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20294 | Cleaning up/Uniformize bibliography for long document
I was wondering whether existed some software that would take as input a text file bibliography (for instance a bib file if you use bibtex), and that run it through google scholar (or any other database), so that it can return a uniformized bibliography.
As an example, suppose you have two items from the same conference
@inproceedings{mpi,
author = {Surname1 Name1 and Surname2 Name2},
title = {Some nice work},
booktitle = {Editor of the Name of Conference},
year = {2004},
}
and
@inproceedings{RRnrj,
author = {Name3 S. and Name4 S.},
title = {Some nice work},
booktitle = {Name of Conference (Acronym)},
year = {2020},
publisher = {Editor},
}
and you would want it to return:
@inproceedings{mpi,
author = {Surname1 Name1 and Surname2 Name2},
title = {Some nice work},
booktitle = {Name of Conference (Acronym)},
year = {2004},
publisher = {Editor},
}
and
@inproceedings{RRnrj,
author = {Surname3 Name3 and Surname4 Name4},
title = {Some nice work},
booktitle = {Name of Conference (Acronym)},
year = {2020},
publisher = {Editor},
}
(or whatever is the norm on the database).
Related question: "What are good sites to find citations in BibTex format?" over at TeX.SE.
I don't think that there exists software to reliably correct these kinds of errors in your bibliography -- especially given that the bibtex data available from publishers sometimes even contains errors.
Not aware of anything to "uniformize" in that way, and I don't think that running through Scholar would help - IME that and other databases have that sort of inconsistency in anyway. I fear that it's a hand-pruning task...
If you have the DOI codes, the best thing is to use the API and get the references yourself:
curl -LH "Accept: text/bibliography; style=bibtex" http://dx.doi.org/[DOI code]
If you have them (and you should, for any modern article), parsing the bib to get them and getting the data can be done in a very simple script.
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193605 | When citing your advisor's past work, how can I proceed when their papers are poorly written?
I am reviewing the MsC. dissertation of a friend of mine before it is submitted to the evaluation board. I started looking for formatting errors, badly written parts, malformed citations, typos, orphaned references, factual errors, logical gaps, and other stuff like that. One of the authors that she most cite is, of course, her advisor.
However, when I checked all that stuff, I found that the works of her advisor are very sloppy, containing a lot of errors, typos, incomplete sentences, misnumbered pages, misnumbered sections, inconsistent spacing and margins, mixing text with two different fonts in the same paragraph for no reason, misplaced images obscuring parts of the text and even sentences that were left painted with red or yellow to be reviewed before publication, but that were published anyway without further review.
The worse is that her advisor works contains a lot of malformed citations. Those includes things like: typos in cited authors' names; opening quotation marks without closing them (so I can't tell for sure where the quote ends); closing quotation marks that didn't open anywhere; quoted parts that differ significantly from the quoted work when I double check; citations from works that do not show up in the references section; cited text parts that don't appear anywhere in the cited work (maybe misquoted something from paper A as being from paper B); papers in the reference section that aren't cited anywhere in the text; quoting things in the middle of the text without telling who or what is being quoted; telling that someone is being cited without actually providing a citation, etc. It is so sloppy, that it certainly even contains a lot of unintended plagiarism not due to malice, but due to the severe lack of competence and discipline on properly quoting stuff and on editing, formatting and reviewing documents.
Luckily, this is not my work and I don't have any relation with her advisor. Also, my job is reviewing her paper, not her advisor's papers. But, if I were in her place, what should I do if I am obliged to cite a lot of very low-quality work? Trying to argue or denounce or whatever with the advisor is probably just a way to ensure being dropped from the program, specially near the scheduled date for the deadline when the text is in its final development steps. Also, it is likely that this might cause some trouble inside the evaluation board that if composed by competent people would likely perceive all of those (since I did, surely could them). Further, even after the degree is received, the fact that the Master's dissertation is based in so much low-quality works is likely to cause problems further down the road. What should I do?
I note you are in the editing phase. The points you are complaining about are precisely the sort of thing I would hope to find in editing. I imagine your expectations are being let down here, but until it goes out to press or peers, it doesn't matter what condition it's in.
Did you find the advisors paper on scihub, libgen, or other similar paralegal sites? It's often the case they don't have the published version, but a leaked preprint/prepublishment one before the formatting and typos were fixed, and sometimes additional format errors introduced as it went through different conversions. Even arxiv papers suffer from this issue occassionally. Unless the papers are from the publisher itself, don't give much thought for it.
@Neinstein Some where paralegal, some were not. They both have the same low-level quality.
I think you are also overestimating the scrutiny an MSc thesis will get.
@Marianne013 Probably, If her advisor didn't get so much scrutinity, it is unlikely that she will.
Are there not two, very different paths open to you? One would be to challenge each and every one of her advisor's mistakes, as reasons to invalidate any objection on the advisor's part… The other would be to ignore any and all mistakes, and work from the premise that the advisor's work has already been accepted, with and in spite of all its errors.
Your question is very dependent on the locale and the time.
Over the last decade, in most of the world, the formal standards for scholarly work have increased a lot. People who are now reaching retirement age published in an era where there was no word-processing for the general public and students graduating even with a doctorate routinely employed other people to write up their thesis. Their advisors often had their thesis set, an expensive and cumbersome procedure, and there is at least one famous dissertation (or a dissertation by a famous mathematician) that was so marred by typos that its significance was only recognized later. Even if authors typed their own papers using something like troff, they made many mistakes. You can still see this in LaTeX-set papers where many people still do not know how to put text components into an equation.
The expectation on the quality of citations has also increased significantly. Thirty years ago in computer science, we used a lot of abbreviations and because there was not a lot of information on the Internet, we sometimes cited by (short-term) memory and got things wrong.
The acceptance and availability of modern electronic tools also varied quite a bit according to countries. In addition, the quality of work has increased a lot in certain countries over the last couple of decades.
Regarding your question: First make sure that you are applying contemporary standards to contemporary works. Only if the advisor's current papers are full of problems of the type you are describing, then maybe taking an action would make sense.
Second, what do you expect as the outcome of a complaint? Do you want the titles of the advisor nullified or do you want her to be fined? Presumably, the advisor is subject to evaluation and their evaluators will look at current publications and react to them. What you describe is only feasible in low-quality outlets for which no or very small credit would be given.
Third, your friend is stuck with the advisor. Is your friend really basing their results on bad papers or rather on poorly written papers? If your friend uses previous work, then your friend is held responsible for a critical reading of this previous work, independent on how well or poorly it is written.
Fourth, if your friend is forced to use invalid or shoddy work as a foundation of the friend's thesis, then indeed her degree might not be worth a lot. In this case, and only in this case, your friend should reconsider the relationship, even if it means graduating later. However, it might just be best for your friend to get the degree "and run". In industry or government, the title might be the only things that counts.
