dash. The numbers will render the same regardless. Neither of these things work well in MathJax, but they do something reasonable in true LaTeX files. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Personally, I would definitely not use this type of formatting, as I think it is easy for people to confuse the various different types of dashes. Instead, I would recommend using [the bracket format typically used for denoting intervals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_(mathematics)#Notations_for_intervals). Formatted in this manner, your examples would be: > > [-0.2, -0.14] > > > [-3, 3] > > > Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: If using symbols causes confusion, then don't use symbols. Use words. For example, "-0.2 to -0.14" and "-3 to 3". Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: In order to cover all possible ranges (including negative) without confusion, I think that using either parentheses, or brackets, is much better than using any kinds of dashes. That is, for scientific data values. However, for those as well as for other types of values and their ranges, I would highly suggest consulting your publication style guide, which should take precedence over someone's preference. While, typically, style guides don't have strict rules on the subject, there might be some differences in that regard between publication styles, especially for some special cases, such as date ranges and page number ranges. For more details and some examples, see [this blog post](http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2014/06/comparing-mla-and-apa-numbers.html). Upvotes: 0
2015/07/13	695	3,105	<issue_start>username_0: I need a letter of recommendation, but am unsure how to get it. I am applying to graduate school. I need three letters of recommendation. I have 2/3. Some schools to which I am applying require the third to be from an academic, such as a professor. My undergraduate education was online. I never interacted with a professor. Even if I could get a letter of recommendation, I am not sure that it would be relevant. I am applying to graduate school in a field completely unrelated to business. Do I submit a non-academic reference? Do I ask a professor with whom I have no pre-existing relationship?<issue_comment>username_1: First of all, what I'm about to say may vary depending on the field. I'm in mathematics. The role of the recommendation letters is for someone who can be seen as an authority to tell the admissions committee how well you will do in academia. Someone from outside academia is unlikely to be able to tell them that. You need at least one recommendation letter from someone with experience in academia. Part of the work you do in undergrad, once you realise that you want to go to grad school, is build relationships with professors who could potentially write recommendation letters. A letter from your supervisor at work will tell an admissions committee nothing about how well you will do in academia, unfortunately. You need someone who can say, based on personal experience with grad students, that you will be successful. Unfortunately for you, it sounds like none of your professors know enough about you to write a good recommendation letter. However, an application (at least in math) without any academic reference would be very unlikely to succeed. I would say that you should pick a professor from a class where you did well, and there was considerable coursework that the professor can base his recommendation on, and email that professor and ask for a recommendation. It won't be an excellent letter, since they don't know you personally, and they may refuse to recommend someone they don't know personally, but you should try. The recommendations are one of the most important parts of a grad school application, and by not getting to know any of your professors well enough that they can write you a recommendation letter you've put yourself at a huge disadvantage. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: PhD programs of any worth in the United States require three letters of reference from faculty who can attest to your academic qualifications - and who have met you in person. MA programs (especially unfunded ones) are much more lenient and will take students who are borderline. I'd recommend looking into a physical (not online) MA where you can work intensively with some faculty for one or two years who will write for you. Choose carefully though, because students at some poorly run MA programs have little contact with faculty. Be sure to talk to students in the program right now as well as graduates. A good program will be proud of its alumnae and happy to introduce to them to prospective students. Upvotes: 4
2015/07/13	714	2,753	<issue_start>username_0: Many people published their PhD theses in ProQuest, and it looks cool. The thesis is indexed by ACM as a book, so you can list them in the publication section in your CV. I wonder if there is any disadvantage if I do the same? To be honest, I really doubt that anyone will ever read my thesis. But I have spent 3 (extremely painful) months to complete it. So I want to decorate it a little bit. My university has a public repository for PhD theses, it is googlable, but not indexed. I already put my thesis in ArXiv.<issue_comment>username_1: I don't see any advantage to posting your thesis to ProQuest, but I don't see any real disadvantage either. Since your thesis is already on ArXiv, it's already permanently (and freely!) available. So I don't see any advantage to also making your thesis available through a more painful interface that requires your intended audience to give other people money. Presumably the results in your thesis will also be (or have already been) published in other indexed publication venues, so even having your thesis indexed by ACM isn't a clear advantage. You can list your thesis in your dissertation even if you don't submit it to ProQuest. In fact, you must list your thesis in your CV, even if you don't submit it to ProQuest. (JeffE's answer.) Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_1: To JeffE's answer I'd add that there are better tools to make your thesis discoverable, unlocking publications from poorly-indexed institutional archives. ProQuest seems one like many; there are also [problems with academic social networking websites](http://osc.universityofcalifornia.edu/2015/12/a-social-networking-site-is-not-an-open-access-repository/). I see you are from the UK; EU has a very nice [DART-Europe E-theses Portal](http://www.dart-europe.eu/). Make sure your university joins it! It's also useful when you're searching sources, in my experience. Alternatively, see <NAME>'s [tips on how to self-archive your work](http://bit.ly/how-oa); [Zenodo](http://zenodo.org/) is a valid repository nowadays, and gives you a DOI. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Just wanted to add to the discussion that some universities or graduate schools (mine included) require students to submit a Ph.D. dissertation to ProQuest. In fact, that is a part of graduation requirements in my school. Having said that, it is my understanding that a dissertation, published via ProQuest, is referred to as "unpublished doctoral dissertation" in citations (and should be, at least, per APA Publication Style Guide). I think that the underlying logic is that a ProQuest publication is considered a publication to e-repository, rather than through peer-reviewed outlet. Upvotes: 2
2015/07/13	2,431	10,121	<issue_start>username_0: I'm a student intending to stay in academia, and I'm reaching the stage where I've begun to TA classes. If all goes well I'll be teaching courses for the rest of my career, so I want to make sure I'm doing it right. I have a series of scars across my arm that anyone with experience or awareness of the issue will immediately realize were self-inflicted. I have not added to them in enough months that they are old and a little faded, but they are still very visible. Personally, I've grown comfortable with leaving them exposed – a stare from a stranger now and again won't hurt me. But in a classroom environment I'm uncertain – is it possible that the emotional vulnerability implied by the scars would compromise my relationship with my students as a teacher, that they might lose respect or trust in my competence? Should I perhaps cover them because they may bother students who have been affected by the issue? I understand that a great deal of this is based on the individual: whether they're comfortable, the way they wish to present themselves to their students, how private they wish to be, and so forth. Setting this aside, is there simply a standard of appropriateness with respect to how much I should implicitly reveal? Obviously it would not be appropriate to launch into a ramble of my mental health history while holding office hours, but would the existence of the long story implied by my scars be something I should take measures to keep from my students? And are there guidelines that would generally apply to people in similar situations (for example, if a recovering addict had obvious needle marks)? I should add that I'm a Canadian studying in the United States and that I have seen one instance of a graduate student in the same situation as I am – she did not choose to cover her scars.<issue_comment>username_1: You should do what you are comfortable with. If you want to keep them hidden, that is fine. If you want to sometimes wear clothes that reveal them, go ahead, assuming the clothes are otherwise appropriate. Your colleagues will probably not care, and if they do, they need to - and will - get over it. I would caution that letting students know your history could be problematic, in that it could increase the likelihood that they come to you about personal issues. No matter how supportive you are, no one wants more students dropping by to talk about personal problems. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: There's nothing unprofessional about dressing in a way which shows your scars, and it's unlikely that anyone, professor or student, will object to or think less of you for dressing in a way that shows them. (It's not impossible, because there are unreasonable people everywhere.) (In particular, most of the people who would see self-harm as evidence of emotional vulnerability won't recognize them anyway.) On the plus side, some of your students will be struggling with self-harm themselves, and will really benefit from seeing someone like them to who has also been successful in academic life. As username_1 says, that's a mixed thing for you, because some of them are going to come to you for emotional and practical support. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: You're fine. Anyone who knows what they are probably won't judge you. Everyone else won't know and probably won't bring it up, as is common with any kind of unusual physical characteristic. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: > > Is it possible that the emotional vulnerability implied by the scars would compromise my relationship with my students as a teacher, that they might lose respect or trust in my competence? > > > I'm sorry to say that yes it will compromise you relationships with many students. There will be those that understand but most will see you in a completely different way than you want them to. And once you've lost the confidence of your students you should start looking for a new job ASAP. But students are the least of your worries. You are putting yourself at a HUGE risk with your employer, you colleagues, the parents of your students... the list is endless. While many people claim to have evolved in their thinking about mental illness, they really haven't. Not to mention, your employer might not want something like that getting out about one of their employees. It puts them at risk as well of being accused of hiring someone who "is emotionally unstable" (even if you're not anymore). Unless you really want to take on the challenge and responsibility of reforming the minds of the populous and get your face on CNN, you are really endangering your livelihood. If you really feel as though you need to be open about this, you need to talk to your employer first since you are a representative of them. It's only fair. Especially if you didn't disclose this to them when you where hired/signed on to be TA. FYI, I also have self-harm wounds and was a high school teacher for many years. I did have some students ask me about the scars (which are faded white now) and have come up with a story to cover for me. As long as I use that story in a confident way they will believe me. Depending on how your scars healed you can use things like cat scratches, surgery scars, gardening accidents, etc. And you can have different explanations for different scars. As for hiding the scars, that can be a hassle. Mine are on the inside of my forearm so unless I wear long sleeves all the time they're gonna be visible. I'm fine with that because I have my story ready to go. Another option is to tattoo over them. That doesn't always work and could draw more attention to them but it could work if you find an awesome tattoo artist. I know none of this is PC but it's the truth. Unless you want to and have the ability to be a crusader, don't take on that role. Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_5: > > Is it possible that the emotional vulnerability implied by the scars would compromise my relationship with my students as a teacher, that they might lose respect or trust in my competence? > > > Highly unlikely. There's 2 categories of people: 1. Those who know what those scars mean (fairly small percentage, IMHO) - who would be extremely unlikely to judge you negatively for cutting in your past; most (in my experience) would be former cutters, or their support persons; or people involved in mental health professionally. 2. And those who don't know, who simply would have no reason to suspect you as a former cutter. It's not a very widely known situation with publicly recognizable signs, unlike intravenous drug use. > > Should I perhaps cover them because they may bother students who have been affected by the issue? > > > Now, that's a valid concern. However, it's not nearly as black and white - a person who's been affected by cutting is just as liable to be reassured by knowing you share the experience - BOTH because they can relate to you and you to them; AND because the fact that someone who used to cut is now a teacher in academia is a positive and reassuring example for them that they have a future if they strive for it. --- P.S. The only consideration I would have would actually NOT be specific to cutting, but has impact on whether seeing the scars is an issue at all. Specific considerations of professionalism may vary, but (especially if you are male), wearing short sleeves is probably NOT the best approach to dressing professionally IMHO. But I spent more time in business background than academia ones so I'm biased in my views on dress code :) For women, dress code standards are far more relaxed, but often also discourage lacking long sleeves. --- As a side note - I don't think you asked it explicitly, but an implied side question seems to be "if I'm asked about the scars, what should I answer?" My suggestion would be * If asked about scars in general, answer "long story" and don't elaborate. You're there to interact with people in professional capacity, not to swap war injury stories. * If someone explicitly asks whether they are from cutting, use your best judgement. Personally, I'd recommend saying "no" (since there's a stigma attached, and you don't know what the views of the asker are); but this really is your call. And frankly, if you don't want to be asked about whether the scars are from cutting, you're better off pre-empting that by wearing long sleeves and not displaying the scars at all. A slight restriction on your clothing options (endured by nearly 100% of people employed outside academia :) is surely worth avoiding a conversation you'd rather avoid (this is an issue of your personal emotional comfort, NOT professionalism, so it's not directly related to the meat of your question) Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: If you want to have an entire class of students asking you about (or wondering about, or thinking about instead of course material) your scars, go for it. This isn't a question about your right to express yourself, or having to worry about showing who you truly are without hiding it. I'm as PC as the next guy, it just looks like you're getting a lot of PC answers. There is a time and a place for showing "who you truly are" but I don't see this as being any different than getting a corporate job and hiding that tattoo on your arm or your ankle or any other place that wouldn't be covered by the corporate uniform. You are in academia, and you want to be judged by your knowledge and your experience. Making your scars visible to your students and colleagues will invariably change their opinion of you. As human beings we all make snap judgements about people, whether we like to admit it or not. I just hope that when people first meet you, they judge you based on your experience and your perceived character, not on a time in your life (theoretically in the past) when you were cutting yourself. While tattoos may not be frowned upon in Academia, the point is that it is a personal feature that you should not be ashamed of but still might not be something you want to show everyone Upvotes: 3
2015/07/13	1,744	7,309	<issue_start>username_0: In our university there are a lot of great researchers and a very competent people in general. I've discovered today that one of our researchers is intentionally employing people who are totally incompetent. I think that he's doing this to appear as a great teacher and supervisor, because, as far as I know, he was a supervisor for all of them in the past. I personally know some of these incompetent researchers, since their first year of undergraduate studies. They were those people who find it incredibly hard to pass every course, especially maths. I've been giving one of them remedial lessons to make him able to pass a database course. He finally made it on the 3rd attempt. His other courses weren't much better - he failed literally EVERY maths course until the last possible attempt. Today, I discovered that he and several people similar to him are employed as researchers. Some of them were there even before completing their B.S (which is usually not allowed even for the most talented students). What should I do to notify others of this situation and without worsening my position in my colleagues' eyes? The researcher is a man of a great reputation (or at least, much greater than I am as a postgraduate :-) ), so I'm afraid of being just considered malicious and jealous man. On the other hand I'm pretty angry about all this, because there are some very expensive international projects, where money for these people are completely wasted and a research progress is much slower than it has to be. Those positions could be occupied by really talented and competent people and not just by somebody, who was supervised by one specific man.<issue_comment>username_1: My suggestion is that you let it go for three reasons: 1. This is hardly the last time you'll come across this problem, inside or outside of academia. 2. There are factors here you might not be considering or know nothing about. Maybe the person you're tutoring in math has excellent people skills, or is the instructor's nephew, or the Dean's. Whatever the reasons they're really not any of your business. 3. As you say, you will indeed end up being considered a malicious and jealous man. If it really bothers you you should probably find somewhere else to work where this isn't a problem, but then see point #1, above. Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Your perception of them being bad seems to be based on what your past experiences where with them. Their past performance is not necessarily a good indicator of their present performance. The professor that hired them saw something in them. One of the best researchers I know did not pass his bachelor's with flying colors. The remark that the professor hired them to look good himself is also doubtful. There is only one way a student makes his professor look good, and that is by doing good research. In the competitive research world the professor would likely only spend more money on people he believes in. Like @DaveKey already said, don't get involved. It is none of your business. Focus on your own work and not on your emotions surrounding the work of others. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Like others here, I am supremely sceptical of your reasoning that the prof. is hiring bad people to look better. I think it is indeed a pretty universal concept that professors hire good people because it makes them seem good. Never have I heard of a case where somebody was actively looking for terrible people because they can be taught more. Hence, I would look for other reasons why those "incompetent people" are employed in this lab. The ones that seem most likely to me are: * The better students may not be interested. In Austria and Germany, for instance, many of the best advanced students already work part-time jobs outside of academia. It is simply not possible to always hire the "best-in-class" for some student jobs, simply because they have other, better-paying jobs, and may not be interested. No matter what the concrete circumstances are, I would not by default assume that every student is always interested in each job. * It may be more work to find better students. Even if there are better students that may be interested, sometimes bachelor- and master-student hiring is very low on the priority list of the professor, and he simply does not care enough to go out of his way to find the best people if he has somebody at hand that he thinks will at least be adequate. This is close to your reasoning, but it's not the same. * Maybe the professor is looking for other qualities than you. You go very hard on those students because they sucked at their math courses. Maybe the professor does not care about this, because the job is foremost a programming job? Maybe they are in fact not incompetent in the specific skill that the job needs? * Maybe they simply improved. Relatedly, maybe they simply learned and are not incompetent anymore? * Maybe it's simply nepotism. No exactly a good reason, but still much more likely than the reasoning you proposed - maybe those incompetent students are somehow related to the professor, or to friends of the professor. This is, I think, the only case from my list where you should really be angry, but even in this case I foresee only hard times for you if you go on a mission to change the professor's behavior. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: Your story reminds me of my (painful) student time in Italy, but I (and my friends) were the bad, incompetent guys :) Back then we were 3 Asians doing Master in Software Engineering in Trento. There, they offered one of the most theoretical Master programs that I've ever known. The mandatory courses for Software Engineering included Computability (lambda calculus etc), Computational Complexity, Concurrency Theory (pi calculus etc) etc. And we all sucked. I got 0 in Computability in the first semester, I decided not to retake the exam in the second semester since I understood nothing, and I managed to pass it in the third semester. My friends X and Y went to the Dean and told him they could not finish this program unless he let them to pass Computability :D I and X graduated after 5 semesters (the standard is 4), Y needed 3 years to do that. Our GPA were less than mediocre, and there were several courses that we needed to take the exams several times. So if you, the OP, says we were incompetent students, I agree. My friends may also agree. But if you say we are incompetent researchers, we will not agree. We sucked at math stuffs like Computability, but there are still many things that we can do research on. I have just finished my PhD in the UK, and I'm going to start my post doc in the US this month. X also submitted his PhD thesis in Canada, and already has a post doc offer from a top school in the same country. Y stayed at Trento for PhD, and already started his post doc with a US government agency early this month. We may be mediocre researchers, but not incompetent. Because our PhD advisors have been happy with us. Maybe you are right, the people in your department are really incompetent. However, if our advisors evaluated us merely based on our GPAs and performances in class, we would never have a chance. Upvotes: 3
2015/07/14	903	3,789	<issue_start>username_0: My advisor introduced a new student in my work saying that I am doing X,Y,Z and he will be doing A,B,C. I was asked to explain X and share all the data, results, reports, all related publications etc to enable the student to do A,B,C. Once I have explained him X, Y, and shared my data and future plans, he changed/abandoned his directions and submits a paper with another lab collaborator and my advisor on my key idea X without even letting me know anything. After somehow finding it, I politely asked them about it. They were apologetic and both these students agreed through email exchanges that it was not their work and that they should have credited me. They also agreed that this should not have happened after a little confrontation. I know, my advisor is fully aware of the whole situation, and this was done deliberately. I am not able get out of this whole situation for a long time. Taking a fight with my advisor or the students is not an option. How would you all handle this situation effectively? How can you protect your ideas that are unpublished but you have been asked /instructed to share with others? [Even I have experienced situation where the supervisor himself misuse and steals student work without giving credit to the student who did it](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10494/does-it-amount-to-plagiarism-by-supervisor). So a tough question is, how do you protect your ideas from being stolen by your advisor?<issue_comment>username_1: At least here in Chile (and I suspect elsewhere isn't so different) your work for a degree belongs to the school. There is nothing "yours" to protect, legally. And morally, your work was instigated and supervised by faculty, so it isn't all yours anyway. Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: Obviously your idea is not 'protected' as someone else might have the same idea and/or a subset of that, and make a publication/patent out of it before you do; and you can't claim that the person stole it through your brain waves! Write down the introduction and background to that idea you have, and prove that it is your contribution through case studies and evaluations, and submit it to be published in a conference as a poster or a paper. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Use the internet and a third-party hosting site (not affiliated with you) that keeps track of date and time for every file or page your write (preferably one that also backs up data). The material must be available in some way (if anyone knows how to get to it), but this does not have to be advertised in any way. Tell at least one trusted friend that understands your work it`s location. In this way your material remains practically invisible, but time-stamped like a research log. As it is a neutral, 3rd-party site, it should be usable as evidence in your favor. As the material was put on the web, viewed by others, it is citable and, in theory, has been published to some limited degree. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Prior to publication, one way you can protect your ideas is to share them with collaborators using a license that asserts you as the copyright holder. The simplest way to do this would be to share the documents as a directory with a storage service that provides versioning (e.g., svn, Google Docs, github, bitbucket) and to include a LICENSE file in the directory that you are sharing and/or a copyright text at the top of the files. This establishes a written record both that you are the holder of the copyright and of with whom you have shared your preliminary results. (See another question on SE for [an example](https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/68134/best-existing-license-for-closed-source-code) of a closed-source license.) Upvotes: 1
2015/07/14	458	1,919	<issue_start>username_0: I am not a native English speaker, and I am writing a paper in English (maths) with the aim of getting published in a peer reviewed journal. If I write the manuscript myself, the poor grammar would prevent it from being accepted. If I give the manuscript to a native-English speaking expert in my area of maths, they may steal my ideas. If I give the manuscript to an expert just in English, they won't be able to fully help because they won't understand the ideas comprehensively. Would someone please guide me how to solve this situation?<issue_comment>username_1: In mathematics, it is entirely reasonable and acceptable to begin by posting a draft on [arXiv](http://arxiv.org/). Once it's up online with your name and a date-stamp, you need not fear anybody stealing your ideas, and can work on improving the manuscript, both in content and grammar, with whatever combination of colleagues and collaborators you find best suited for the task. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: A growing number of journals and publishers now recognise that quality of written English is not automatically correlated with academic merit. In life sciences, I know several publishers who actively recommend 'language polishing' services as it allows peer reviewers to focus on scientific issues rather than correcting language. For example: * [The Royal Society](https://royalsociety.org/journals/authors/language-polishing/) * [Nature Publishing Group](https://languageediting.nature.com/) At the same time it is important to recognise that substantial editing that is not acknowledged within the manuscript can be considered unethical. Some journals have a strict policy of acknowledging any writing or editing assistance (for example, NEJM). See [this article](http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/science/articles/10.1038/nj7324-721a) for a discussion of some of the issues. Upvotes: 1
2015/07/14	3,238	13,402	<issue_start>username_0: I live in country "A" (in Europe) and, a couple of months ago, I bought a round trip flight ticket to the US, for family reasons (not tourism). A couple of weeks after I bought the ticket, I was invited to a job interview for a postdoctoral position in country "C" (also in Europe) by a university. This interview was scheduled a few days before my planned travel back from the US to country "A." The tone of the email they sent me was such as to make me think that there was no room for moving the interview by a few days (or even by a few hours...). They just told me the date, hour, and room. In my experience this is unusual: I have been invited to interviews from institutes in other European countries (both tête-à-tête interviews and Skype interviews), and I was always given a few alternative dates from which to choose. Bear in mind that Europe is not a country--and is not the US, there are very many different ways to communicate, which caused my uncertainty in how to interpret their message. Perhaps, if I would have explained my situation, they would have understood and re-scheduled the interview...or perhaps they wouldn't have bothered, whatever their reason might have been. So, instead of asking the university to re-scheduling the interview, I have bought a new one way ticket back from the US, so that I could make it on time for the interview. (I am not asking judgement of this action) I am very interested in this job, and I think I should let them know what I have done to make it to the interview. (I am not asking whether I should let them know it or not. I am asking opinions on how to let them know it to obtain a positive effect; if you believe there are not, please, go to the bottom and read the tags to this question: I repeat, this is not in the US and I am not American.) What is the most elegant way to let the recruiting committee know--on the day of the interview--the what the applicant (me) has done to make it to the interview? (this is the question) [I am literally marking as useful all of your answers, however opinions from people from different European countries are very appreciated. The reasons being the different nature of social interactions compared to the anglosaxon world.] [NOTE: I believe now the question is precise, I would appreciate if you answered the question, and not judge everything else] [NOTE 2: I have changed some tags in this question, with the hope that future commenters or "answerers" could benefit from it. Remember this thing: what is normal or not in your country might be non-normal or normal in another country. E.G. in the US it would be extra rude for the interviewer to ask the candidate a question about his/her family, however this is not true elsewhere: it was one of the first questions I received in an interview with a french university. Please, before commenting - answering with a pretentious / sarcastic / paternalistic tone, be aware that the world is big--and it is not the US. The question is not flawed. I give you another example of how the world is big, beautiful and rich of differences and how lack of knowledge about the existence of such difference in social interactions might appear clumsy. E.G.2 Say we are in the US and a Texan asks to some people at his BBQ: "What sauce should I put on the cow steak?" and a random guy from India who was walking by answers: "You should not eat cow in first place, it is very inappropriate". It is a legitimate answer to be respected, but it is out of context. I feel like the Texan guy reading some comments and answers.] [NOTE 3: Given all of the above, let me stress that I appreciate all of your answers, but please try to answer / comment only if you have something appropriate to add. Also please, pretentious, sarcastic, judgmental, paternalistic comments or answers do not add anything useful, if not create tension. Moreover, answers that says somethings along these lines: "I am Australian, but am being living in South Korea, so I know I know the right answer to your question" are basically flawed, and the reason is to be searched in the European context that I am picturing in my question.] [NOTE 4: A comment made me realize that some details in my question might sound like anti-American, I apologize for that. You have to know that it is not the case. As a matter of fact, I have been several times in the US, and I have relatives from there. The claimed reduced interest for answers from Americans is simply related to the non-American situation I am picturing.] [NOTE 5: Let me provide other examples of how not-so-straightforward social interactions are, where they are carried out in different countries. I was speaking with a German colleague who worked in Italy for a few years, she studies management and was totally captured by the radically different ways to start a meeting in these two countries. In Germany, it is considered professional to start the meeting exactly on time and jump to the point, because this is considered professional to respect the established and clear rules of the game. In Italy, it is considered professional to start the meeting a few minutes late, with a coffee and talks unrelated to work, because this is thought to decrease tension and develop bonding that will ultimately easy the conversation at the meeting. What surprised me the most, is that later on I have discovered that in Sweden (which is not a Mediterranean country) they do the same as in Italy! Another example, this time from my own experience. I have never read that within the context of an academic interview, Americans ask about sport activities, perhaps this is considered too personal and unrelated to the job; on the other hand, in my last interview, I was asked by a Luxembourgian about my sport activities, my understanding was that he wanted to know whether I am a team player or rather an individualistic person.] [NOTE 6, WHAT HAPPENED: In the days immediately before the interview I was travelling and found my self in a place with no internet connection, which limited my ability to prepare to the job interview. I travelled back--earlier than established--and passed the interview. For obvious reasons, I did not perform well at the interview, but I have been honest, and I said that I have travelled back to Europe only for that job interview. Guess what? My honesty and dedication have been those characteristics that helped me stand over all the other applicants and I got the job. As I said many times in this post: not everywhere works as one may judge based on information limited to a fraction of the world labour market.]<issue_comment>username_1: You could try making a quick mention of the fact on a humorous tone. Often, at the beginning of an interview it can be appropriate to make a quick, inoffensive, joke just to break the ice. That would be the moment to say something on the lines of: "Sorry I'm so clumsy with the projector today. I must still be jet-lagged from the flight from the US. Actually, I had to cut short a family re-union to be here in time." Then, quickly change topic and go forward with the meeting. If the interviewers want to take the circumstance into account, they will. But there is no need (and it would be useless) to belabor the point further. Upvotes: -1 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Honestly I think there is no elegant way of saying this kind of stuff unsolicited. From my experience people from recruiting committee are used to this sort of manipulation from students, and they don't like it. Especially since it should (probably) not be taken into account for the outcome of the interview. Moreover, and that's just my opinion, they might even think something like "why did he buy another ticket since we would have accepted doing the interview on skype with those circumstances?". But on the other hand they might not. In my opinion, the best way to do what you want to do is to previously call them, and ask for a reschedule under exceptional circumstances, and if they say yes, that's good, if they say no, you buy another ticket (and they know what you did, and will account for it if needed). Other than that, in my opinion, don't unless there is the perfect opportunity to say it ("did you have a safe trip?" for example), otherwise it will come out clumsy. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: To be honest, I would avoid mentioning it at all, especially if you're going to use the word 'sacrifice'. It may not demonstrate commitment and enthusiasm so much as complaining about what you had to do and looking for praise. It may also come across as passive aggressive and what will you do if they ask why you didn't simply ask to re-schedule or conduct the interview over Skype? Saying that the tone of the email made it sound like you couldn't will make you sound overly sensitive and timid. As Alan pointed out, how one comes across in interviews will be highly subjective and maybe a bit of humour will help, but if I was the interviewer and a candidate tried to sneak in some sort of 'look how much I've gone through to get to this interview' comment, it would turn me off. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: (I am assuming this is about faculty interviews - for PhD applications, my answer may be less applicable) All the faculty interviews I had so far were somehow split into an official and a much-less-official-but-still-part-of-the-interview part. At least in Europe, the official part is indeed a very formal Q&A, and there is very little chance to point out your circumstances in a way that will not come across as heavy-handed or clumsy. The less-official part is usually something like a joint dinner the night before or after, and you will certainly find a spot in the conversation to drop this. The other question is what you hope to achieve - I assume you want to show "dedication", but honestly I have very little hope that the fact that you needed to re-book a private trip to make it to the interview will impress anybody. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: I wouldn't mention it. I sit on these interview committees, and I really couldn't care less whether you came from 5 minutes down the road or another continent to get there. (Indeed, if I found you'd bought another ticket without contacting us about interviewing by video/phone I'd think rather less of you. I've done quite well with remote interviewing, and would be happy to do so again) For context - UK Russell Group University. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_6: In my experience the arrangements for the interview and visit to the campus are made by administrative or clerical staff, for example a [departmental secretary](http://www.jokes2go.com/jokes/2319.html). They are usually the ones asking you about dates and times. Sometimes there are opportunities to communicate this information when you are making arrangements with them. In my experience they do pass on background information informally that they learn whilst making the arrangements. However I am aware that many institutions have formalised the process through an HR department. They do this to deliberately insulate the applicant from the academic department precisely to prevent these informal back-channels from having influence on the process. In that case what other respondents have suggested is more appropriate. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: I realize I'm joining a chorus of similar answers, but I want to word it in a way that directly answers the question (at least as worded in the title), The most elegant way to let the recruiting committee know ... is silence. =============================================================================== I state this with complete sympathy for your predicament.The most elegant thing to do is not to mention it at all, because of there is no reason to explain it. Unless the travel is academically relevant to your field, then it has no connection to the content of a job interview. So if you are Indiana Jones and have just gotten back from raiding the temple of doom, sure. Or if you're an aerospace scientist recently returned from the ISS, nonchalantly slip that into the interview if needed. If your a medical doctor recently returned from treating ebola, that too might work. But generally, the hard time you had getting there is not meaningful information to the interview. Imagine: > > A: How do you see yourself fitting into the program? OR what are you future research plans? > > > B: Well golly, I had take three flights to get here and I had to cut my vacation short. > > > effect = this guy/gal is going to be really annoying to work with. (I'm American-born and -trained but working at a university in Japan. I didn't think it was relevant but apparently to the op it is. I also lived in Germany for three years). Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_8: *If* one of the interview questions were: > > Why (or) How much do you want to work here? > > > I would mention that as soon as I received the confirmation email, without hesitation, I booked myself a one way flight from the US, as I perform better in face to face interviews. I think that type of initiative shows enthusiasm, a certain economic independence, and a no-fuss attitude. What's there not to like? P.S I live in Italy. Upvotes: 1