The only reasonable outcome of complaining is getting dropped out of the program, so it is a great no-go. It could be the "right" thing to do in a perfect world, but the world is imperfect and in a perfect world this issue would not even happen to start with.
However, it might just be best for your friend to get the degree "and run". - Exactly what I was thinking about.
Her advisor surely is already well past retirement age - 77 years old. Probably someone who never properly learnt how to use a computer.
"bad papers" ≠ "poorly written papers" - you are right.
Over the last decade? That would be ten years, putting us back in 2002. Typesetting was not some mysterious process, inaccessible to normal people. Computers were in widespread usage, and desktop publishing was commonplace going well back in the nineties, if not the eighties (for those with access to computers, natch, which should have included anyone attending an educational institution). Surely, you meant a much longer span of time than a "decade". Maybe half-century?
@CodyGray: It's 2023. "Last decade" is from 2014-2023, not 2002. (Which just makes your point stronger)
I am talking about two different periods. (A) In the last decade, in my experience, the expectations on citation quality have increased. (B) When people who are now reaching retirement age started their career, word processing was in its infancy.
You are making too much of this. Writers are not responsible for the typesetting or grammar in the papers that they cite. Citing a paper does not mean endorsing all aspects of it. Presumably your friend is citing her advisor because her new work builds on the advisor's previous work; so long as the parts being built upon are technically sound, and your friend's paper is itself well written, there is really nothing to do here.
This. All day this. The only impact the sloppiness (assuming it's just formatting and not factual errors) should have on the new paper is to choose citation-via-paraphrase and not citation-via-quotation.
This is the answer. The quality of your friends thesis has nothing to do with the citations she uses (assuming of course that the citations are valid). I think the real question you are asking is what do you do when already published material is sloppy? Unfortunately there isn't much you can do in this case.
You only need to worry about the quality of the advisor's work to the extent that it impacts on the quality of your friend's work. For example, if the advisor gives an ambiguous quotation from another paper (without closing quotes to indicate where the quote ends), that is only going to matter if your friend also uses that quote, in which case your friend should go back to the primary source to use the corrected quotation (citing the original source of the quote). If there are mis-numbered pages that affect the ability to clearly cite the source then your friend should note this problem for the reader in their citations (e.g., with a footnote) so that the reader can find the relevant pages for the citation.
In cases where the cited work of the advisor contains an error relevant to the point being cited, your friend should note the error and act accordingly (e.g., correcting spelling or grammatical mistakes with appropriate notation of changes). As a reviewer of your friend's work you can point out instances where you think the material being cited is erroneous and suggest appropriate changes. However, it is not necessary to point out errors in cited work that do not impact on the work you are reviewing. Many of the issues you raise with the cited work (e.g., aesthetic problems with fonts, etc.) are not things that are going to impact the other paper.
From what you have described, it sounds like some of the works being cited are working papers, rather than properly peer reviewed work. (I would certainly hope that some of those problems would not appear in a final version published in a journal.) In such a case the bibliography will make clear which references are working papers. It is of course possible that the level of mistakes in the cited work is so severe that you might legitimately question whether that work is trustworthy to cite at all. If you form the view that it is not then you can make this known in your review, though your friend is probably constrained by the fact that he is working with this advisor.
Almost none of this matters. To my mind, there are three reasons that you cite something:
(1) To reference specific facts established in that work.
(2) To acknowledge the precedence of previous research in the area.
(3) To point the reader to other sources in the area which might interest them.
For (1), if the source establishes your fact correctly, it basically doesn't matter if the typesetting, formatting or grammar are unclear. If there are material errors in the source, then I would indicate how to fix them in as non-judgmental language as I can.
For example: "See SOURCE for the complete table of X's. Note the typo in the third line of the table: The 2 should be a 3," or "The equivalence of conditions Y and Z is Theorem 1 in SOURCE, but it appears to us that the authors of SOURCE only prove one direction of the implication, so we provide a proof of the converse." If the badly written material is brief and easy to write well, you can also do "Theorem 1 was proved by SOURCE; since the proof is short, we include it for completeness." Note that there is no need to directly criticize SOURCE in the last example.
If you need to directly quote material which has a typo, you can use sic or square brackets to fix it, but I would consult with your advisor about how to do this without seeming rude; I think this is something where norms differ from field to field.
For (2), I think this doesn't matter at all. "This research area was pioneered by SOURCE" -- if SOURCE is badly written, this sentence is still true and you have done your job acknowledging precedence.
For (3), this can be a bit awkward. If I am pointing the reader to important earlier sources or surveys, then I don't want to leave out major papers, but I also want to give them sources which they will find useful. I usually opt for praising rather than criticizing: "For background on TOPIC, see SOURCE1, SOURCE2 or SOURCE3; the author particularly recommends the clear exposition of SOURCE3."
I am reviewing the MsC. dissertation of a friend of mine
You did not mention the country, but at least in Europe an MSc dissertation is a formality and there is nothing (or almost nothing) new in it.
You have to write it, and then forget it. Nobody cares about details and the reviewers have several of them to go through (which, otoh, means that a neat, readable dissertation will help). But nobody is going to check details such as the citations contents.
The country is Brazil. Brazil is not really known for the quality of our academic work, and also our regulations and norms are plagued with many problems for reasons that aren't in the scope of this question. However, what I saw from her advisor was well beyond anything that could be considered minimally acceptable, but on the other hand, as you and other answers stated, nobody really cares.
@VictorStafusa-BozoNaCadeia --- in our (European) case it is not really the quality of the academic world but rather the fact that we have a 5 years university education (roughly speaking) and the goal is to educate "doers", that is people who will use a very small part of what they learned. The final dissertation is a prerequisite for the diploma and people have been extensively tested during these 5 years; if this was me I would completely get rid of it as it is utterly useless in the context of what these people will do later.
@VictorStafusa-BozoNaCadeia (cont'd) This is of course completely different if you actually go the academia way, i.e. a PhD.
This is generally the case, but not always. Occasionally MsC dissertations do contain original results.
@GiuseppeNegro: sure, there are always such cases (mine was definitely not :)) but they are extra rare (I saw a page on them once but could not find it again). The amount of time and trees lost on these theses is staggering.
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18206 | Is there any information about the trend of journals preferences regarding Word over LaTeX?
Is there any information about the trend of journals' preferences regarding LaTeX and MS Word?
My main concern is computer engineering and linguistics fields of study.
I have no data to offer. My observation is that there are a few fields (mathematics, statistics, theoretical physics, theoretical computer science, etc.) where LaTeX is preferred or even required. For the rest, LaTeX is discouraged or even forbidden (in favor of Microsoft Word).