2015/07/14	1,247	5,534	<issue_start>username_0: Apart from taking measures to maintain confidentiality, do I need my ethical approval to specify permission to publish raw data along with my study? I'm trying to facilitate reproducibility in my research. It is a retrospective, cross-sectional study of medical records. The information is sensitive. I know that there are other questions out there that touch on the subject, but they do not quite cover what I want to know.<issue_comment>username_1: Almost certainly. You will need to explain how you will maintain confidentiality, and convince them that this is appropriate. You will need address any possible negative repercussions that could occur should you publish your raw data. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: If your study deals with human subjects, for which confidentiality concerns apply, then how you manage the data definitely needs to be part of the plan that you submit for ethical approval. For some types of information, raw data may not be possible to de-identify (surveys drawn from a small population, for example, where there may be only a few people belonging to a given set of demographic groups). For other types of information, confidentiality can be maintained. Whatever ethical approval system you are dealing with (e.g., in the US, an IRB) should be given an opportunity to double-check and notice if you have overlooked anything. If human subjects are not involved, then confidentiality probably does not apply (e.g., ethical approval is important for experiments with rats, but confidentiality is generally not a concern) though there are places where data not taken from human subjects may still end up containing people's personal information that still needs to be protected. A good example of this is [<NAME>'s investigation of discarded hard drives](http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=859056). Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: If you're in the US, make sure the data set complies to [HIPAA](http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/). Double check to make sure you don't have any information that would allow identification. Another one measure that HIPAA may not touch on is the rarity of the medical outcome(s) in your data set. Participants in a flu data set are a lot harder to identify that participants in, say, an anthrax poisoning data set. You'd need to check on the definition of what constitutes a rare outcome. Ultimately, you should seek advices and support from these following agencies: 1) your own institutional review board (IRB), 2) the funding agency that supports your work, and 3) the original owner of the medical records who allowed you to extract the retrospective data. If all these three are okay, it's very likely to be fine. If anything hits the fan, showing evidence that they had granted you support and you have done your due diligence in safeguarding the privacy of the data would do you a lot of good on legal ground. Additionally, even for reproducibility, you don't necessarily have to make the data set available to everyone. With some work on your side you can set up a data user agreement mechanism, so that at least you can have some track records on who borrowed the data and for what reason. If you explain to the journal that any of the three agencies above prohibits free access, the editor will usually understand and agree with the data user agreement routine. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: From the [Declaration of Helsinki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helsinki_declaration) of “ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects, including research on identifiable human material and data”, conforming to which should be required by any journal, (boldface mine): > > 23. The research protocol must be submitted for consideration, comment, guidance and approval to the concerned research ethics committee before the study begins. This committee must be transparent in its functioning, must be independent of the researcher, the sponsor and any other undue influence and must be duly qualified. It must take into consideration the laws and regulations of the country or countries in which the research is to be performed as well as applicable international norms and standards but these must not be allowed to reduce or eliminate any of the protections for research subjects set forth in this Declaration. > > > […] > > > […] > > > 32. For medical research using identifiable human material or data, such as research on material or data contained in biobanks or similar repositories, physicians must seek informed consent for its collection, storage and/or reuse. There may be exceptional situations where consent would be impossible or impracticable to obtain for such research. In such situations the research may be done only after consideration and approval of a research ethics committee. > > > So, unless I totally misunderstand what you did, you needed ethical approval for even performing your study. Publishing the data is only possible, if the subjects gave consent acoording to the declaration, which you should really have approved by the committee, because you can get into big trouble otherwise, even if everything turns out to be correct. I know of cases where people had the perfect data for a specific study bould could not use it because what they wanted to do with it was not covered by the consent given by the subjects. Also note that your national or institutional regulations may go further regarding this. Upvotes: 1
2015/07/14	395	1,832	<issue_start>username_0: I wonder if it is allowed to cite a recent paper, published after the initial submission of my paper. In the revision phase I am adding some missing references and I would also like to refer to some very recent papers. Could this be a problem?<issue_comment>username_1: "Disputable"? No, it's probably fine. Check with the editor of your article to be sure about the journal's policy for these kinds of changes after acceptance, but I can't imagine it would be a problem unless whatever the referenced paper concludes necessitates substantial changes to your own work. That being said, if the journal you have submitted to prints submission, revision, and acceptance dates, you're not going to get hammered for failing to cite it, unless, again, its conclusions are substantially at odds with your own or would indicate a need for a major revision. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: There is nothing special about the initial date of submission. As such, it is entirely acceptable to add new citations, including for recently published papers, at any stage except for some journals' final proofing (where they really just want to confirm their formatting and copy-editing). Moreover, in many cases it is not just acceptable but required, especially given that review may be a very lengthy process. For example, I am in the middle of a revision right now of a paper that had an unusually long initial review for my field---from first submission to submission of the revision will be nearly 18 months. In the revision, we will most certainly be citing new work, including some of our own other recently published work, as a necessary part of addressing the comments of the reviewers. So, in short: yes, cite whatever is useful to cite, regardless of its publication date. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
2015/07/14	1,172	4,634	<issue_start>username_0: In this [comment](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/48740/is-there-a-standard-of-professionalism-in-academia-requiring-me-to-hide-self-har/48742#comment112842_48742) it was suggested that teaching in your underwear is a bad thing. While in general, I think academics are accepting of a wide range of dress (there are people in my department who teach in suits and others in ripped jeans), I am not sure a nudist or teaching in your boxers would be acceptable. Part of me thinks there is the issue of sexual harassment, but I think if it is your style, it is not harassment. Can an academic really wear, or not wear, what they want? Let's assume that it is a state university and therefore not public nudity or that you are in a state/country that allows public nudity. I am interested in the ethical/professional side of teaching in the nude. I am assuming that someone who wants to teach in the nude would understand the legal implications and how it affects their productivity.<issue_comment>username_1: No, No, No, and also No! Setting aside all aspects of legality, I see no way around the ethical problem of consent and harassment. Simply put: the teacher is in a position of significant power with respect to the students. A teacher choosing to be nude may place students in a position where they are compelled to either remain in a situation where they are uncomfortable or else may face significant penalties. There's no way to spin that where it's not an abuse of power, compounded further by the sexual and gender implications that nudity would have on most university campuses. Maybe it could be made consensual if the class was optional and had instructor nudity as a clear expectation as part of the curriculum (so people would know what they were signing up for---[like in this example](https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/05/11/it-legitimate-pedagogical-tool-art-professor-ask-students-be-nude-one-class)), but we're getting pretty far out of the mainstream of university instruction with such a case. Even figure drawing classes in art school generally use neutral third parties for their nude models, rather than the instructor. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: This is probably the most interesting question I've seen so far and I can't completely tell if you're serious about the question but I'll give an honest and serious answer anyway. A goal we would all like to see achieved is equality for all no matter your race, lifestyle, etc. But there are lines where things cross into the inappropriate. Do you remember, a couple months ago, that med school which had students preform vaginal examinations on OTHER Students? Messed up, I think so. Illegal, no. I mention the med school because while you should not teach a class naked for an immense amount of ethical and liability reasons @username_1 mentioned consent but I don't think that works in practice. If you make it clear that you will be nude and that students must be okay with it: 1). A vast majority will think it's a joke. 2). Students may feel forced to consent if your class is required and they can't change their schedule to have full-time status. Though the topic can get touchy when you talk about an art class. Are the students drawing you naked? Is being nude part of the curriculum? While models would be better for everyone I can see where there would be an argument in the context of art. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Let us be a bit rational here. A) Is being in the nude helpful to students' understanding of the subject matter in any way? I have no preconceptions on this, but still fail to find a great many subject matters in which nudity may be pertinent. Art history, perhaps? Or a philosophical discussion on the perception of nudity through the ages? But not the vast majority of subjects taught in universities, by any means. For the situations that can objectively require a perception of the nude human body, perhaps substituting teaching materials for the corpus delicti would be sufficient. B) Is being in the nude an interference to students' learning process? This seems likely, due to most cultures' taboos on public nudity. There are not many places in the world (except, perhaps, nudist beaches and one small island in France) where you can cross the street with your attributes on display and not attract people's attention. Balancing A against B, I would tend to think nudism in the class is not constructive to an atmosphere of concentration on the subject in hand, in the vast majority of teaching situations. Upvotes: 3
2015/07/14	922	4,329	<issue_start>username_0: I know there have been numerous questions on this site discussing the submission of papers to a conference and a journal (simultaneously and subsequently), but I'm curious about a slightly different scenario. Perhaps this is a duplicate but I couldn't find any answers already posted. If I'm working in a field where there is cross-disciplinary work, is it okay to submit a paper to a journal or conference in each field? For example, a submitting to a medical journal for a novel medical application and a computer science conference for a novel algorithm? Obviously in one the focus would be more on the application of the approach while the other would focus on the "how", but the basic experiment/research and probably most of the content would be the same for both.<issue_comment>username_1: Two important things that you need to consider: 1. If the papers share any substantial amount of text, then you would be guilty of self plagiarism. If this is discovered then its likely that one or the other or both papers will be rejected before publication or retracted after publication. 2. In submitting to most conferences and journals a condition of publication is that your article is an original contribution. If reviewers become aware of a duplicate publication of essentially the same research (even if the text is distinct) then they can and should reject the paper as not being an original contribution. Some editors might retract a paper after publication if they discovered that you'd published essentially the same research elsewhere. It might be reasonable to submit two different papers to journals or conferences in different disciplines as long as the papers really do contain different material. However, it's utterly inappropriate to reuse text or even to submit two papers that report essentially the same results. Statements by various publishers about duplicate submission/publication don't include any exception for publication in journals from different disciplines. In short, the answer to your question is "no." Some statements on publication ethics that discuss duplicate submission and duplicate publication: <http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/overlapping-publications.html> <http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/jpepsy/for_authors/multiple_publications.html> <http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/duplicatepublication> Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: While I agree with username_1' answer that you cannot submit the same material to two different places, the example that you give in your question (e.g., the medical application vs. the algorithm) is a good examples of where "the same work" may create entirely distinct papers for the different communities. In my experience with cross-disciplinary publication, it is typical for one of the papers to come first, and then the other to come later and cite the first. This can easily go in either direction across the two fields. To, illustrate, considering your example: * You might publish the medical application paper first, based on the main experimental results, and in this paper it would be inappropriate to go into a detailed exploration of the properties of the algorithm: validation of data resulting from its application is where that community's interest stops. Then you might later publish a paper for computer scientists that "zooms in" on the algorithm and explores it in detail. * Alternately, you might start by publishing the algorithm paper, laying out all of the theoretical foundations in detail (which will likely fill a conference paper quite tightly), but stopping before the experimental data, which the computer scientists are not in a position to peer-review in any case. Then the medical application paper can come afterward, citing the algorithm paper as an established fact in its methods. The important things to make such cross-disciplinary publication clean and ethical are: 1. Always explicitly cite and declare relationships between your work. 2. Never try to squeeze "extra" publications out this way: your cross-disciplinary publication choices should instead be based on routing in-depth discussion of particular aspects of the work to the communities that can best review and appreciate it. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
2015/07/14	1,996	7,982	<issue_start>username_0: I will be teaching an introductory class, in which attendance is important, with approximately 60 students in 3 sections. I'd like to have a system that: 1. Enables me to quickly mark whether a student is present. 2. Allows students to see their own attendance record but not other students'. 3. Lets students provide information about their absences. For small classes, students email me (or I email them) for information about absences, but it would be overwhelming with this many students. A single Google spreadsheet would be great for data entry, and students could use comments to annotate their absences, but it wouldn't protect students' privacy. Any suggestions (besides not tracking attendance)? My school provides Google Apps and Blackboard, although I'm willing to use other solutions. UPDATE: I know a hack that would work in Blackboard would be to create a fake assignment for each day (attending class) and enter attendance information (0 or 1) there. This is not ideal because (1) entering data into Blackboard is slower than putting it into a spreadsheet, (2) it would bloat the grade listings seen by the students, and (3) I don't think students could add a comment to the "grade" (the excuse). There is a [similar question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/5170), but it does not address how to incorporate excuses/explanations, which, to me, is the tricky part.<issue_comment>username_1: For a multi-section course with this many students, you really should make use of a Learning Management System (Blackboard in your case) for an online gradebook and attendance tracking system that allows students to see their grades and attendance records. My experience is with Canvas and Moodle rather than Blackboard, so I won't attempt to answer this question in detail, but I'm sure that Blackboard should be able to do this. At another level, you'll need to record who actually shows up each day. You can enter the information by hand, or you might consider using an audience response system ("clicker") and have the students check themselves in. For large lecture courses this works very well. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: There is a sort of a solution using Google Apps, but it's ugly and it's still very much imperfect (more on that at the bottom). You could create a master spreadsheet (that for the sake of example has the internal ID of "masterSheet") that looks like this: ``` A B C D E F 1\| Name \| 9/1 \| 9/1 Comment \| 9/2 \| 9/2 Comment \| etc. 2\| Student A \| \| \| \| \| 3\| Student B \| \| \| \| \| 4\| Student C \| \| \| \| \| ``` Then you'll create another spreadsheet for Student A: ``` A B C 1\| Date \| Attendance Grade \| Comment/Excuse 2\| 9/1 \| =IMPORTRANGE("masterSheet","B2") \| 3\| 9/2 \| =IMPORTRANGE("masterSheet","D2") \| 3\| etc. \| =IMPORTRANGE("masterSheet","X2") \| ``` You'll then make columns A and B (as well as cell C1) uneditable except by you. You don't necessarily need to type in the `IMPORTRANGE()` stuff manually, and you do it formulaicly much easier if you have both the master and student spreadsheets go in the same order (although it's possible either way). Initially, the student will just see ``` A B C 1\| Date \| Attendance Grade \| Comment/Excuse 2\| 9/1 \| \| 3\| 9/2 \| \| 3\| etc. \| \| ``` As you put in their attendance grades for each day, it will show up automatically in theirs, but they won't be able to edit it if you properly protect the range. Now, for their comments. You'll do the exact same thing, but in reverse, and you'll get: ``` A B C D E F 1\| Name \| 9/1 \| 9/1 Comment \| 9/2 \| 9/2 Comment \| etc. 2\| Student A \| \| =IMPORTRANGE("studentA","C2") \| \| =IMPORTRANGE("studentA","C3") \| 3\| Student B \| \| =IMPORTRANGE("studentB","C2") \| \| =IMPORTRANGE("studentB","C3") \| 4\| Student C \| \| =IMPORTRANGE("studentC","C2") \| \| =IMPORTRANGE("studentC","C3") \| ``` If a student enters in a comment in their spreadsheet, it will show up on yours. Now, a few comments about this: It's ugly. It's awful. But it basically does what you want. But there's also a security consideration that will greatly reduce its efficacy to be effectively useless. Besides the fact that a student could get access to your original spreadsheet by using `IMPORTRANGE()` on their comment field, Google Apps requires a user to have viewing or editing privileges to the document referenced by `IMPORTRANGE()`. There are many ways ways to obfuscate, but it will only ever be obfuscation, and not real security. What you should do from my experience ------------------------------------- Just use Blackboard. It does NOT take that long to take roll with it. It is a spreadsheet. On day one of the semester, I take five minutes and create a column for each day of class, and then don't have to worry about it again (and if you're teaching the same classes, ideally they're on the same schedule and you can either merge the course or clone the course so you only do it once for all three). Then each day I just hit in `5,enter,0,enter,5,enter,5,enter,5,enter,0,enter` (5 is fully present in my personal system, 0 is absent). All the attendance columns get pushed to the bottom of the student's view (the right of the instructor's view) by using Grade Center -> Manage -> Column Organization. For students to contact you, make it clear they must use a standard subject line that can be caught and filtered in your e-mail program into a specific e-mail excuse box. If I accidentally marked them as absent and they weren't, or if they had an excuse, they are instructed to e-mail me using a subject line CC'd to themselves that begins "Attendance:" and that gets filtered into an attendance folder for that semester (you may want them to also add in a section, if you don't have merged courses) where I can then deal with it. At the end of the semester, I have students verify that I properly tended to any necessary changes in attendance grades and then the one or two mistakes (if any) can be fixed then. I regularly deal with 120 students a semester (4 sections x 30 students) and have had no problems with this set up. Unless you have an attendance-specific module in Blackboard that provides the functionality you want, you are going to have problems finding anything that is FERPA-compliant or that is not going to be a giant PITA to use. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Whether using clickers or a mere sign-in sheet, I typically give the class a few minutes (to allow for stragglers), and then at a convenient take-a-breath point, double-check the number of registered clickers/signatures against the number of heads actually present. If they don't match we have A Very Serious Situation that I will bring class to a halt to address (since they do, indeed, invariably believe it's No Big Deal to sign in for others). If necessary, ask those with clickers to hold them above their heads as they answer a trivial question, to confirm that no one is holding up two or more, and then check the record later to see which in-class remote was not triggered for that question. That person is, as Richelieu would say, TOAST. (Alas, this is obviously impractical for auditorium-sized sections, in which the issue usually needs to be addressed the most often. In those, I augment the clickers with signature sheets every once in a while so that I can scan for identical handwriting on consecutive names. Not perfect, but a start.) Upvotes: -1