FWIW, my LaTeX papers were re-written into Word in some economics and statistics journals that they were published in. Proofreading them was a horrible, disheartening experience.
In Computer Engineering, the ACM and the IEEE offer LaTeX templates as well as Word templates for the majority of their journals. I am a great fan of LaTeX as both an author and an editor, however the steeper learning curve tends to put people off using it.
Perhaps the recent question: http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21972/journals-not-accepting-tex/21978?noredirect=1#comment46504_21978 is relevant to this one.
Both ACM and IEEE accept LaTeX publication format, which represents computer engineering to a large extent.1
Based on this list which categorizes publications in various fields by their 'friendliness' to LaTeX (primarily linguistics-related), many linguistics publications accept LaTeX (especially those related to computational linguistics / natural language processing).2
1 Cf. http://acm.org/publications/latex_style/ and http://ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/publishing/templates.html.
2 The list was last updated in January 2010.
I suppose you want to know the general acceptance of LaTeX to decide whether to invest effort in learning LaTeX. I feel LaTeX is the safe choice as, especially in Computer Engineering, LaTeX is widely used - ACM and IEEE have their own LaTeX submission templates. If, in the unlikely case that your publication venue requires Word only, there are LaTeX to Word converters available, e.g. latex2rtf and pandoc. The Tex Users Group (TUG) also maintains a list of converters. This thread and this one discuss conversion from LaTeX to Word.
@ff524 Thanks. I edited the answer to add a clarification. It still does not address the "trend" part of the question (which would be based on historical data of accepted formats). If the answer still seems inappropriate, please let me know if there is a way to simply convert it to a comment.
If you prefer to write a comment on the question instead, you can do so provided you have 50 rep and then delete your own answer.
There are numerous journals and conferences that only accept manuscripts in MS Word format. On the one hand, the journals and conferences that only accept LaTeX are rare.
Indeed, I don't remember any journal or conference that require LaTeX format exclusively.
Although not a journal, arXiv does not accept MS Word documents, and strongly prefers LaTeX submissions.
In CS, no serious journal would accept only Word.
In math, all serious journals require LaTeX.
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2156 | What can I do to get an admit in a Neuroscience program?
About me:
I work full time often more than 60 hours a week but I want to go to
college to be a neuroscientist.
I live in the US and have bachelors
degree in Chemical Engineering.
My goal is to get a PhD in
neuroscience.
I work in the IT department in a corporate but do
mostly documentation.
My plan is to begin by doing the following -
Preparing for Bio, Psyc and Math GRE subject tests
Subscribe to Scientific Weekly and Scientific Mind to get current research news
Read a college level Biology textbook to get some background on
Biology.
Can you please help me with the following -
Offer some advice if I am headed in the right direction.
What else will help me get into school/neuroscience research.
Any pointers on getting scholarship/aid.
Will I be able to get into a Masters program (with some pre-requisites) or do I need to start from undergrad?
Rather than close, I'd move to academia.SE.
Just to make it clear, you could add your current edu. background. Also you are asking about UG programs, right?
I'm pretty sure if SKA is studying GRE's then they're looking at graduate programs not undergrad.
@Bravo Thank you. I updated the question to add clarity.
@Ryan I am interested in getting into Neuroscience. It would be nice to get into Masters + Phd. But since I don't have any undergrad in Bio/Psyc I may need to take some courses at the undergraduate level.
I am looking for a similar change. I have undergrad in Computer Sci. and am looking to get into Neuroscience research. I guess @SKA wants to what are the best routes possible? Should one need to go back and start from undergrad or can people like us start somewhere in the middle (by taking some Biology pre-requisites etc.). Am I correct?
If you have a background in engineering then taking the biomedical engineering route to neuroscience might be a better option. Also, asking/answer neuroscience questions at cogsci.SE never hurts
I completed my PhD doing almost all my research in neuroscience, so I can give you a few tips from my personal experience.
Neuroscience is by nature a very cross-disciplinary field. I was coming from a psychology background, and my classmates had backgrounds ranging from biology to computer science to mathematics to pre-med. You will be at a disadvantage given your relative weakness in biology, but not a very significant one. Your math skills from the bachelors in engineering will serve you well as you learn about neural and systems dynamics, and the chemistry you learned will be of immeasurable use in understanding the biochemistry of the nervous system.
Given your background, you should definitely be able to apply directly to a MS or PhD program without having to retake (too much) undergraduate coursework. Do note that you may be able to get into the program with the caveat that you will be required to take some undergraduate courses during your first year; this was a common practice in my program. Given how long it takes to complete your PhD anyway, it should not delay you much, if at all.
Coming from an IT/engineering background, you may be interested in computational neuroscience, a subfield which attempts to understand how the brain works—both at a systems-level (i.e., whole brain) and cell-level (i.e., individual neurons)—using computational models. There are entire departments dedicated to such research; it's a fairly large field.
Your action items listed above are all excellent ideas, and should serve you very well. The only suggestion I would add is to simply google the term "neuroscience research labs" and begin browsing around the web to see what types of research is being performed. As you search, google again using narrower terms, to see how broad each subfield is. Consider writing down some of the schools that house labs that sound interesting to you for future reference.
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63917 | Origin of public defense of thesis
An article on Martin Luther's "Ninety-Five Theses" indicates that he posted the document on the church door according to "university custom". The reference included indicates various books. I recall hearing that this was the source of the public defense of some university degrees, but I cannot recall the source. Is this attribution correct or apocryphal?
That was more a church custom, to publish documents/announcements on the church door. The church near my home has a board on which e.g. church activities, upcoming christenings and so on, are regularly posted to the parishoners. Luther's theses became viral, reproduced by the (then very new) printing press, and what was a minor local complaint became the reformation. This has liitle (if any) relationship to thesis defenses.
Possible duplicate: http://academia.stackexchange.com/q/20542/19607
If it is according to university custom, then the practice must have existed before Luther.
Could you link to the article you read?
It wasn't an article. I recall hearing it somewhere, so that's why I asked the question.
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3080 | How to demonstrate mastery of courses not taken during undergraduation
In this answer, Anonymous Mathematician says, "You need to demonstrate that you have mastered the undergraduate material that is less relevant for computer science. For example, mathematical analysis along the lines of Rudin's Principles of Mathematical Analysis"
How can I demonstrate I have mastered materials from Rudin's Principles of Mathematical Analysis or Artin's Algebra for admission in grad school?
I find this a hard question because I regularly have to deal with applicants claiming they have certain skills and because these cases are difficult to deal with. For example, recently an applicant got a bad grade for one module and wrote they really were much better. I decided the applicant's examiners are in a much better position than I to judge the applicant's capabilities.