2015/07/15	653	2,316	<issue_start>username_0: Numerous companies stylize their names or the names of products: adidas, eBay, iPhone...how should these be written (in APA style)? ``` The pair of adidas shoes lasted longer than the pair from Nike. ``` vs. ``` The pair of Adidas shoes lasted longer than the pair from Nike. ``` The [Wikipedia Manual of Style](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Trademarks) is pretty explicit on the topic, but the APA is less clear. 4.16 says to capitalize proper nouns and trade names, but doesn't explicitly refer to stylized trademarks. My instinct says to capitalize them as unstylized proper nouns, but other manuals of style actually address the topic, even if it's a bit confusing on first read. For example, the [Chicago Manual of Style](https://www.lclark.edu/offices/public_affairs_and_communications/tools/style_guide/) (search for "business entities" in the page for the specific rules) says to follow camel case capitalization, but for all-caps or no-caps, to title case them (adidas becomes Adidas, LEXIS-NEXIS becomes Lexis-Nexis, DirecTV stays as such).<issue_comment>username_1: It's not definitive, but the APA Style Blog has a page on [citing mobile apps](http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2013/03/how-to-cite-a-mobile-app.html) that uses "iPhone" rather than "Iphone", etc. It's probably the closest you'll get if 4.16 is that vague. I don't have an APA style manual, so I can scour it for better answers. If this is for an assignment, you're unlikely to get dinged hard for it if anyone even notices. If it's for a journal that follows APA, then you'll get instructions back from an editor if they want a change. If it's for some other writing, you can work with whoever it's going to in order to get it to meet their standards. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I just asked @APA\_Style via twitter, which is managed by the APA. Their answer is no, you should not capitalize those stylized company names that start with a small letter. Additionally you might want to avoid starting a sentence with those names as to avoid confusion by the reader. In general they seem to suggest to leave the names as they are. You can find the conversation for references here: <https://twitter.com/APA_Style/status/621340750505242626> Upvotes: 2
2015/07/15	1,586	7,183	<issue_start>username_0: My question applies to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math disciplines (STEM). Q: By what process does a graduate student determine his or her research direction? (Assume that the graduate student is in the first year and has no previous publications with this supervisor.) I can imagine several scenarios: * The graduate student proposes a research topic and then their supervisor evaluates it for originality and feasibility. In this scenario, the graduate student has the foresight to know what research directions are promising and appropriate. * The graduate student performs an extensive literature review. In this process, the student finds a challenging and/or interesting problem. (I am not sure how much effort this requires. I also don't know how to identify a problem as "interesting" or "challenging".) * The supervisor comes up with an interesting research problem or question and then presents it to the graduate student. (This appears to be a common pattern, given the plethora of complaints that I see on-line about uninteresting research.) I would especially like to see responses from professors who are supervisors and also from graduate students.<issue_comment>username_1: Any of the scenarios you describe can happen, in practice. (I am in the United States; this may differ in other countries.) It depends on the student's interests and abilities, the advisor's interests and advising style, how broad advisor's interests are, whether the advisor has funding for a particular project and needs a student to work on that problem, and many other factors. All three have happened within my own research group. (Another possibility that happened in my research group that you haven't mentioned: student initiates a collaboration with another researcher, who proposes a topic, and involves the advisor in the project as well.) Actually, the scenarios you describe are not discrete scenarios, but a spectrum from "most student-driven" to "most advisor-driven." Some points on the spectrum include: * Student enters grad school with a topic in mind that's judged acceptable by advisor, and proceeds with that topic. * Student enters grad school with a topic in mind, that evolves and changes following advice from advisor. * Student enters grad school with a general idea and, together with guidance from advisor and extensive reading of literature, shapes it into a topic. * Student enters grad school without idea, advisor suggests general direction, and upon extensive reading and with guidance from advisor, student shapes it into a topic. * Advisor hands student idea, and student proceeds to execute idea. Of course, this is a PhD, so as student works on the topic, the student's mastery of the specific research will most probably come to exceed the advisor's, even though advisor originally proposed the idea. Other scenarios include: student enters grad school with idea in mind and then changes directions completely in middle, student enters grad school with idea and changes advisors in middle but keeps idea, and many more.. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: In addition to your proposals and username_1's answer, another common pattern is Grad student is employed by a grant / funded project and needs to deliver more or less what the grant promised At least in Europe, that actually seems to be the predominant mode of topic selection. Most students are externally funded by relatively concrete projects, and not all grants allow students to deviate far from the original plan (even if the plan sometimes is a bit outdated / boring by the time the student works on it, much to the chagrin of both, student and supervisor). However, as O.R.Mapper correctly states: > > In larger departments, this sometimes means there are several openings based on different projects. Topic selection then takes place by choosing the project that is most aligned with the future grad student's interests, or that can most likely be developed into a direction that seems interesting to the prospective grad student. > > > (that being said, it's not usual that the decision which project to select is entirely up to the grad student) Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I believe the best way of finding a topic is if the grad student does not have a fixed idea of the research project, but of his interests and abilities. So when asked about a topic I counter with obvious questions like "What are you interested in? What do you already know? Are there side conditions like funding, limited time?", but also with less obvious ones like "Do you want to work with a computer? Do you prefer doing stuff on your own or learning known things? Abstract or concrete?" This requires some introspection on the side of the grad student, but thinking about your abilities is sometimes worthwhile. I personally believe that a large part of your perceived improvement over time comes not from getting better, but from learning what you are good at: You become more successful, because you learned to avoid problems that don't fit your working style. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Like any relationship, it really depends on the relationship that you have between you and your supervisor. Some will leave you completely alone to decide, others will guide you step-by-step. And it's a continuous spectrum! Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_5: In addition to what has already been said by username_1 and username_2, I think it also depends on what you mean by "research direction." If you're talking about papers and projects to be completed during graduate school, including the dissertation - then yes, any of those processes work. I think it's most commonly a combination for them - for example, earlier in their graduate work students may do more things on suggestion from their advisor, but later in their graduate work they get increasingly creative and have a greater knowledge of the literature, and those are given more free rein to decide projects. Or it may be that certain projects and papers are ideas handed to the student from the PI or from other members of the lab, but other projects are independent ideas from the graduate student themselves. It also depends on the PI themselves - some are more controlling than others, and many have varied ideas about what the role of a doctoral student is in a lab. If you are more talking about a general research direction for your career, though, that's an agenda that really should be set by you - the doctoral student. Your advisor is there to guide you, but doing an extensive literature review and developing the foresight to know the gaps and hot areas in the field is what PhD work is all about. For what it's worth, at the beginning of graduate school I wondered how professors were able to generate enough ideas to keep papers and grants flowing. By the end of graduate school, I myself was overflowing with ideas - I had too many to write papers on, and had to begin a spreadsheet to keep track of them. As time goes on you will learn more about the field, and you will also develop a network of collaborators. Upvotes: 2
2015/07/15	950	4,110	<issue_start>username_0: So, a colleague at another university and I agreed to collaborate on a series of papers 5 years ago. To avoid clashes in style, etc. we agreed that I would write a couple and he would write a couple, with us both commenting and editing each other's. So far, so good. I produced my couple of papers in the first year or so and these were published with me and my colleague as first and second authors, respectively. I was expecting to see the same from my colleague but didn't. I have been waiting ever since for them to materialise but they haven't. We have repeatedly set deadlines, which come and go, with my colleague saying he has been very busy (teaching, marking, blah, blah) but that he'll get to them in a couple of weeks. 5 years later, I am still waiting to see something but I think it's now safe to say that I have been well and truly shafted. Does anyone else have any experience of this behaviour and, if so, what, if anything, have you done about it? I am on the verge of writing a rather snotty email to this individual's manager to point out the retched state of affairs as, after all, it doesn't reflect at all well on his institution even though they have benefited from having their institution's name on effectively my work.<issue_comment>username_1: As <NAME> mentions in his comment, something smells fishy here. I really see only two possibilities how the scenario you describe can transpire: 1. Your collaborator did in fact provide input to "your" papers to the extent expected for "second authors" in your discipline. In this case, you are really not supposed to expect anything more from him, and writing a snotty email will reflect only badly on you. 2. Your collaborator did in fact not provide input to "your" papers to the extent expected for "second authors" in your discipline. Rather, you expected that the "value" for you will come in the form of later papers for you, to which you would have contributed equally little. This is called a publication ring, and it is considered highly unethical. Writing a snotty email calling out the fact that your collaborator did not do his part in a more than shady deal sounds like a terrible idea. Of course there is some amount of grey area between those two possibilities, but at the end of the day, you should never "pay forward" an authorship on a paper that the other person doesn't really deserve with any sort of expected or promised future benefits. And if the other person has in fact contributed sufficiently, then what is there to complain about? Sure, one can be disappointed if the other person promised to lead a different research project and never gets to it, but that's a different story altogether. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Do you have a formal agreement with this person? A contract? Did you agree on work packages in a grant proposal maybe? That would be reasons to formally complain that someone is not delivering what they are paid for to do. If not, then there is not much you can do. Academics sometimes think they will have the time to continue research on their free time and informally agree to collaborate and realize later that it's not possible. It might very well be that teaching and their new research is taking all their time. After all, they are hired by another institution to do something else. Writing to his "manager" (not sure who you mean by that, supervisor?) is not going to be helpful. Most likely this person never heard of your informal agreement and couldn't care less. If anything they might (rightfully) think that they are responsible to get the funding to pay for your colleague's salary and are pleased to hear that he's not using his time to do hobby research. The name of their institution on "your" work (I hope you mean the work done in collaboration with him, otherwise he doesn't deserve authorship in the first place) will not constitute a viable leverage to force your colleague to work with you. You got your first author papers out, be happy about that and go on with other scientific endeavors. Upvotes: 4
2015/07/15	1,477	6,015	<issue_start>username_0: So I'm a summer student at a lab and I feel thoroughly abused and I just wanted to know if this was normal. I only have a two-month summer this year as a medical student and I wanted to do some research, hopefully end up with a publication. I could have done clinical research and guaranteed myself a paper but I wanted to work in a wet lab because I really liked it. I had a very successful undergrad honors project in X-Ray crystallography and I figured there wasn't enough time to be trained in a completely new field, so I chose the only X-ray crystallography lab in the city. When the PI and I first met to discuss working with each other, I said I don't care much about financial compensation but I would like a publication. He said he would give me an independent project with good publication potential, and we ended on a good note. However, when I started at the lab a month later, I realized that he switched projects on me without telling me, and was having me work with this abusive and condescending PhD student who was verbally and emotionally abusive to me (he once yelled at me because I did serial dilutions for a bradford assay standard curve instead of pipetting each volume and told me to 'go get a degree' before changing a protocol). The PI and I never spoke with each other and only the PhD communicated with me (now I realize that the PhD has been continually badmouthing me for whatever reason). But the PhD doesn't spend any time at the bench himself; just tells me what to do. I have no creative freedom to do anything, and I am basically his high-functioning robot. He is very closed minded and is not open to even the smallest of suggestions and never admits he can be wrong. This didn't mean I didn't work any less hard, I was consistently working 12 to 16-hour days. The PhD did not do any bench work, and he stays in his office all day. It was honestly torture for so long, and last week, which is my third last week at the lab, I got crystals. I was really happy and like any other normal crystallographer, I want to optimize these crystals and get data. However, the PhD told me that the PI wants to crystallize another construct. He now wants me to screen this other construct (that I already screened with no results) in the cold (which is obviously not pleasant) and doesn't care much about the crystals I actually got. I told him that I didn't want to, since I won't have time to follow up on these experiments (only 12 working days left) even if there were results and Id like to focus my efforts on optimization. I directly emailed the PI about it yesterday, and he said that was fine, but do one more simple assay, which I agreed to. However, I was sick this morning so I couldn't go into work; however, just 2 hours later, the PI sends me a rude email planning out my last 2 weeks for me day by day (which consists of way more hours than the 8 hours a day that I'm being paid for including five 13-hour days), and telling me to have my lab book signed by him at the end of the day. I have no doubt that the PhD badmouthed me to him. As a summer student, not a grad student or a postdoc or even an honors student but a summer student, I feel completely abused and I feel like my hard work at this lab will not only end up with no publication (even though I got crystals....) but also I feel like my hard work and the abuse I endured at this lab isn't even being recognized. I'm honestly not sure what to do. I didn't have to do research this summer at all but I liked wet lab so much that I decided to go into this lab; now I feel undermined and disrespected and I have lost all the passion I ever have had for research. I'd honestly like to quit right now but that probably means that my name won't be on the paper even if they end up using my crystals or even if my crystals give diffraction data that they end up using for a paper. Seeing as publication was what I wanted, I'm in a bind. So... sorry for the long story and rant... but what should I do? P.S. Oh, another thing that's f'ed up about this lab; the lab tech is married to the prof and she's constantly spying and reporting. It's really scary.<issue_comment>username_1: Currently in similar situation (though not as abused as you, honestly that is too much), so I get that it is exhausting not only physicaly but mentally. When I had the motivation for the publication I didn't really mind working extra hard for my goal. I didn't mind a "higher degree" student telling me what to do when he really didn't knew what he was doing. But now towards the end of theproject I just want to be done with it, all the promises made at the start about amazing publishable results I know they are just not coming to an end so I'm just focusing in doing what I HAVE to, and nothing more. I would suggest you do the best you can in your8 hours of work, but as soon as that clock strikes the end of working day do go to the PI and tell him you are done for the day and you have some important issues to attend (after all, you PI does want you to go to him at the end of every day and show him what you did). I dont know much about crystallography but if you only have one week left I'd say to focus in keeping the PI happy as well as you mental and physical integrity. If by now you don't have results that may be publishable by themselves (e.g. you will need data and support from the PhD and the PI) there is no point in starting a dispute with them, but DO keep your ground at the same time. If they won't do extra for you, don't do extra for them (especially if they limit you and giving extra won't bear fruit) Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Is quitting an option? It really depends on which part of the world you are from, but if you are from North America and if you are a medical student, you pretty much have a guaranteed future ahead of you, so a paper doesn't matter so much in the long run, right? I might be missing something, in which case OP should clarify. Upvotes: 2