In your case you want to prove you have knowledge you didn't formally study in your undergraduate school. If so it's impossible to prove your skills unless (1) somebody from your undergraduate school is willing to write a letter of recommendation, or (2) the grad school are willing to ``examine'' you.
In the case of (1) this may work. Unfortunately, (2) means the graduate school have to do more work and I think this is unlikely.
Finally, if the graduate school require the skills, it seems to me they think it is reasonable. In that case, applicants should have taken modules that demonstrate these skills. If they haven't, it seems to me they're not the ideal candidates in the opinion of the graduate school.
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3682 | Why is it unusual to add a date to scientific papers?
Possible Duplicate:
Why is the date left out of some academic papers?
A scientific paper usually begins with a title, a list of authors with contact information and affiliation, and an abstract. There is usually no date to indicate when the paper was written or first published.
Yet, the first questions that comes to my mind when reading a new paper is often: When was it written? How current is this research? Can I expect that science has moved on since this was written?
However, when I suggested adding a date to the header of one of my own papers, my advisors reacted, surprisingly for me, as if this was a quite outlandish idea. The reason given was that it is "unusual". Is there any rationale behind this?
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7756 | Will a self-designed major lower my chance of acceptance for graduate school?
I am in the process of designing a major. However, I am worried that using a self-designed major can make an application look bad. As it stands, this potential major is about 70% computer science classes, 30% psychology and neuroscience classes. As such, this leads me to the questions:
Are these self-designed majors seen as "weird" or simply unacceptable?
In general, are self-designed majors unattractive for graduate admissions?
For computer science specifically, do majors matter?
Not trying to deter your goals, but why not just go with a tried and true major (Computer Science?) and do independent studies in your other interests?
As currently written, the question is a bit too specific to your personal situation.
@AustinHenley, thank you for your reply. That is the other option I was considering, and given Amy's answer, it's probably what I'll end up doing.
@geetar how realistic is it for you to pursue a CS degree with a minor in psych or vice versa? Or, how many psych/cogsci classes can you fit in while you pursue a CS major (declaring a minor may help you get into upper divisions courses, and you don't have to finish it!). That will give you some interesting things to talk about in your applications, and I think would cover the bases as far as concerns about CS foundations.
@Amy A CS major with a CogSci minor is definitely feasible, and that's probably what I'll be going with. I asked this question primarily because for the classes that wouldn't be in the self-designed major, but in the CS major, the instructors were terribly bad. "Terribly bad" as in they neglect their students, or they admit they don't fully understand what they're teaching, and compensate for that by making the class stupidly easy. If they're going to do that, I might as well take a summer class elsewhere instead, and study other things in college.
The disadvantage of having a "made it myself" degree is that in situations in which you are being compared with your peers (i.e. graduate admissions), you are comparing apples to oranges, and the admissions committee only know apples. A committee sees two applicants with CS degrees, even if they come from different universities, they can be somewhat certain that both have covered a certain number of bases. In these situations, your degree compared to a CS degree can look like 70% of a degree vs. 100%, even if you have a higher GPA (and this may read as "they have a higher GPA because they took psych classes instead of Operating Systems, Databases, Compilers, Networks, Computer Architecture, and Theory of Computation").
Admissions committees are less concerned with whether you took classes "related to your interests" than whether or not you passed or exceeded the same thresholds as your peers. If you're worried that people wont give your transcript a good look, most won't (especially if you end up entering the workforce). Don't get a degree in anything that will take more than 30 seconds to explain.
Look at all of the people who are doing the work that you some day want to do. Look at all the professors that you might someday want to work with. What did they get their degrees in? (here's a not-so-big secret: most professors hire students who remind them of themselves)
Get in touch with professors at research universities, admission committees, grad students, and get their opinions. Ask "What are you looking for in an incoming student?" People will be pretty forthcoming with you. Ask your professors if they have any contacts at research universities that you could talk with. Also, your professors all got into grad school - ask them how they did it. Find the youngest ones, they'll have the best idea what admissions are like these days.
What did they get their degrees in? — Not so fast. Just on my hallway, there are computer science professors with undergrad degrees in mathematics, electrical engineering, industrial engineering, and linguistics instead of computer science. Even my department head does not have a CS degree.
@JeffE - Does anyone in your department have a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies? That was my point.
Honestly, I've never heard of a "bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies". But the ex-linguistics major advises ex-EE majors, and the ex-EE major advises ex-math majors, and so on.... Professors don't just hire students who remind them of themselves.
Are these self-designed majors seen as "weird" or simply unacceptable?
In general, are self-designed majors unattractive for graduate admissions?
For computer science specifically, do majors matter?
Having a self-designed major is definitely not a problem for graduate admissions in computer science. We don't care what your major is; that's a stupid administrative hurdle. We only care what you've done.
On the other hand, an undergraduate transcript that does not cover the foundations of a computer science major might be a problem. My department commonly admits graduate students with non-CS undergraduate degrees, but if they haven't taken at least the core of a computer science degree and a few advanced CS classes, we're more likely to admit them to one of our master's programs instead of to the PhD program directly.
Your transcript will look different to different departments. The mixed major you describe might actually give you a slight advantage in departments with research programs in HCI and/or some branches of AI, or with interdisciplinary programs in (say) psychophysics or cognitive science. It might also hurt you at departments without researchers in those areas.
But the real issue, at least for PhD admissions, is whether the admissions committee is convinced that you have strong potential for research in computer science. At the top CS departments, what classes you've taken really a second-order concern (unless your grades are bad or there are glaring gaps). Your research potential and experience, as described in your statement and recommendation letters, are much more significant. If an applicant has a strong research record, and their research interests match our faculty, we may admit them without even looking at their transcript.
If you intend to go into an interdisciplinary grad program, it may actually help your chances of being admitted. For example, my Ph.D. is in Human-Computer Interaction and Computer Engineering. My research had a heavy psychology component. A hint of neuroscience in my background would have certainly benefited me. In HCI, the combination of CS, Psychology, and Neuroscience could make you a quite attractive candidate. Importantly though, it depends if you see yourself applying to one of the truly interdisciplinary programs vs. just applying to a CS program to research HCI. There may be other interdisciplinary programs out there as well that would be interested in such a combination, though HCI seems to be a fairly perfect fit with that background.
The concern I would have is that you are still early in your academic career and your grad school plans may change by the time you are done earning this degree. In this case, a traditional major would probably be a better choice. Keep in mind there are also options for double majors and minors that are well-known degrees as opposed to a build-your-own degree.
If you're at a school where self-designed majors are fairly common, there may be records of what sorts of jobs people with self-designed majors have gotten (and whether/where they went to grad school).