2015/07/15	1,001	4,645	<issue_start>username_0: I'm currently looking for both postdoc position(preferred) and industrial position in areas where I'd need to do programming in the language(s) my lab/company will need me to. The academic areas I'm looking for are computer vision, computational neuroscience etc. However, my Ph.D. was in pure mathematics and I didn't write a single piece of code. In my current postdoc, I'm programming but so far don't have a published result that clearly demonstrates my coding skills (in matlab). Given this situation, how can I best demonstrate my coding skills in my CV? I mean, evryone will write: "Programming languages known: a,b,c" etc. But I'm not sure (I might be wrong) that's enough? So how could I best demonstrate that I know decent matlab and I can build algorithm? One idea that's occurring to me is to make a paragraph named "programming experience" after "programming languages known", saying for example, "I numerically solved the differential equation (\) in this language: code available upon request". I'd appreciate your opinion, thank you!<issue_comment>username_1: When somebody applies to a position in academia; he may have to present some recommendation letters from professors with whom he have worked or from his past employers. So, your current postdoc mentor or a professor with whom your have worked before may be able to state and indicate in your letter of recommendation (if he is writing one for you) that you have some experiences of programming when you had worked or did research under their supervision. In this case, I encourage you to consult with the people writing recommendations for you about how they can include something about your programming activities under their supervision in their letters of recommendation. Also, if you have passed some programming courses or did teaching assistance for programming courses in your university or research institute, these can also be considered as proof of your programming knowledge. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I would recommend not trying to use the same document to apply to qualitatively different positions. Typically, companies do not want* a CV, they want a resume. Prepare a resume following industry standards, which includes your skills, programming languages, etc., and use that for your industry applications, while you use your CV to apply for postdocs. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: If you contributed in any way to a major piece of work involving programming/scripting languages, I would put that on your CV as its own paragraph with a VERY short description of it and how you contributed. Since you mention your background in math, consider how that played into the project. Did you implement any algorithms or help a "main" programmer understand a particular equation so they could use it? Perhaps you searched for different mathematical methods for solving your problem and had to consider their relative merits before choosing which would be most appropriate. While often overlooked, these are incredibly important tasks for software design. This becomes especially valuable if you are considerably stronger in this area than those in the group you intend to work with. A code portfolio will also become almost mandatory as others have mentioned. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: One possibility is including links to projects and code that you wrote. For example on github, or you might have a [Matlab Central](http://nl.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/) profile where you uploaded functions that you wrote (it helps if you can show lots of downloads and good ratings). Of course if you have a Stack Overflow profile in good standing it might help in circles where it is recognized. You might also want to use wordings found in this [Programmer Competency Matrix](http://www.starling-software.com/employment/programmer-competency-matrix.html) to state specific aspects of programming that you already master. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: All coding projects should go on Github. If not just for best practices, it's really the only way to demonstrate your ability within and across languages. Don't upload data, obviously, but unless you are working on proprietary CS concepts or algorithms, I don't understand why there would be an issue posting your code. Then just link to your Github account in your CV, along with the obligatory "languages known" clause in the CV. I've got a hyperlink in my CV that has done it's job, because despite being much junior in rank than you, it was responsible for landing me a short term government gig as a contractor. Upvotes: 1
2015/07/15	399	1,773	<issue_start>username_0: Due to bad personality a person was not granted tenure after working for six years in a university. Eventually, the person left and got hired as an associate professor in another university. Would this be a tenure position or tenure track position?<issue_comment>username_1: It's not really possible to know, just from this person's job title, whether they have tenure or not. At some universities, the title "associate professor" automatically implies "tenured". But at others, it is possible to have the title of associate professor but not have tenure - unusual, but possible. Since this person has had a relatively unusual career path, this is a little more likely. Still, you can't be sure unless you ask them, or unless the university makes their tenure status public in some other way. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: A few universities routinely use the title "associate professor without tenure." Even at universities like mine, where associate professors almost always have tenure, there are (at least) two situations where an associate professor might not have tenure. (1) The person has done research commensurate with the title of associate professor but has no teaching experience. (2) We are trying to offer a position (to someone at another university) quickly because of competition with other schools. Getting approval from the college administration and the provost for a tenured offer takes more time than getting approval for a non-tenured offer. So we might offer a non-tenured position quickly with the understanding that it will be upgraded to tenure when we get the necessary administrative approval (and, if we don't get approval for a tenured offer, then we'll recommend promotion to tenure next year). Upvotes: 3
2015/07/15	2,165	9,388	<issue_start>username_0: I tried looking up the answer for this one online already, but I couldn't find something for my specific scenario: I am interested in reaching out to a few professors in the field that I am interested in, Computer Science, in regards to some specific problems I might be facing in the immediate future. However, I'm slightly unsure of how to do this. That is, I don't attend the University they teach at and I do not have a college degree. Does this make a difference of some sort or can I contact them without having to explain that I don't attend their University? Is this something that I should even bother bringing up prior to speaking to them, or is it a complete non-issue? I feel like if highly technical, learned people like professors are so easily accessible - completely free of charge - then I find the entire concept of attending college kind of hard to grasp. Maybe I'm missing a basic underlying concept here. Perhaps they would be under some kind of NDA in how much information they would be able to provide if it was on cutting edge research, or something else I might not be accounting for? The entire concept of just e-mailing some of the top scientists in a given field strikes me as kind of odd, especially if I don't have to pay them for their time.<issue_comment>username_1: You can email them, but they are under no obligation to respond. They are generally under no restrictions on what they can say to you, but they probably won't share unpublished results with you if they do decide to respond. Professors, like most professionals are very busy, so unless there's some reason to respond, they probably won't. If you send them a long series of emails after they fail to respond, they may treat your emails as harassing. Professors are not likely to respond to you if you haven't demonstrated some command of their field. One way to do that is to enroll in their classes. Another is to have published in the journals or conferences they know. Otherwise, sending unsolicited email about an area they are an expert in seeking their advice, opinion, etc, may be seen as the behavior of a [crank](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crank_%28person%29). If you have a CS problem that you need some help solving, the best way to do so would be to hire an expert as a consultant. That expert could easily be a professor at a university, but it could also be someone in industry that specializes in your problem. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Whether or not your status makes a difference is a highly individual matter. It is unlikely that anyone would reject an email from you because they discovered that you are not a current student in their department. It would also probably not be productive for you to generically "reach out" to faculty. I often get emails from people I don't know who are not students in my university, and often I give a polite but disinterested "Pleasure to meet you" response. The ones that lead to productive connections involve the student actively raising a point of research interest and demonstrating relevant knowledge of the subject matter (knowledge, not mastery). The point, for professors, is not about the paycheck and obligations to customers, it's about intellectual engagement. You won't get a degree by emailing me, but you might get a publication. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Okay, so this might sound a little bit too honest. You can email them, and if you're sufficiently interesting or intelligent, they will write back. For example, if you asked things like "what is the best sorting algorithm? Can you explain why that is?" they probably won't respond, because it's boring. You have to realize that the professors usually also get a lot of "crank" messages (false claims to amazing results) to which they don't respond to. However, if you actually read and understood their research, and had something that you could contribute to, then they probably will respond. Your pedigree isn't extremely important, as far as I am concerned. It is true that the top scientists are available for free, but only if you are worth their time. The university system requires the professors to talk to the amateurs that they normally wouldn't talk to (i.e. students). My university had a student who claimed to have proven P vs NP problem. Normally if someone sent me a proof of that by email, I'd have deleted it without reading it, but since it was a known student, the professors still looked over the proof (it was actually quite clever, albeit wrong), and the student was eventually offered a summer research position. So I wouldn't say that the university system is pointless. Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: I'm a professor in CS and I can tell you that most of us are very busy. You can always try to e-mail professors. It cost nothing. But there is no guarantee that they will answer and it may takes several days to get an answer. Personnally, if I receive a question that is not related to my research interests from someone that is not my student or that is not a researcher, I will generally politely reply that I don't have time to answer. The reason is that all professors have very busy schedule with teaching, research, etc. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Just talk to them. Honestly. They're humans. Talk to them. If they don't want to help you, or they can't, they will tell you (or ignore you) and that's that. There does not need to be a great big song and dance surrounding simply talking to someone. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: Remember, one of the things tuition pays for is professors' salaries, and as part of their teaching role they make themselves available to students at that school. If you aren't a student or colleague, they have no reason to make any special effort to help you. Either pay for access, or prove to them that you're knowledgeable and interesting enough that talking to you benefits them... or settle for being their lowest priority and possibly ignored completely. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: > > I feel like if highly technical, learned people like professors are so easily accessible - completely free of charge - then I find the entire concept of attending college kind of hard to grasp. > > > Even if there were no point for the student in attending college, it would be hugely inefficient for a professor to attempt to teach 100 students just by answering email queries rather than delivering a lecture. As in, it would take more than 24 hours per day. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: I'm a student and I attended an ordinary college. During my B.Sc. years I turned out into a very active student and I started working with professors at my own university as a research assistant, but since my research interests changed overtime I tried to work with other professors from other universities and faculties. and that was a home run ;). I sent many Emails and arranged many appointments, some were very busy, but some did have time and I started collaborating with them and that even broadened the range of people I was conducting research with. Some of those profs even didn't ask me which university do I study at, or never asked me for any kind of proof, but the point was I was contributing to their research and even my name was mentioned in some of their books in acknowledgment since I helped in book's TeX Style and also I could publish an article with one of them from another university in collaboration with another PhD student. In contacting professors as many others have indicated here you need to consider few points: 1. You should have a very clear and specific question in mind. Profs mostly don't reply general questions and they mostly don't teach you introductory stuff. I remember reaching a professor during my high-school years. She even accepted me in her office and provided me with few links and people, but at that time I had a very clear goal though my knowledge was introductory, and I had some computer skills which put me in contact with her students and I started working on a project with her. 2. You should try several ways of contacting them and reach them at appropriate time and in appropriate manner. Don't contact profs once they are too busy or near holidays. 3. If you have friends in that specific university, you can ask them to arrange a meeting for you with that professors. I used that and it really worked well. 4. Profs may answer your questions every once in a while , but it won't last forever if they don't find you useful for their projects! Yes, profs answer their students questions, but that's even the case with the students as well once they are not lecturing them anymore! Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: Before you talk to a Professor at another university I would recommend you read their Bio, research all their projects, read any papers they have written, and always a BIG PLUS is buy their book. If you choose to go in person I would advise you wait till the end of their office hours to approach them or try and get them after their last class to set an appointment. Calls and emails are great but you run a chance of being denied. Professors are people too and don't always jump at the idea of doing more work. It's harder to shoot someone down face to face. Hope that helps. Upvotes: -1
2015/07/16	319	1,491	<issue_start>username_0: My paper has been accepted to an IEEE conference. But recently, I found some minor errors in my simulation data (using matlab software), and I would like to modify the existing graph before submitting my camera-ready version. This change will not have major impact on my results as well as the quality of the paper. The question is, can I simply make this change or do I have to explain this change?<issue_comment>username_1: This actually happen quite often. If it does not change the main conclusion of the paper, it is not a problem. Just make the change and upload the new version as the camera-ready version. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Unlike with a journal, the short review and revision timeline of an IEEE conference (or other EE/CS-style conference) means that it is unusual for there to be any opportunity for additional review. As a result, there is somewhat more trust placed in authors for making "reasonable changes" for the camera-ready, and it is typically not just permitted but even expected that authors will improve their papers for the camera-ready version. If nothing else, they are expected to do their best to address the issues raised by the reviewers; fixing problems that they themselves have found is entirely desirable as well. In short: if your correction does not significantly undermine the basis on which your paper was accepted, you should simply make the change, and everyone will be the better for it. Upvotes: 5
2015/07/16	501	2,222	<issue_start>username_0: 'm a computer science student in the UK and I've just finished my first year. I know next year I will be doing a lot more programming but there is very little C in the curriculum. I know some of my lecturers are avid C programmers would it be inappropriate to ask one of them to mentor me as I really want to be a competent C programmer or has anyone ever heard of less experienced students assisting with university research with their volunteered time?<issue_comment>username_1: It sounds to me like what you are looking for is less of a mentor and more of a tutor, who can work with you on basic skills and basic questions. A mentor is more a person who you talk with infrequently to get advice. As such, asking one of your lecturers to volunteer is likely to be inappropriate. You might instead look to see if one of the upper level students might be interested---but if you need extensive tutoring, you will likely need to make it worth their while, whether that is in pay or in trade of same sort. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: It is unlikely that your lecturer will be interested in one-on-one tutoring, but they may be willing to provide more general advice for where and how to learn the skill you are seeking to develop. It is perfectly fine for you to approach your lecturer to ask their advice on learning programming, but just don't expect them to tutor you in it. Perhaps you could seek some general guidance on finding appropriate learning resources, or getting tips for how to learn effectively. As to seeking a more general mentoring role, that is probably quite premature at this stage in your degree. This is something that usually happens when a lecturer works in a supervisory capacity for a student doing some kind of research topic. This can occur in certain honours projects in undergraduate work or in a postgraduate research degree. Since you are in first-year, it is likely that you have a lot of basics to learn before a mentoring role with a professional academic will be useful. Nevertheless, you could flag your interest in this field with one of your lecturers and consider them as a possible future supervisor (e.g., for an honours project). Upvotes: 0
2015/07/16	679	2,962	<issue_start>username_0: In my project work I came up with a new method for solving a certain problem which has not been used before, by extending an already existing approach. What type of wording should I use in academic writing to express this fact. I wrote something in the lines of, but would like to have something more elegant: > > Furthermore, in my project work I propose a novel approach by > extending `X` and incorporating an `xyz` mechanism to it in order to > get better `Z metric` > > > EDIT: I would also like to say, that "something similar has never been done before to our knowledge"<issue_comment>username_1: Given that you are sure of novelty of your work, you can write something like: " to the best of our knowledge, the proposed approach is the first to do...." and show the novelty in your approach. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: It's not enough to just say that your approach is novel. You need to make a convincing case that your approach is actually novel. This requires a thorough literature review of existing techniques for the problem you are attacking, together with direct comparisons between your technique and each of those existing techniques. The message you want to send is "I have read every paper on this topic, and none of them do this thing that I'm about to do." The novice reader will just believe you, but the expert reader, who has probably spent decades thinking about your problem, will look for their favorite handful of papers in your survey. Make sure they find them. You also need to understand the standards for novelty in your field. The same technique can be considered completely revolutionary in one field and a standard modification of classical textbook methods in another. (Yes, both views can be correct.) Of course, the real reason to prepare this literature review is to convince yourself that your approach is actually novel. Because it probably isn't. Most “novel” techniques aren't. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: If the question is indeed about proper wording that balances the novelty / modesty, why not: Confronted with problem X, I tried all known approachs without success. Further analysis showed that approach Z yelded the closest results to the intended goal. Based on this observation, I worked on a Y mechanism allowing a better metric and, by integrating it with Z approach, developed a novel Z++ approach. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: > > This paper presents a novel method for achieving `Z metric`. The method uses `xyz mechanism` combined with existing method `x`. This combination yields performance capabilities relative to `z` that were previously not possible or feasible with `x` alone. To support our claim of novelty, the following paragraphs present a comprehensive review of the relevant literature and comparisons to our method. > > > Then you follow with literature review and comparisons Upvotes: 2