I believe this would hurt your chances. From the point of view of the admissions committee, there's no guarantee that the 70% of CS (or 30% of psych/neuro classes) that you chose to include in your custom major covers everything you'll need in graduate school, and you may have large holes in your fundamentals that would give you a distinct disadvantage.
A much better approach would be to simply choose a standard major and fill all your electives with a concentration of psychology and neuroscience courses. This would still give you multifaceted knowledge while still providing the admissions group a way of measuring you against your peers.
I'm just a grad student with no real insight into admissions processes, but I do believe that this wouldn't hurt you if you wanted to go into cognitive neuroscience. The reason is that neuroscience is such a multidisciplinary field that everyone eventually needs to learn something outside their field. Having that hurdle out of the way before beginning graduate studies would be seen as a plus (in my opinion), but it would be wise describe the combination of courses a bit in your letter of motivation.
Extrapolating from this, perhaps self-designed majors are less of a problem in multidisciplinary fields.
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46378 | Are there any academic data sets that force users to release any source code written to analyse them?
I am curious to know whether there exists any data set that forces users to publicly release any source code written to analyse it.
I'm not sure that such a restriction would even be legally enforceable.
@aeismail I am not sure either but I would tend to think that if a contract has to be signed to access the data set then one might add a clause to force users to release the code.
I am wondering if analyzing data to produce aggregate results would count as a "remix" for creative commons licenses.
@aeismail, if the dataset is only available under contract from the owner, then lots of things like this would probably be enforceable (cite the originator, publish the analysis code, etc.). I know of no data set that does this, but there's plenty of academic software whose licenses require citation of the authors.
So the owner of a proprietary data set would demand that software used to analyze it be open-source? Talk about hypocrisy!
@aeismail Can you define proprietary data? (The definition is a bit fuzzy to me)
@aeismail Why would it have to be proprietary data? What's stopping anyone from releasing a dataset under an open license that also enforces you to share code? Maybe in practice it's not feasible, but I don't see why you couldn't.
@FranckDernoncourt: Proprietary just means it's owned by somebody who is controlling access to it.
@RogerFan: Because there's always the possibility that you could use commercial tools to analyze it, and therefore you can't adhere to or enforce such a provision.
@aeismail Sure, but that just means that you can't use commercial tools to analyze it. That's a limitation the license imposes, but it doesn't mean the license is impossible or unenforceable.
@aeismail Thanks. A lot of data sets in the medical field can only be accessed through a contract typically asking researchers to respect patients' privacy, medical researchers are typically fine with it even though it means the data set is proprietary. Otherwise, it may be possible as Roger indicates to add some provision in the data set license without requiring users to sign anything, so as to avoid making the data set proprietary.
@aeismail As for the use of commercial tools to analyze, it might be made possible by defining "source code written to analyse it" as code written specifically to analyze the data set, not general toolkit like Matlab. I agree that what I am saying is vague, that's why I was looking for such data sets to see how it was handled :)
@aeismail, of course it's hypocritical, but you didn't ask about that, you asked about enforceability. I know of no datasets that do this, but that doesn't mean that someone couldn't try.
Open data licenses apparently do exist, for instance, Open Data Commons maintains the ODbL. I don't think that this has a restriction on code used for analysis, but it does put a share-alike restriction on any derivative datasets.
If you publicly use any adapted version of this database, or works produced from an adapted database, you must also offer that adapted database under the ODbL.
This essentially ensures that the derived database (or steps used to create it) used for analysis must be shared, though not necessarily the analysis itself.
I imagine that you could modify this license to mandate that you share the steps used to create any work produced (i.e. the analysis code) as well under some kind of open license, but I am not a lawyer, and I did not find an existing license that does this in my (short) search. In particular, this could easily be troublesome if you use closed-source third-party software in your analysis (e.g. Stata, Matlab), though people have overcome similar issues with GPL licenses.
The data user agreement for this dataset (MIMIC/eICU) requires users to share their code. https://physionet.org/pnw/a/manage-duas :
If I openly disseminate my results, I will also contribute the code used to produce those results to a defined PhysioNet repository (physionet.org/physiotools/repository/) that is open to the research community.
I don't think that would work in the US, where facts cannot be copyrighted, so -- once you publicly publish data -- there's nothing stopping anybody else from republishing it in a different form. That might be plagiarism, but you can usually get around that by citing the source of your data.
Facts can not be copyrighted but a collection of facts can be, and if they can show that you mined their database they can indeed sue and win. (Common practice is to selectively add a few deliberately erroneous data points in a place where they don't cause trouble, to act as. A "smoking gun" to demonstrate the copyright violation)
US federal law says trap streets are not copyrightable (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_street#Legal_issues) and that facts stolen from other sources don't by themselves create copyright violations (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trivial_Pursuit#Fred_Worth_lawsuit). However, obtaining facts in certain ways might be illegal, including data mining another database: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_scraping#Legal_issues
US law continues to evolve in this area. Understand copyright, and understand that a license agreement is a contract.
@keshlam A collection of facts cannot be copyrighted in the US. The selection and arrangement of those facts can be, but only if there is at least a bare minimum amount of creativity in selecting and arranging those facts.
Also, the dataset does not have to be public. Many datasets are available by application. It could be a contractual condition of being given access to the data is that you have to share the code used to analyse it.
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802 | How to assess the chance to get accepted to a master's program in the United States?
Currently I am a student in the Netherlands following a bachelor program in computer science. I am currently considering applying for a master's program in the United States. It is hard to asses my chances, because of the large difference between the systems in the Netherlands and the United States.
There are a few factors which probably affect my chances.
I cannot directly compare my grades with grades used in the United States. In the Netherlands we use a 1-10 absolute grading system. I currently have a grade average of 8.0, only had 7s, 8s and 9s.
One thing I noticed is that in the United States a bachelor program is not naturally followed by a master's program, unlike in the Netherlands where this is the default.
The duration of a bachelor program in the Netherlands is three instead of four years.
Currently I do not plan on applying for a Ph.D position.
Do these factors significantly effect chances to be admitted to a master's program in the United States and how do I asses my chance to get accepted?
I don't think that there's a huge enough discrepancy between the technical content of the European three-year bachelor's and the four-year American bachelor's to make that a big concern.
However, where you may run into problems is that your GPA might not be considered competitive for a top program, if it's only in the 8.0's out of 10. (It might get translated to a 3.3 or so, which would be problematic.) What will make up for this is some statement that you're near the top of your CS cohort, and good letters of recommendation will also help.
Where you'll also need to do some research is on whether the departments you want to apply to offer terminal master's programs; if not, it will make it a little more difficult, as the expectation would be that if you are admitted to the master's program, you will then continue on to the PhD program thereafter. (At such schools, a stipend is typically offered during the master's phase of the program; at schools that offer a terminal master's, the funding sources for the master's degree-only candidates is usually quite distinct, if it is available at all.)
That was my concern because my average is actually high for the program, but is not translatable to a GPA. Most students have around 7.0 on average and 6 is the minimum acceptable grade. Actually according to this article om Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_grading_in_the_Netherlands an 8 would be equal to an A, I doubt however that institutions will accept this conversion.
As I said, there are a few ways to get around this: a transcript that shows your relative positioning within the cohort, or statements in your letters of recommendation talking about your performance (showing that you are near the top of your class). As someone who reviews applications, I know that I'm willing to give a pass to low grades if one of the referees tells me that's the standard at the university the applicant attends.
Although OP asked about the US specifically, I thought I'd pitch in a Canadian comment. In Canada it is much more common to have research-based and funded Masters programs in CS and related fields (without the expectation that you will continue on to PhD in the same institution).
In my own department, we compare GPAs with other applicants from the same school. Over several decades, we've built up a reasonable (but imperfect) mapping from raw GPAs to "normalized" GPAs. In particular, we recognize 8.0 from the Netherlands as reasonably high. We also look more carefully at recommendation letters to help us calibrate grades from unfamiliar schools.
@JeffE: I thought that might be the case, but since I didn't have direct knowledge, I didn't want to state something as fact without stronger evidence. But thanks for the confirmation of my expectations! (Over here, we do admissions on a much more localized basis, so the previous school approach doesn't work as well.)
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34837 | Is it possible to study in China without knowing Chinese?
Is it possible to enroll into and complete a graduate school in China while having only English language skills, without speaking Chinese at all? In particular, I am interested in (theoretical) physics.
I would note that English is the de facto international language of physics, to the point where any practicing Chinese physicist will be proficient in English. Many Chinese graduate students receive at least some of their instruction in English. So you can do physics research in China without knowing Chinese. But living in China without knowing Chinese is a different matter altogether. (I don't recommend it.)
No way. You couldn't even order at McDonald or KFC without knowing Chinese CHARACTERS let alone spoken chinese
@MathNewb Actually... you can. IF you say you want a Hamburger and a Coca Cola in English, they will get it for you. The words for most fast food are bastardized. Even KFC is pronounced Ken Ta2 Ji1 (literally rhymes with Kentucky!).
Why live in China if you don't wish to interact with the locals?
@DavidZ “any practicing Chinese physicist will be proficient in English” — from my experience, I have to disagree with that, for any reasonable value of “proficient”.
@xebtl well, if your experience includes Chinese physicists who are not proficient in English, I will have to defer to that. All the Chinese physicists I've worked with are proficient in English.
@DavidZ So has the only one I have worked with, but I have heard some others speak English such that I could not have worked with them for lack of a common language. Not to blame them, I am sure learning English coming from Chinese is difficult.
The point is just that the level of English proficiency implied by being a working physicist (even a successful one) is, in my experience, quite modest. That concerns talks, meetings in person, but also papers in peer-reviewed and copy-edited (?) journals. (And of course it concerns people from all over, not just the Chinese!)
If you include Hong Kong as part of China, the answer is Yes but limited to Hong Kong. English is an official language of Hong Kong. Universities in Hong Kong all use English as the media of teaching and the common language for research is English. No Physics courses are taught in languages other than English and no faculty members are not proficient in English. See this official website for reference. The best are University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Otherwise the choices are limited to those high-ranking universities in China such as Peking University and Tsinghua University. In Tsinghua, most faculty members use English for publication purpose but not at all for communications in research. Most teaching and administration stuff are in Chinese. So you have to learn chinese at least in conversational level to survive a Phd there.
Absolutely. Here is just one example.
There are many trans-national programs all over Asia (China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Myanmar, etc.). Many of these programs are from partner universities in the UK or the US (and other countries). In these programs, the language of instruction and assessment is English. I teach in one such program (not the one linked above and it is related to business, not physics).
Can you get by without being able to communicate in the local language? That really depends on you. For example, if you are a social person you will really need to be able to communicate in the local language. While everyone (staff, faculty, students) at the university (in your department) will speak English others outside the school often struggle (as you would likely struggle picking up Chinese if you lived in the west).
If you are the kind of person who prefers isolation, then the local language is not so critical. Depending on where your city, you can usually find stores where you can buy most of the food you like (that is, western food) and even a place which will rent to you.
Some schools may well require you to learn the local language. The link above clearly shows it is offered (and you should take advantage of it). If you want to actively avoid learning Chinese, then you need to make sure the school you select does not require it. A quick email should sort that out.
Thanks for the answer. I truly need this info from a Westerner in Asia.
@scaaahu You only need to ask. :-)
As an academic who has traveled to quite a few places where I had no idea (despite some study) of the ambient language, but/and also to quite a few places where I did have an adequate idea of the ambient language...
... and in contrast to the sort of wishful thinking that, for example, leads some tourists to say "oh, everyone speaks English there"... and leads some academics and business people to claim that English is the universal language of ... :
The psychological/cognitive load/burden of disconnectedness from the environment (apart from jokes about starving because one cannot ask for food) is highly non-trivial.
To be in a bubble for a week or so is maybe-tolerable, but for a year or more... I'd not do it. Either find within yourself the incentive to learn the language at least to the level of an 8-year-old, or don't go. The quasi-intellectual, quasi-independent-of-environment pose that has some mythological cachet is not good, in my experience. The people who fare best, in all ways, are those positively interested in the ambient language... and the culture depicted in it, etc.
I don't think so, I am a medical student at China and it is compulsory for us to take Chinese Language. My friends doing their post-graduate degree already know Chinese, so I think it was a requirenment to apply.
Other than that, there are some universities which take Chinese into account but without having it in the actual degree. So just to help you while you're staying at China.
Would you tell us how much Chinese language do you need in order to live in China (such as shopping foods, taking bus transportation, etc)? Would you think one year Chinese language learning class would be enough? or more than 1 year? Thank you for your answer! I have been waiting for somebody having your background to tell us.
Sure. You only need simple Chinese base, here they teach us the basic life simple things (buying, selling, greetings, communication easily, etc...) and I do study it alone in my spare time. One year of Chinese language is perfect and I don't think you'll need more, plus, you'll get used to it as you live here for couple of years. You're welcomed.
Short answer:
Yes for other majors. Probably not for PhD in physics (you need to search).
Long answer:
Over the past ten years, many university from US and UK launch joint institution, ranging from summer language program to university with PhD program, in China with local universities. You could search for NYU shanghai, Duke kunshan, Michigan shanghai, Nottingham Ningbo, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University etc (The words you do not recognize are name of cities where the university is located in China, except the last one since I forgot where it is).
The good news is that English is the official communication language in those colleges.
Another good news is that they welcome (truly) international students, since almost all the students are Chinese.