2015/07/16	656	2,504	<issue_start>username_0: In my field (linguistics) sometimes datasets are important and scholars tend to include them in their CV. I want to know how to include my dataset in my CV? This is the approach I have in mind: Uploading dataset in [Harvard Dataverse](https://dataverse.harvard.edu/ "Harvard Dataverse") and include the DoI in CV with the following style: ``` XXX dataset, The most important dataset in linguistics, DOI:XXXXXXXXXX ``` How does it look? Please share your thoughts on it.<issue_comment>username_1: It seems pretty presumptuous to call it the most important dataset in your field. If it's got a DOI, then you can leave off the editorial. Just give the title and the DOI. An author list might be appropriate if there is a consistent set of authors. If the dataset is continuously evolving or growing, you might leave the authors off. This may depend on the conventions of your field. Also, if there's a marker paper that describes the first use of that dataset, and you're an author on that paper, you should also put that on your CV. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: From the Harvard Dataset users guide: > > Download Citation > > > You can find the citation for the dataset at the top of the dataset > page in a blue box. Additionally, there is a Download Citation button > that offers the option to download the citation as EndNote XML or RIS > Format. > > > So if you go that route just upload your data and click that button. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: If the job you are applying for requires dataset creation, then list one of your skills as "dataset creation" and in the text next to it explain that you created the Harvard Linguistic Dataset. If the dataset is important in the field you are applying to, you need only name it. If the reader of your CV doesn't know the dataset is important, it's perhaps not worth even mentioning. Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_4: We don't generally subdivide CV entries according to the usual P&T requirements, though if you're in a sub-area that's more remote within linguistics, like computational, then there might be different standards. The standard format of the entry in an academic CV would be: 2015a. Kurdish speech corpus. <http://hdl.handle.net/1234.5/678910>, Harvard Dataverse, V1 or if co-authored, with the added tag ("<NAME> & <NAME>", or whatever is appropriate). (You can also deposit it at [TROLLING](http://opendata.uit.no/dvn/dv/trolling)). Upvotes: 2
2015/07/16	1,590	6,747	<issue_start>username_0: What are some fields in which a professional programmer (specializing in Data Science technologies) can pick up hobby projects that can actually contribute something to that particular field. I have heard rumors that astronomy is a field where hobbyists make serious contributions, is it true? What is the reason for this, i.e why astronomy of all fields has this special feature?<issue_comment>username_1: With programming you can make a contribution to virtually any industry. There's always a need for better, faster, smarter software that allows industry workers to get ahead of competitors and make the work day more efficient. There's also always a need for open domain software which, if created well, almost always gets a huge community such as GIMP. As a developer myself I can say that most worth while contributions will take more than just yourself and you may want to connect with other developers that want to help. Astronomy software can show constellations, star formations, and even have algorithms that predict where a planet or solar system may be and the probability that human or extraterrestrial life could be sustained on said planet. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Computer Science is a good field for an independent researcher: the main publishing venues are conferences with specific deadlines, not journals, so you can get some feedback much faster. The downside is that you need to pay non-trivial amounts of money to attend conferences. This year I published and presented two papers at CS conferences as an independent researcher, and it was a very good experience (except using my paid time off and my own finances). Within Computer Science there are many subfields for a professional programmer to contribute, especially the applied ones. A good place to look for conferences is <http://wikicfp.com/cfp/>. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Astronomy may be such a science in some degree, see [comet hunting](http://www.nightskyhunter.com/Comet%20Hunting%20-%20A%20Primer.html). Or try [Zooniverse](https://www.zooniverse.org/#/projects). Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: In numismatics (the study of coins) a lot of serious research is still done by amateurs (often collectors). Access to national collections and other research resources is available in most countries and non-academics frequently publish. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Many of the sciences (biology and chemistry in particular) are getting themselves into fields where the datasets they are dealing with are becoming increasingly large and complex. There is a definite need for software that can make data analysis more efficient. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: Traditionally almost all amateur contributions to astronomy came from observational hobbyists finding comets and supernovae, which benefit from having more eyes on the sky and don't require the absolute largest telescopes. Most of the sky goes unobserved each night, so just looking for transient phenomena often pays off. People like <NAME> are well known to supernova observers, since they often are the [first to see new supernovae](https://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/sets/72157650073971365). Note though that these people often invest significant personal resources into their hobby, and it's not clear what will be left for amateurs once the [next generation of survey telescopes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Synoptic_Survey_Telescope) is built. In terms of data and code, I've heard of some hobbyists helping astronomers find exoplanets. This is less solo work than the observations -- these people are often formally or informally members of research teams. There are all sorts of clever data reduction techniques being developed these days, but do note they are not generally pure abstract data analysis -- much astrophysical insight goes into the data pipelines these days. [Zooniverse](https://www.zooniverse.org/#/projects) was already mentioned. This is a collection of "citizen-science" projects, and it has more than its share of astronomy. This is no surprise since astronomy has enormous datasets, and in fact Zooniverse grew out of a single [galaxy classification project](http://www.galaxyzoo.org/). These projects are a nice way to get your feet wet with various data reduction projects, but note their focus in on crowd-sourcing results (usually to develop training sets for their own algorithms, which eventually replace the crowd-sourcing). If you want to actually develop algorithms and apply them to large datasets, you can try getting in touch with the people behind a particular crowd-sourced project and ask for more data to work with on your own. While sometimes the latest astronomy data is kept private for a time (no one wants to spend all the time and effort getting data only to have someone else swoop in and publish all the results), much of it is public or sharable. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_7: To answer the question in your title, there are several aspects of biology where amateur contribution is frequent. For example marine biology where professional divers and other people who are frequently at sea for business (like instructors or tour guides) contribute to wildlife observation, documentation and sometimes tagging. The same apply for ornithology and the study of mountain wildlife. I recall hiking in the Grand Teton park and seeing signs asking hikers to report sightings of mountain goats and bighorn sheep, preferably with time and date and the exact position. There is also [this project by NASA](http://education.gsfc.nasa.gov/how/) that welcomes general public's contribution on a large snowflake database (I know there was a famous physicist who was studying snowflake formation as a hobby but I can't remember which one it was. If somebody know, they are welcome to edit). As for the specifics of contributing with computing you could look into plant morphometrics. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: If one studies the advances made in unmanned aviation, it quickly becomes clear that the hobby communities have been a significant force in the development of small unmanned aircraft. Beginning in the early '30s, radio controlled model aircraft were being developed by those pushing model aviation beyond free-flight and U-control. As the FAA defines radio controlled model aircraft as "unmanned aircraft." the history of unmanned aircraft systems would be incomplete without pointing out the contributions of countless "hobbyist" scientists. Among them, Walt and <NAME>, and multiple world record holder <NAME>, stand out as pioneers in the field. Upvotes: 1
2015/07/16	788	3,250	<issue_start>username_0: I want to write to a professor and tell him about my research interests. What is the best way to say that my research interests include, but are not limited to X? Is the following sentence a good choice? "My main research area is X, but I am open to other subjects as well. "<issue_comment>username_1: I guess the answer depends on what kind of information you want to convey, and for what reason you want to make it clear that your interests are not limited to X area. "My research interests include X" is already non-exclusive - just because you say that you are interested in X doesn't mean that you aren't also interested in Y and Z, and most professors realize that students (and all their colleagues) have more than one small narrow area of interest. So you can just say that and be fine. Basically, my point is that it's absolutely fine to tell a professor that you are interested in one specific area, as long as that area is sufficiently broad in your field. The goal is to find a professor whose interests match or are complementary to yours, so when you say "I am interested in X" he thinks "Ah, I have always wanted a student who would study X!" or at least "Hmmm, it might be good to have a student in my lab/group who studies X." However, I would not say "My main research area is X, but I am open to other subjects as well." That makes it sound like you would be willing to change your area of interest if the right PI came along or to get into a specific program, and you don't want to convey that, as counterintuitive as that may seem. It makes you sound wishy-washy. You want to be regarded as a serious scholar with a deep interest in a particular area. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Well I think telling profs that you are only interested in a very narrow research field may seem like you are not flexible, and in conduction research you sometimes need to be flexible since your specific research area might be eliminated or replaced according some new findings! But telling them I'm interested in X, but I am open to Y as well seems like all you want is the D\mn fund and admission. ;) (And yes we're are looking for that, but there are better ways to ask for it). You can make it seem more exciting and show yourself as an adventurist to them, not someone who has not made his mind yet. So if you send them the herald that I have made my mind but as I am an adventurist and researcher I am ready for dramatic shifts if necessary you could use some statements such as this one : I am very interested in X, but science has been always full of surprises for me and I will welcome new exploring options during my graduate studies as I have always done about previous opportunities.* just check out the syntax and grammar ;) since English is not my native language. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: I might go with: > > Right now, I am very interested in X and Y, but since I'm still a [undergraduate / masters] student, I'm sure that might change, and I want to be flexible and keep my options open for now. > > > if you are already working professionally than replace \* student with early in my career. This conveys flexibility while admitting adaptability. Upvotes: 0
2015/07/16	700	2,991	<issue_start>username_0: When one is fortunate enough to have multiple tenure-track offers that are roughly similar (research-focused institutions, similar levels of prestige, salary offered and teaching load), what factors should one consider? Naturally, the weight of different factors can be subjective, so I am more interested in what types of things to consider and why, rather than what is the final choice that should be made.<issue_comment>username_1: If both offers are roughly similar, I believe you should consider the following things: likability of department faculty (can I get along with these people and build lasting relationships?), where you will be living (example: Offer A has a better climate, more opportunities for R&R), family (will my significant other enjoy this location?, and if you have kids, will this be a great location to raise them?), etc. So basically, which location do you better see yourself? Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: In the U.S., for a "state university", stability and robustness of the state's economy, and related political volatility (and popular/political attitudes about higher education) will have a significant long-term effect. For that matter, ambient socio-political attitudes will have a direct impact on whether one "feels at home". Relative price of real estate! Can you afford to buy a house (supposing you want to)? Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: You might want to check into details about "tenure track." At some institutions this means they won't automatically fire you at the end of your appointment period, but your chances of actually getting tenure are very low. At others, tenure-track faculty who do a reasonably good job are almost sure to get tenure. And of course, there's a whole spectrum of meanings for "tenure track" between these two extremes. (My own department's official policy is to make tenure-track offers only when we think there's at least a 50-50 chance of the person's getting tenure; in fact, our promotion record in recent times has been way better than 50-50.) I'd suggest you find out, from each of the departments that offered you a tenure-track position, what percentage of the people hired into such positions in, say, the last 15 years got tenure. (You might also ask what happened to the others. Were they denied tenure? Did they leave voluntarily for other jobs before coming up for tenure? Did they leave "voluntarily" because they realized they were unlikely to get tenure?) Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I'm not sure what field you are in, but you could compare opportunities for collaboration with external institutions. E.g. in Germany you'd look whether the relevant Max Planck Institute or DLR (German Aerospace Center) is located in your city or already has a collaboration with you university. For some fields, it can also make a difference to be near relevant industry to ease getting collaboration and funding for research projects from them. Upvotes: 2
2015/07/17	1,545	5,913	<issue_start>username_0: My motivation to ask this question actually comes from [here](https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1363440/how-to-become-smarter-and-creative-in-mathematics/1363498#1363498), receiving negative reactions for 12 hours a day or even 7 hours spending time on Mathematics. A person usually spends 4.5 years to accomplish a BSc plus a MSc coursework. Books that I found to study in pages (BSc+MSc) approx. are: * Calculus (760) * Algebra (450+940) * Topology (510+540) * Analytical Geo (210) * Real Analysis (610+520) * ODE (440) * Complex Analysis (480+350) * Differential Geo (510+420) * Logic (260) * Number Theory (480) * PDE (320) * Total: 7800 pages. Supposing spending 30 min per page of studying and 2 hours per page of exercises, so it takes (4/5)×7800×0.5+(1/5)×7800×2 = 6240 hours = 5.5 hours a day in 4.5 years (excl. Sat+Sun) for a student. The problem is: 1- I think that a Mathematics student has to learn more than I have listed, for example other subjects in Mathematics. 2- a Mathematics student has to spend on other than studying texts, like attending classes, other courses (e.g. computer) as well. How a typical university student in Mathematics spends a few hours in average on studying and knows a lot Mathematics and is able to start research, which I am not capable of? It's a paradox, or maybe I am not smart as other? Thank you. PS I am not officially a uni student yet, but I had to spend 12 h/d on average to study the mentioned books which I am pretty sure are less than what a uni student covers in their studies.<issue_comment>username_1: I am afraid that your computation is [not even wrong](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_even_wrong). You might as well ask how many hours a day you need to practice dribbling in order to be a professional basketball player. Mere knowledge of mathematics is just one component of being a professor, even a professor of pure mathematics. To become a successful mathematics professor (or any type of professor, really), you need a lot more than just to have studied many textbooks: you need scientific creativity, you need vision, you need to be able to communicate and write well, you need to be able to teach, you need self-discipline, you need some broader understanding of how mathematics fits into the larger world, and you need many more things besides. Moreover, one of those many things that you need is skill at extracting knowledge from texts. The deeper your understanding becomes, the more that you will be able to see the structure of the content that you are reading, to analyze which parts are critical and which are accessory, and the less that the computation you present makes sense. In short: yes, it takes a lot of effort on mathematics to become a professor, but the process and challenges are very different than you think. Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: I would say your calculation 5.5 hours a day in 4.5 years is close to real based on my own experience, the link @username_1 provided and others' experience. I think one of the differences between your case (not officially a uni student yet) and others is that they have professors and TAs to help them. They attend Math classes in school. They learn what's important to read and what important exercises to do in the class. In other words, they learn Math more efficiently and more effectively than you do. This is why attending formal trainings in universities is always encouraged. Not only you have professors and TAs to help you, but also you have peers (classmates) to discuss the problems with. So, you learn faster and better. You eventually graduate from school (BS or MS or PhD). Hopefully you'll become a professional Mathematician someday. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I my experience most students do most of their learning from lectures, courses and problem sheets rather than reading textbooks. I fact I will go so far as to say most students read few/no textbooks cover to cover. While, I am probably not the best example of a hard working student during my undergrad (in Physics) I can think of only two subjects where I got a textbook to look at: Quantum field theory and general relativity. Even then I had a pretty good idea of the subjects so only looked at the bits I was uncertain of. Other people definitely used more textbooks than me but I don't think they really read them cover to cover. This strikes me as a very slow and difficult way to learn. Having said that your estimate of 5.5 hours/day to learn a subject is probably not too far wrong. My undergrad (Physics in UK so YMMV) had approximately 25 contact hours per week, including labs etc. so ~5hours per day plus another couple of hours per day for problem sheets. I think the course load for Maths (and any other STEM subject) was similar. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: One should not think in terms of a necessary (or even worse, sufficient) number of hours of work needed. What you should set yourself are goals: learn the courses of your curriculum, practice them to make them become natural to you, ask yourself questions about them (seek examples of definitions, counter-examples of theorems with an hypothesis removed, etc.), and very importantly get enough sleep (and possibly sport) for your body and brain to work efficiently. Studying for hours can be less efficient at getting good at maths than sleeping more and be more acute during the fewer hours of work. Working hard is an important part of success, true. Working well is of even greater importance, so be prepared to change your way of working for a more efficient one. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: It is different for each person. I know people who spends less than 2 hours a day on math and gets higher grades and I know people more than 5 hours to do the math and get a passing grades. Upvotes: 0