Something you may not be interested in:
I do not know where the OP comes from. If OP comes from Africa, Chinese government provide special program with language program for those who can not speak Chinese.
Comment on comment:
What most Chinese people speak and their English language skills are irrelevant to the question. Most of the time you would communicate with your professors and fellows, other than some random guys on street.
Well... All I'm saying is that if you study in a foreign country then inevitably you will have to talk with the locals at some points. It makes your life considerably harder if you don't speak Chinese. It's not like doing a PhD is not already hard enough...
While the last paragraph of the answer may be technically correct, in that it may be possible to live in China without ever talking to anyone other than your colleagues at the university, it's a lousy way to live. I consider it highly misleading at best to say that it's irrelevant what most Chinese people speak.
That is a minor problem but not a difficulty that actually prevent OP pursuing degree in China. If it is worth mention, I would argue learning how to eat Chinese food everyday is important, since OP is inevitably eat Chinese food (almost) everyday. It makes your life considerably harder if you don't eat Chinese food.
Ok, ok. The language skill of OP would not improved after he come to China, and eventually he dies miserably several days later because he cannot speak Chinese with staff in cafe.
Thanks for your answer. Reading your answer, it is unclear for me why you mention that the physics major needs knowledge of local language in your short answer.
Depending on your home country, you'll probably end up with a scholarship.
Most foreigners coming to an average run of the mill Chinese university would qualify for such. It would be a feather in the cap of XXX Agricultural Normal University to have you as an honored graduate student, so much so they would fork out $$$ for you to come there.
www.csc.edu.cn is an amazing portal for higher education in China and can search by
"English-taught" programs. I'm sure there's one for you, China is a large place, many cities and many universities. And there's Hong Kong (and Macau) to go to for English taught programs at a higher price.
Many a student have come to the land of China with zero Chinese but stuck it out and made friends and money. Inevitably, you'll pick up Chinese along the way I'm sure.
I am a postdoc living in China since almost 2 years. I came here without knowing any one phrase in Chinese.
My answer to the question is: No, it is currently impossible to study in Mainland China for years in a row without learning any form of Chinese.
Apart from the fact that few locals are proficient in English, almost all daily, and probably administrative communication runs in Chinese, and automated digital translators will not provide always a satisfactory solution. Surely local students and deputies will help in the beginning but after a certain time they will become less accessible.
Moreover, Chinese comes as a package: one cannot truly learn the culture without understanding some of the language and vice-versa. Therefore interacting below the surface with locals will depend on learning some of the language even if not at any functional level.
I cannot speak for Macau, Hong Kong, or Taiwan as I have not lived in these areas. I suspect it should be doable in these places, particularly in Hong Kong.
Short answer, possible, but I highly recommend you against it.
Generally, US students are welcome to universities or research institutes in China, especially the top ones (Tsinghua U, Peking U, SJTU, ...) in Beijing and Shanghai. You would get used to everyday life in less than a semester, without learning much Chinese.
However, physics is not a typical major to do so in this case. Top universities have many young professors with their PhD or postdoc done in US, as well as part time professors from top US universities. But there's almost no pure English physics graduate program in main land China.
Maybe you will meet some difficulties at first. You will find difficult to listen to the class and do homework in Chinese. But at Chinese university, usually you can find Engish text book in the library and your classmates will be willing to teach you Chinese. Teacher's PPT sometimes uses English too. As long as you study hard, you will be accustomed to.
Generally, one can enroll in some graduate programs in China that are taught in English， and in some cases, even if the program is not offered in English, some courses may still be taught in English, so there might be a possibility to still accept you. This will depend on the university and programs. For example, at my university some general undergraduate and master degree courses offered to Chinese students are taught in Chinese while some others are taught in English (it depends on the professor and topic). Besides, I know some Vietnamese Master degree students who did a master in computer science in Changsha without speaking Chinese... and another doing a PhD in computer science in Harbin without speaking Chinese. And there is some post-doc researchers and professors who also do not speak Chinese. I don't know for physics but if you look around, I think you can find. But of course, if you know some basic Chinese, you will better enjoy the life in China. At least, you should try to learn how to buy stuff, ask for the price of something or ask for directions using Chinese, to make your life easier! There is also some universities in China, where taking some Chinese training is mandatory for graduate studies. For example, in Xi'an Jiatong Univ. some students told me that for PhD they had to take 8 months of Chinese class on the first year. But in the end, they found that it was useful for daily life. Also if you speak Chinese, I heard that you may more easily get scholarships from the Chinese government perhaps for your studies.
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28324 | Why is a tenure defense talk necessary?
Once a tenure-track professor finishes their initial 6 year evaluatory period, I imagine their publication/teaching/grant record should pretty much speak for itself to a tenure committee. Apparently, as I have recently found out, some departments additionally require a tenure defense talk at the end of this period. It seems to me that this talk is something akin to a dissertation defense, only on a grander scale of all the research I've done over the initial 6 year period.
But my question is:
Why is it even necessary?
What could be expected from such a talk that wouldn't be readily and easily obtainable from the submitted tenure package? Is it just a formality or does it really hold an important weight in the tenure committee's final evaluation to keep me?
Should I just rehash and summarize what is already in my tenure submission package? Is there something more to it that I should emphasize in my tenure defense talk?
A guess from someone not in Academia--can you synthesize your research and show how it's all related and where it's going to go in the future?
The question is not so much 'Why is it necessary?' but 'Do you want tenure?' If yes, then do your best at it. Joke apart, the point is to see if you are capable of doing an interesting, well-constructed talk that will convince them you're the right choice.
@shane: "Knowing there is a trap is the first step in evading it" - Frank Herbert
I haven't heard of such a thing, which suggests a simple answer: an oral tenure defense is not necessary. But regardless of whether it's necessary in some abstract sense, it might be a requirement wherever you end up.
It's possible that your tenure defense would be a grueling affair, with the audience trying to poke holes in your research or dispute its significance, but I very much doubt it. At worst you could expect the same treatment as an outside candidate giving an interview talk.
The tenure defense is presumably intended to give you a chance to explain your research program, specifically what you have done and why it matters. This is in principle redundant (your tenure file should already do this), but adding an oral presentation could help. It's often inspiring to see someone present their own work, and it can be valuable to have a chance to ask questions. In cases where tenure seems likely, the presentation could also play the role of an inaugural lecture, highlighting for the department the work of someone who is about to become a permanent colleague.
This practice seems uncommon enough that I doubt there's a clear standard for exactly what it means. Anyone considering taking a tenure-track job with a tenure defense presentation at the end should ask how it works at that particular institution.
I imagine their publication/teaching/grant record should pretty much speak for itself to a tenure committee.