2015/07/17	3,273	13,924	<issue_start>username_0: I will be joining a graduate program in the US this fall. To keep track of important technical/research discussions with my advisor, I think it would be a good idea to record conversations with my advisor on a voice recorder/camera. It would be very helpful as I (and my advisor) will not forget/miss anything important. Also, I could listen to my advisor's comments again if I do not understand something in the first go. So I would like to know (from an advisor's perspective) if it is bad etiquette to request my advisor to have our research discussions recorded on my voice recorder/camera. I do not wish to breach anyone's privacy but only wish to keep track of my own research. And I only want to record if my advisor is happy with it. Update: As mentioned in one of the answers below, sometimes it is hard to keep up with the advisor as my field is highly technical and mathematical (theoretical physics). It has happened to me before that some things my earlier project advisor discussed went completely over my head. I found it hard to even jot down such things since I did not understand what he was trying to say (like lots of mathematics jargon). An example: If I am just starting as a PhD student in US and I see my prospective advisor (and his collaborators) discussing about something I feel to be very interesting, I do not think I will be able to pick up all the "deep and subtle ideas" that come up during such discussions (being only a beginner). And if I do not pickup what is deep and what is not, I might miss those important ideas and consequently not jot down. It is very important for me to understand those ideas. I do not think my advisor will be able to clear doubts in such situations as I would not be familiar with such advanced stuff at the time of those discussions. This is why I think it is very helpful in such situations to have a record so that I could go back to it later on when I understand all that jargon. It would save a lot of our time as well if my advisor does not have to repeat things multiple times.<issue_comment>username_1: What is wrong with taking notes by hand? You are not a reporter, and don't need to remember your advisors words verbatim. At this point in your career you should be able to take notes while discussing and record the points of the conversation that way. But, if you insist on recording it I don't think it would be poor mannered as long as you approached your advisor about it first. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: No, just no. You do not record other people. Even if your advisor somehow agrees (which he probably won't), what if there are other people in the room (e.g., in the lab when he comes to discuss something with you) or you want to discuss a collaborating paper with another student or discussing a undergraduate thesis with a student you will supervise? Are you planning to record those other people too? There are many countries where it is illegal without permission to do so. Use a pen and paper or your laptop and take notes like the rest of the world. Academia is exactly like a corporate job in that matter. You do not use recording devices on your colleagues or your supervisors. Even it is not illegal, it makes many people uncomfortable. Moreover, taking notes at meetings is a crucial skill you will need to practice sooner or later. UPDATE: Some of the other answers do not take under account that the OP is not an experienced academic. Entering his PhD now, his advisor (and implicitly we) are the ones who should introduce him to best (or common) academic practices. And although one may argue that 10 years ago some grad student was freely recording his interactions with his advisor, it is not at all common nor considered best practice. Also, as others have stated it is field-dependent, jurisdiction dependent (for legal issues) and I might add country or culture dependent. So, implying that he can freely ask academics to record their interactions with him, might a) alienate him from them and b) this is not for the OP's best interest. In this sense, as a wild analogy, it is not different than the OP asking his advisor if it is OK to wear a clown suit everytime they meet. a) Clown suits are not illegal b) He should be able to freely ask his advisor about anything (as @PeteL.Clark suggests) c) The advisor may always say NO. d) Someone might saw someone 10 years ago that wore a clown suit on his defense or during Halloween talking to his supervisor. But is it common? Is it considered best practice? Does it offers any benefits? Might offend some people? And we (academics or not) all know the answers to these questions. Same as asking academics to record our interactions with them. It is not common, It is not normal practice, it offers no true benefits than pen and paper and some people might get offended or estranged by such request. So, those are strong reasons why the OP should not do it. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Years ago, one of my doctoral students asked me for permission to record our regular meetings. I said it was OK. Also, now that phones contain cameras, several people have photographed my blackboard at the end of conversations (or in the middle if the board was about to be erased). I have no objections to any of this as long as it's done openly. I would be unhappy if I found out that someone was secretly recording my conversations without asking me for permission. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: You need to ask first, and you need to ask without the recording device in your hand. But sure, why not ask? If I were asked, I would find it a little strange at first, and then I would think about the fact that this shows a real commitment and diligence to keeping track of what is said during our meetings. One of the biggest issues with student/advisor meetings is that it feels like they should happen very informally, but information is often being provided in a way which the student cannot easily or perfectly understand or even take in. So there is often a lot of repetition over a period of weeks, months or years. (Not just between students and advisors, come to think of it.) With that in mind I would be inclined to say yes. I also strongly disagree with another answer which suggests that an advisor might drop a student for making such a request. This seems to contribute to a sentiment that students should be afraid to discuss things with their advisors, which I see so much of on this site and think is very unfortunate. It would be incredibly unreasonable behavior to drop a student for making this request or really any request which has anything to do with the student's academic or professional life. Added: My response is not meant to apply to interactions with other people aside from the OP and the advisor. Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_5: Though I'm not a professor, I have asked professors to record their notes in class lectures. Here's my insight: Asking a professor to record lecture notes is socially acceptable (ahead of time; not on the spot), and I think most professors would be understanding and accommodating to someone whose grasp of English isn't level with everyone else in the course or program (not that your English isn't; I'm just stating as a matter-of-fact). Now, for 1-on-1 meetings, there are two concerns that your professor might be wary of: security and funding. The professor might not completely know what you plan to do with his/her comments, and even if you haven't yet given the professor a reason to distrust you, the professor would rather not find out the hard way as to what might happen with that recording. Furthermore, depending on the area of research (some are more sensitive than others), the recordings might breach or lead to breaches in certain provisions of grant contracts, thus resulting in financial losses for you, your advisor, and/or the university. Now, is it reasonable that you are an innocent student who just wants to keep the professor's comments accessible for future academic use, where only you use the recordings? Sure. However, that's a lot of added work for the professor to make sure what he/she says isn't used in the future for ulterior purposes, or taken out of context. From what I understand, many professors just don't have that time to take on that extra burden. May I recommend an alternative? Take a pen and paper pad to your meetings, and let your professor know you'd like to take notes. This is a custom most professors are used to, and are highly likely to have no problem with it. Jot down the bullet points, and then after you leave the professor's office, send him/her an email thanking them for their time, and a quick summary of those bullet points with any questions or clarifications you need. It's more professional, and having track of a two-way conversation that both parties can access is likely to leave the professor more comfortable. Unless your advisor is shady, but that's a completely different matter. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_6: This might be subject-dependent. If your field has any social or political relevance, then you might well find that trying to film your supervisions will cause problems. Asking about it will lead your new supervisor(s) to wonder why you want to record everything. If you don't understand something in a supervision, say so there and then. Don't try to proceed based on a lack of comprehension. Often these things build up on top of each other: the latter half of a supervision can be built upon the foundations put down in the former half. It's foolish to try to wade through a supervision having failed to understand key elements of it, so sort out gaps in your comprehension as soon as they arise. And trust your memory: it's how your memory will become more trustworthy. A supervision must be an environment where you and your supervisor(s) are able to talk freely about your subject. If your supervisor is put in a situation where anything said in a supervision is recorded, and could be taken out of context later and used against them, then would make supervision harder. Even if your reasons for recording everything are completely innocent, only you know that. And present-you can't guarantee what future-you will do with the recorded material. Asking to film everything might be interpreted as declaring mistrust. And mistrust is infectious. Injecting mistrust into the supervisory relationship right at the beginning would be extremely unwise. So if your supervisor has the the luxury of walking away, then don't be too surprised if they do. As you'll have seen from other respondents, academics in some other subjects can see this differently. I guess most maths, and most theoretical physics, feels so sufficiently detached from any social or political relevance, that Climategate (where excerpts from illegally-obtained emails between scientists were taken out of context and used against them, in attempts to destroy their careers) must seem like a different universe. From that perspective, recording supervisions must seem completely risk-free and harmless. That detachment can be an illusion: to take an extreme example, Hardy published "A Mathematician's Apology", in which he celebrated contemporary maths for its supreme detachment from war, after the sending of the Einstein–Szilárd-Teller-Wigner letter which birthed the Manhattan Project. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: There is a style of advising/mentoring in which the advisor/mentor writes notes on a piece of paper as he goes along, and then gives them to the advisee/mentee at the end of the session. The notes won't read like an article or a book. They'll have key equations, some vocabulary terms, perhaps an outline or to-do list, perhaps a question. They are very helpful for an advisee/mentee to review later. If I were in your shoes, I'd rather have written notes, as described, than a tape recording. It's easier for the one doing the explaining to notate the most important topics. Your advisor might be persuaded to do this if you explain how it works (or show how it works) and why it will be so helpful for you. If English isn't your first language, that would give you a built-in excuse for asking for this. Or if your advisor has an accent that's relatively new to you. If you have any suspected or documented learning differences, you can work with the Disability Services office in your institution. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: It's not a breach of privacy if you have asked and received permission. That being said, the only way you can get permission is if you ask. It should not be considered rude if you ask, at least not if you are willing to accept a no for an answer. Be polite when you ask, explain thoroughly and honestly your reasoning. Offer, perhaps ask if they want to know, the procedure you will use to record (will you be using a iPhone or tape recorder? a large microphone complete with boom, spider mount, wind breaker placed over head.... etc). Be forth coming addressing any concerns they may have. If they say no, then no, don't do it. I have known some who have secretly recorded even when they were told it was not OK. Personally I don't know why a professor would have any objections, many are now making online course material along side other graduate students. Good luck to you. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_9: If you ask first, then there should be no problem. The supervisor can always say no. Personally, if one of my student ask for this, I would probably say no because (1) I expect my students to be able to take notes, (2) if they don't understand, I expect them to be able to ask for clarifications, and (3) I don't like to be recorded. But some other professors may disagree. At least it shows that you are interested in your research. Upvotes: 3
2015/07/17	1,300	5,867	<issue_start>username_0: I study petroleum engineering; however, I want everybody from different fields to express their opinion based on their personal experience. Let's assume you have the following options: publishing in a journal that is not open access and has a high impact factor, publishing in a conference, and finally publishing in a journal that is open access and has a low impact factor. The only option that has ever been appealing to me is to publish in a reputable journal, simply because I don't think the other two are challenging enough and also the whole process of modifying your paper based on peer reviews will help improve the quality of your paper. However, I have recently stumbled upon some papers that had me rethink about the whole thing. It seems to me as if for some reason open access publishing increases the potential number of citations. The straightforward explanation is that many more people will have the chance to see your paper and there is a huge chance that some of them cite your paper at least in their literature review. (I understand that if they don't have access to high quality journals, they might not be currently in the right setting to necessarily publish a good work, but in this context a citation is a citation even if it's by a poor quality paper) Also, I do have a feeling that depending on the field you're working in, the number of conference publications can hugely exceed the number of journal publications. For example, petroleum engineering is extremely industrialized and a huge number of fellows in the industry are only willing to publish in conferences. This is simply because publication in a conference is easier, it is fun to travel for free (!) and in general networking is very important to many of them. Also, I keep thinking that there a chance that some of these people, for some reason that I don't know of, have exclusive access to conference papers, but no access to journal papers or maybe they simply don't have the willingness to spend time on reading journal papers because they don't need to! What if my paper gets exposed to this huge number of people if I publish it in a conference, but only to a small number of researchers in the academia if I publish it in a journal.<issue_comment>username_1: A prior question would be why you care about the number of citations. There are valid career-related reasons, and I assume that you know that citation-gathering businesses do not always include "self-publication" and conference proceedings. That applies both to the article being cited, and the citing article. So there is a difference between actual citations in the abstract sense, and enumerated citations. That could support the refereed respected journal approach, depending on your motivation. Also, there are numerous open-access respectable peer-reviewed journals, so since you are looking for non-overlapping categories, I assume you specifically mean unrefereed repositories of various kinds, in referring to "open access". I would be surprised if there is any evidence that open-access results in an increase in citations, because in the subset of people in the world publishing academic papers, I doubt that the factor of having to pay to read an article has a significant effect on whether a researcher can actually read the paper. Via my university, I get to read articles in any arbitrary journal, and request a free copy if they don't subscribe. An opposite expected trend is that an article in a large, open repository may more easily be missed, if say they get a hundred submissions a week, and if authors are unaware of your work, they won't cite it. In my field (linguistics), conference proceedings were traditionally just a minor notch below peer-reviewed journals in stature, due to there being few journals and a major publication lag, but now conference proceedings are in third place (behind book chapters). But in some sub-areas (computational), conference proceedings are a major publication venue. Correspondingly, CL conference proceedings go through a serious wringer. So your basic distinction centered around peer-review is correct, it's just that peer-review standards vary considerably for journals and conference proceedings. It may be that more people will have access to your paper if it is in an open repository, but they will also have access to thousands of other papers, and to generate a citation by the subset of the public that writes scientific papers, you would need to do something extra to draw attention to your paper. I suggest you first scrutinize the notion of "citation", to determine what citation engine(s) you care about, and whether they scoop up citations of un-reviewed works that appear in other un-reviewed works. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: (This is almost entirely anecdotal and I'm not in a field where conferences are an option.) In my experience and seeing the experience of others in lab, publishing in a low IF journal that's OA has garnered many more citations and article views than the non-OA journal with a higher IF. But, these were new-ish, upward trending OA journals. Maybe we've gotten lucky. Sadly, I'm not sure these are citations for the right reason: When I google part of the title of each article + my name, the papers in OA clearly appear higher up in the results. There's possibly a correlation between where it appears on Google and the number of citations... maybe I should plot that. Another example: Two very similar papers published in two OA access journals with similar IFs. One website is simple. The other is convoluted - hard to reach the full text. Guess which one has twice as many citations..? Not sure if I like that, but maybe that's where we're headed: Publish papers with a Google-friendly titles in OA journals with nicely formatted websites. Upvotes: 0
2015/07/17	893	3,933	<issue_start>username_0: I published a methods paper about a data analysis method (in cognitive neuroscience), and I'm now working as a co-author with colleagues on two experimental papers using that method. Since the main audience of these papers will be much less technically inclined than that of my own, I have been asked to provide a concise (1 paragraph, about 300 words) summary of the method which explains its logic and workings as precisely as possible for that less technical audience. In one case the need for such a paragraph has been stated also by a reviewer, explicitly writing that just referring the reader to the methods paper is not sufficient. My question is: Since the requirements of this paragraph for these two papers are identical, it would make sense to use the same text for both – but would this be considered as a case of self-plagiarism? And if yes, what can I do to avoid that? Options I have considered: – Include the text in one paper (likely to be published first) as-is, and then quote it in the other paper. However, explicit quotations either in quotation marks or as an indented block are extremely uncommon in (at least my) science. So would a footnote like "this paragraph has been copied verbatim from XYZ" be the right thing to do to mark it as a quotation? – Slightly change the wording, sentence structure, etc. – In my understanding this is worse, because it just adds an attempt to disguise on top of the self-plagiarism. – Just write a separate text for each. But because the requirements are identical and I'm writing them both within a matter of days, it his highly likely that I'll end up with near-identical text anyway, and that any differences would be artificial, just like in the last option. There are only so many ways one can explain a technical matter in a concise, clear, and accessible way. In each case the paragraph is embedded in a longer passage that details how the method is applied to the specific experimental design of each study. In one case the text is going to go into the supplementary material, while in the other it will be part of a regular methods section. Morally speaking I don't see any concern here, because this text in no way claims to be original anyway, but just paraphrases a paper which is of course properly cited. But should I be concerned about others seeing this as a case of self-plagiarism? I'm interested in your personal evaluations of this matter, but if possible also in some "official" references.<issue_comment>username_1: My personal belief is that it's fine to duplicate the text with a reference to the original methods paper and a statement that this is a short summary of that work. Unfortunately, you will find people in the world who think you should be drawn and quartered for doing this, so your best bet is to write two different descriptions lest you get "caught" by a pedant. Worries about self-plagiarism for methodology sections, in my opinion, are vastly overblown, but not everyone agrees with me, so you have to be careful who you work ends up in front of. You never know who is going to run your papers through plagiarism detection software and reject your work because of one paragraph. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Pedant here -- you need to be very clear about the fact that copying the text could have serious implications. Many publishers today use plagiarism detection software (that doesn't work as they expect it to, but that's a different topic) so your text may come back as "plagiarized" when it is submitted. Even if you are summarizing, give a reference to where the original methods section is given. Never copy text, even if you wrote it, into another paper. As a commenter has said: there could be copyright restrictions! And maybe you can start to get your field to accept indentations or quotation marks for methods sections by showing how elegantly you can do this. Upvotes: 0
2015/07/17	1,363	5,673	<issue_start>username_0: I miscalculated the mark of one of my students and mistakenly notified him that he passed the class. However, I noticed my mistake after some hours and fixed it, thereby resulting in him failing the class. Obviously, the student is very upset now. Should I have left the mistake and pretend I hadn't noticed it?<issue_comment>username_1: Since you didn't communicate directly with the student: You need to talk to the professor in charge of the course. Being an authority figure in the eye's of the student, more experienced with the university's policies, and in the position to make the necessary decisions to smooth things over (i.e. extra credit, or making it a take it or leave it situation), the most appropriate course of action is to just pass by your professor's office and discuss it with her/him tete-a-tete. You sound very remorseful; empathy is good, but take it easy, these things happen, and it's a beneficial experience for all parties involved since some day you or the student may be put in similar situations. Good luck. EDIT: In response to O.R. Mapper (Due to comment length restrictions): You're right, the student did have the chance and failed. I'm only giving advice based on OP's general direction. I've seen young professors dismissed because of a collective number of small mistakes, but also because they were consistently tough/harsh. Hence, why I'm giving advice based on what I can infer is what the OP wants to do, but does not know how to do. This is a course of action I've seen put to use in a variety of occasions by several professors that have the same empathetic regard towards all of their students; regardless of their academic standing. In regards to the larger decision of being tough or lenient; that is a much larger question that only the OP can decide. I'm only working with what is apparent to us. Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: On the few occasions where I've accidentally mis-reported a grade, mercifully the computational error was not great, and it was within my authority to change the pass-fail line (or other relevant line) by a small-but-sufficient amount to make my initial report "become correct". Of course, I correspondingly "improved" other peoples' grades to match. That is, if we are talking about a small adjustment, I feel that the initial grade announcement should be "made true" by changing the grade line. My rationale for this is that precise gradelines are pretty meaningless, so a small change (in favor of students) is completely harmless, and thus avoids the very-bad fallout from recanting on a grade. If some bizarre, large computational mistake occurs, so that one has reported an "A" instead of "F", it's probably not feasible to make the better grade "true". Whatever your local policies allow/require, do be sure to manifest the same "adjustment" (and only upward, by my thinking...) for every student in the course. Large errors, and/or large changes, should probably be discussed with other people in your department so that they'll not be "surprised" at any further fallout. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I think that the best way to go is to talk with other professors/lecturers in your department to know what they would do in that case because the best thing to do may depends on the policy at your department about how to handle grades. Personnally, I would not let the student pass if he don't deserve it. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: In my opinion, mistakenly passing a student is no different from mistakenly failing a student. Both are mistakes. As humans, we all make mistakes. What should we do after we find out we made a mistake? We admit we made a mistake. we report it if necessary. We correct it if we can. We apologize to the person who was hurt by the mistake. We accept the consequences due to the mistake. You should have a syllabus at the beginning of the semester which contains how the students will be graded. Both of your students and you as the lecturer should follow it as the game rule. You made a calculation error which changed the student's grade by mistake. You found it out and you changed it back. I see nothing wrong here. What you have not done is to communicate to the student to explain to him why his grade was changed from pass to fail. And you should report it to your department that you made a mistake by making a calculation error. Yes, the student will be upset because he now learns that he failed the class. He probably would go to your department to complain. How the department would handle it is up to them. They should have an established process. You follow that process. If the department says it’s up to the lecturer for the final decision. I would give the student the grade he deserves, that is, I would fail the student in your particular case. This is because of correctness, fairness and consistency. For the sake of correctness, I must give the student the correct grade he should receive. For the sake of fairness, I should grade every student the same way, the way in the syllabus. For the sake of consistency, I must consider the case: what if I mistakenly fail a student next time? Do I not change his grade from fail to pass after I find out I made a mistake? Having said all these, I would like to tell you what I would do if I were in your shoes. I would fail the student and then send him an email to apologize and offer him help, such as giving him private sessions so that it would be easier for him to re-take the class next semester, etc. After all, you messed it up and you need to do something to clean it up. Upvotes: 3
2015/07/17	816	3,471	<issue_start>username_0: I'm preparing my application to send it to my dream university (it's located in Germany), and my problem is: Since I'm coming from a country that facing civil war (Syria), I had real troubles in high school (no electricity power and such things), so I had poor results,So I had entered college I don't like (I want to study CS) also I fall in some troubles with my classmates because I came from a different culture, the general atmosphere was not friendly at all, studying with all that was very hard for me, so I have poor results again, after all I take my decision I left the college and retake the high school exam and I have got ~80%. So the question is: should I mention that I have 2 high school certificates and I got out the college with poor results or just mention my second high school certificate, is that ethical? and is that will effect on my new university decision? Just to get the whole picture : I had studied hardly for my second high school exam and I lost a lot of time with no academic results, in other hand I'm a good programmer, book worm, research enthusiasm, I want to continue my studies to get the PhD, I have industry experience in the field, and working on some projects as a volunteer to help my community. I'm in bad situation and my academic future is depends on what to do now, so any advice are welcome. Edit (clarification): I'm going as undergraduate student.<issue_comment>username_1: I would say that hiding information in anything of this nature - a CV, a resume, and so on - is always suspicious and usually unethical. I would provide a brief explanation in your personal statement. Given it has to do with a situation that is unquestionably out of your control, some universities might forgive less-than-exemplary marks. Getting a masters degree before a PhD could improve your situation further - in this way, you can further prove yourself as a good programmer and book worm who wants to do research. Naturally the CS field wants more than just these traits, but you seem willing to learn. Edit: If you're going for an undergraduate degree, all the better! Simply proving your aptitude should be sufficient. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: This may vary with culture (I'm not sure how Germany views such things). In the United States, your story about overcoming adversity and persevering may be very compelling to the admissions committee. Universities rarely select only the best candidates based on grades. They give extra consideration to those that may have had a tough time early on because of circumstances beyond their control. So it may actually help you to talk about your history and not to hide it. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Whether or not you choose to hide/omit something is up to you and, in my opinion, unless it is pertinent or explicitly asked not unethical. That being said, you must be aware of a few things, firstly they may at some point in time discover your omitting. What do you think will be their reaction? Mind you this could have AFTER graduation, perhaps when you've won some prestigious award and finally the truth come to light, what do you think would happen and are you ok with that scenario? Secondly, don't assume what they will say or how they will react to information you have or have not given them. You never know how somebody will react until you tell them and it may well work in your favor. Upvotes: 1
2015/07/17	1,951	8,207	<issue_start>username_0: This question was actually asked previously, but it went on hold. So I simplified to make it visible, as I need a quick advise. I am an international graduate student, currently working in a lab for 2 months now. I would like to know how to deal with an advisor who keeps changing his mind unexpectedly. His decisions are erratic and sometimes are completely contrasting. For instance, he appreciates my work ethic and that I did better than X, and complains about my poor progress and lack of research experience the next day. He would again come and apologize. He says that he doesn't have time and patience to train new students, as his research is fast-paced. He also said he would give a thesis topic to work on one day and then asked me to come up with my own later. He promised on funding my masters first and now he keeps asking me why he has to fund, when I didn't show enough progress. He knows that I am new to his field before accepting me, he also knows my financial condition pretty well. I worked during this summer for 2 months now. I traveled 3 hours a day to go to lab and bore my own expenses. After all my work, now few weeks before the semester to begin, he decides to test me whether I am fit for this group or not. He gave me a week time to prepare a whole course. I don't understand his opinions. I was preparing to come up with a research topic and suddenly his decision to test me worries me. Why didn't he decide to test me before hiring? Why now, after coming to a mutual understanding about funding? How to tackle this situation? As an international student, it is nearly impossible for me to arrange my tuition fee now, as I thought I am getting funded. How to tackle this situation if he rejects to fund now? How to deal with such advisor even if I continue? A week later, after the "test he intended to conduct, I first decided to prepare well, before taking any decision. So, I met him today. I prepared as much as I could. I did have some doubts, where I couldn't understand, nor find relevant information. Before asking anything, He gave a publication and 10 minutes time to understand it. I was able to read half of it. He took the paper back and opened a page in my notes which I prepared during my preparation for today. He saw where I marked as "doubt" and said, "if this is a doubt, then I am sure you have no idea of what all this is." Then he flipped a page and stopped at an equation and asked me to explain what it is all about (Unfortunately, I didn't understand some of it's parameters) and how they calculate those parameters in the lab. I tried explaining in my words. He was not at all happy because I didn't use proper scientific jargon. He didn't ask anything else. He just spoke to me for half an hour, about how ignorant I was to not know it. I asked him to go through remaining notes. He said, he wouldn't bother even if I understood everything else, because I wasn't able to interpret that particular concept. Now, I started feeling very nervous and stupid. But I answered many of his questions, but fumbled for others. He said he might back off at any moment about funding, if I didn't come up with a feasible research project. He kept on insulting me in front of someone else, comparing. I was very worried that he didn't even ask what all I learnt. When I told him in which research area I would like to work, he said I chose a good topic, but I am not good enough to do that. What would be a good solution, if I don't have another option but continue working with him or quit education. Also, I am not understanding if this is my mistake or his impatience. As a student, I need to learn well and justify from my side. Am I not able to do it? Am I over-ambitious? Do all professors test students like this before giving an opportunity? Most of my friends are doing research without prior experience and none of them faced a situation like this. They were allotted projects by their advisors, and the phd's and postdocs train them. Another student in this group is also trying to come up with a thesis topic. But the professor never conducted any test nor expressed his dissatisfaction in front of others. In fact he used to appreciate me that I was better than this student. Why did he transform suddenly, after promising about funding? He recently got funding, as told by he himself. Is he trying to back off? He is saying that I am cornering him to such a situation, because he once said that he would fund. How is that cornering? He accepted to fund, right? Now I was giving one last chance, to decide a research topic. This transformation from offering a phd position, to thesis with funding and now no funding and no thesis,it is bothering me and I am freaking out right now with frustration. I am scared to talk to any one about this, as I am not able to figure out if this is my mistake or his.<issue_comment>username_1: Given that you are finding the ground underneath your feet to be unexpectedly shaky, the only thing I can think for you to do is to explore other terrain. Your advisor is pointedly not committing to you, so unilaterally committing to him is not a safe bet. In general, people have a quite strong tendency to want to "keep a bad thing going". Here's an idea: maybe try to relish the prospect of making a lot of positive changes. E.g. if you're international than you probably don't have deep roots in the area, so you really don't have to live three hours from where you work, do you? A random move would probably fix that problem. And so forth. Once you've put some other plans in motion, it may be worth revisiting the issue of whether you really want to keep working with Prof. Erratic, if you can. If you do, be honest with him: he is not acting like he wants to keep you around. Does he? If so, how can you make it work? A bunch of arbitrary tests sounds like a leadup to a dismissal rather than part of a positive plan. Good luck. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: In addition to the good advice already offered: * Are there any more advanced students who have known this professor longer than you have? It could be helpful to ask them how to interpret his contradictory, confusing behavior. This could help you figure out where this ambiguity is coming from -- a disorganized brain? anxiety and compulsiveness? his own funding problems (i.e. maybe he is finding himself overbooked)? a fundamental incompatibility between the two of you? communication problems? There's one other possibility which I must mention -- but you won't want to say this out loud unless you're sure -- sexism? * Have you spoken with the graduate advisor in your department? I recommend you make an appointment to speak with him or her as soon as possible. Lay out the contradictions in a calm tone of voice, letting the situation do the heavy lifting -- avoid expressive language, bitterness, tears, etc., if possible. Say you would like some advice. If no advice is offered in that appointment, give your email address and phone number, and ask if you can check in in a couple of days, to let him or her know how things are evolving. This is a way of hinting that you are hoping s/he will work some magic in the background for you in the meantime. If possible, bring a couple of hard copies of emails from the professor with you, to leave with the administrator. Ideally you would have the original offer/agreement, and some contradictory work orders to show. (You don't have to go over them together in the appointment.) Hopefully the department will knock some sense into the guy, or better yet, help you find a more sane source of funding. --- Maggie, this is not normal. You must go and talk to a department or university administrator as soon as possible. Please give the administrator a copy of what you have written here. If you know someone you could bring with you, that would be good, to help you remain calm, and to make sure you don't leave anything important out. Your studies are important, but your sanity and self-respect are more important. Please don't allow this nut to try to do any more damage to your self-esteem. Please respond. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
2015/07/17	549	2,193	<issue_start>username_0: I have a doctorate already and have circled back to complete an MBA. My doctorate is in another discipline. My MBA program just told me that, rather than using the proposed course numbers for an analytics track, they will be using the repeatable "Special Topics" 5000 number. For example: 1. MBA 5510 Data Warehouses will now be MBA 5000 Data Warehouses 2. MBA 5520 Advanced Queries will now be MBA 5000 Advanced Queries 3. MBA 5530 Advanced Data Mining will now be MBA 5000 Adv Data Mining Our course catalog lists MBA 5000 as "Special Topics" and it is shown as repeatable. I am not sure whether my transcript would reflect special topics or the original course title, but I will end up with four instances of the MBA 5000 course number on my transcript. As someone involved in an academic career, should I be wary of this change? Will other institutions scrutinize the use of this repeatable "Special Topics" course number and/or name?<issue_comment>username_1: You could start by checking with the registrar's office to find out if the transcript will show the specific topic of each of these courses or whether it will just show "5000 Special Topics." e.g. on our campus you'd actually get "5000 Special Topics: Advanced Queueing Theory." I doubt that anyone would care about the difference between a special topics course with the topic of Advanced Queueing Theory and a regular course in Advanced Queueing Theory if the transcript showed the specific topic. It's possible that someone might be concerned about your taking "Special Topics" with no specific topic mentioned, but even that shouldn't be much of an issue if you're applying for an academic position. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Anyone who cares what these courses are will know what a Special Topics course is, i.e. that it's a course placeholder in the scheduling and reservation system for courses that may be taught infrequently or even once, and ask you about the topic(s). This is a very common construct at universities in the US that I am familiar with, and shouldn't be a problem for you since you will have an opportunity to tell them what the topics were. Upvotes: 4
2015/07/18	723	3,287	<issue_start>username_0: I am an undergraduate research assistant in a physics lab. At the start of my research term, my supervisor suggested a project to me. The project is to design, test and implement a piece of apparatus in our experimental setup. With the new component I have built, we will be able to take very precise measurements that were not possible with the old setup. The component I am building will effectively open up some new areas of research for the group. Note that the apparatus I am building isn't new in our field; others have implemented it previously so I can't publish a paper on what I designed and built. I will have to leave the group soon because I attend another institution, my research term is up and I must physically move back to my home institution after that. I will not be able to collect any data or help write any paper in the future. However, since taking this data would not be possible without my component, do I have any claim in co-authorship for (at least one) future paper? Or is an acknowledgement more appropriate for this scenario? I have no idea as to what level of contribution merits co-authorship on a paper. I think this is a good learning experience. If I do have some claim, should I approach my supervisor about this?<issue_comment>username_1: Authorship guidelines usually require all authors to approve of the final version of the manuscript, so you cannot become an author until that point has been reached. If you have created a substantially novel design, you have a good chance of reaching that point. If your design is mostly like those previously implemented, then your chances are not so good. Your question does not provide that level of detail. It is very important to consider your supervisor's viewpoint. Assuming your supervisor is a university professor, including an undergraduate researcher as a coauthor will likely make that professor look good because including undergraduates in research is part of a faculty member's responsibilities. Adding a coauthor costs the supervisor nothing, so long as the supervisor adheres to ethical guidelines. I recommend asking your supervisor what you need to do to meet the requirements for coauthorship. Confining your work to a fixed research term is not a realistic way to publish papers, though it may work sometimes. It is unclear why you "have to leave." Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In my opinion, it does not deserve authorship credit. Some university have specific requirements about authorship. For example, one university where I was previously studying had this requirement: an author should at least have done two of the following three things : (1) participate in finding the main idea of the paper, (2) participate in designing and carrying the experiments, and (3) participate in writting the paper. According to what you said, you would only qualify for (2), and it would be indirectly, since you just implemented something that was already published. Thus, in my opinion, they could put your name in the "acknowledgements" section instead of as a co-author but if they don't it may also be ok depending on the context. Moreover, if you got paid to do what you did, then perhaps that they don't even need to put your name at all. Upvotes: 2