Publication records can speak surprisingly unclearly. A non-expert reading through someone's papers won't necessarily appreciate their novelty or how they contribute to the big picture, and may not even understand clearly how they fit together into a coherent research program. Keep in mind that most people evaluating a tenure case will be non-experts: even other department members will typically have different specialties, and that's not counting university-wide committees or administrators.
One crucial part of preparing a compelling tenure case is sorting out these issues and framing everything appropriately. This is done partly by the candidate, partly by whoever is overseeing the case (typically the department head), and partly by the letter writers.
So from this perspective, something more than just a binder full of papers is definitely necessary. However, the added context is typically supplied through written documents; if there is an oral presentation, then it is just to supplement the written file.
+1. The time to deal with such a question is when you are interviewing with, or considering a job offer from, an institution that actually has such a rule. At that time you can find the formal rules, and ask (preferably multiple people) how it works in practice in that department. Since such institutions seem to be rare (if they exist at all), it's unlikely that you'll interview for a job at one, much less take it, so the question is very likely to be moot.
I've not seen any case (in my U.S. -based experience in mathematics) where the junior faculty person up for tenure had to present a summary of their own work, in effect "defending" it as one "defends" the Ph.D. thesis.
However, I have witnessed many cases where a more senior person with expertise in the tenure candidate's work was asked to describe/explain it, or, really, its significance, to the tenure committee (prior to having the full math faculty vote). But in all the cases I've seen, from both sides, the tone was informational, not confrontational or adversarial. And the candidate was absent.
The necessity of that sort of tenure-defense talk is exactly that the body of work itself is hard to understand, the letters of recommendation are inevitably severely tainted by political gamesmanship and circumlocution and conceivably bias, and, thus, in the end, a local opinion+explanation from someone trusted by the tenure committee is highly desirable... despite all the formal procedures.
I'm inclined to wonder whether the question's premise is partly based on inaccurate gossip.
At my university, it's standard practice for professors who are up for tenure to give a talk. However, it's no more a "defense" than a typical PhD "defense" - there is hardly any offense.
@AndrewMao, in a friendly atmosphere, this could be a good thing! One should be aware of one's colleagues' work... and we should practice communicating in ways intelligible to our immediate colleagues... :)
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27087 | Why do national laboratory presentations contain so much info per slide?
I've seen many, many examples of scientific presentations from the National Laboratories in which virtually every slide is oversaturated with information. If this were an isolated event, I wouldn't have given it any thought. But I've noticed this pattern in presentations over many years from among presenters hailing from US national laboratories. Though my field is computational science, I've seen talks from national laboratory scientists in other fields and their presentations also have this same characteristic.
In academia, I've been taught to keep slides as simple as possible, with as little info per slide as necessary. My understanding is a presentation should be though of as an "advertisement" for the paper to be published. Thus, presentation slides should be designed to preserve the audience's interest. One method of keeping the audience interest is to not overwhelm them with too much information all at once (e.g., not too much text and not too many pictures in a single slide). I presume this is universally true, regardless of discipline.
However, the overwhelming majority of national laboratory presentations that I've seen seem to fill up virtually every available space with as much information as possible. Why do presentations from national laboratories tend to contain so much information per slide? How does this meet the needs of their target audience?
Are they in the same field as you? Or are they working mostly with physicists? Experimental physics slides are dense.
@noahsnyder: i'm not in physics at all, but my observation applies generally over all applied national laboratory disciplines.
But many national labs are focused on physics, even if they also have people in other fields.
It really isn't just national labs. It's commonplace in some fields, in fact sparse, easy to read slides may lead to your talk not being taken seriously unless you're a keynote speaker. It's made worse by some conferences imposing a limit on the number of slides.
Because no one thinks intentionally about the visual display of information. Old habits die hard.
Does this apply to one specific national laboratory, or have you seen presentations from several? In either case, it would help to clarify that in the question.
It would be nice to see an example or two here. Otherwise it's actually just anecdotal.
Let me try to answer for the tendency in my own discipline (particle physics) where we have this problem across the board (i.e. universities too).
Much like questions and answers on a Stack Exchange site, those slides are expected to form a resource for future investigators. We know there is too much there for anyone to absorb in the meeting, but we also know that more people will dig these slides out of the archive over the next year and study them then actually attended the meeting in the first place.
Yes, in an ideal world there would be a technical report and a deck of slides, but in fact there are only the slides.
Personally I try pretty hard not to do this, and the result is a lot of backup slides and a lot of little URLs hanging around the bottom of the slides.
As an aside, I think that PowerPoint and similar polished slideware makes stuffing them (over-)full way too easy. I use a LaTeX base for mine (just the old slides class with my own library of macros for a long time, but I've started using Beamer) and these tools encourage a better style.
Alas, I know all the tricks to squeeze on just one more thing.
+1 Same thing in our universities for advanced courses. Often, the lecture slides are at the same time a large part of the study material available to students, so they need to contain a bit more than just pictures and keywords, as may be better for the lecture in itself.
On the other hand, LaTeX makes it too easy to overuse equations. ;-)
My guess is that it's a cousin of the same problem in the armed forces, which has been a problem for two decades. (Note one link is from 2000, the other from 2010.)
On another level, the culture of the national laboratories has been trending in a more corporate direction, and many of the presentations that they need to give have limits on the number of slides to be presented. Managers want the whole "story" told in a handful of slides, which leads to over-compression of information.
From memory, the Rogers Commission Report into the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger also observed that critical information may have been missed because it was in sub-sub-bullets of very dense presentations. (I can't find it, now, but Chapter V contains an example of such a slide.) So, if my memory is correct, this problem was already being observed in the mid-1980s.
I think it is just presentation style. We have the same in our universities: hey, let's put 3 topics and 5 figures on this slide, so everyone will be impressed! I don't say that everyone should talk like Steve Jobs or the TED presenters, but I believe that presentations should comply some basic rhetoric and design principles.
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5223 | Web application for managing a library of papers
Possible Duplicate:
Keeping track of bibliography references for an entire research group
Is there a web application which can help the researchers at my group collaboratively manage a collection of scientific papers?
Desired features are:
easily upload pdfs and edit bibliographic info
query the database
export the database (or a subset) as a BibTeX file
define subsets/folders of publications (e.g., all papers related to a project, all papers by members of the group etc.)
should be accessible only for members
should be hosted on our own servers
There are many… In fact, there's a whole Wikipedia page on that topic, which includes many of the criteria you are looking for. You can also check the table in this nice blog post, although it's a bit dated.
In particular, you can investigate: Aigaion, Bebop, refbase, and phpBibliography.
We have a set of PHP scripts which generate output akin to http://www.sat.ltu.se/publications/ . We don't export to bibtex, because bibtex is the input!
Bebop looks nice.
Mendeley, citeulike. Check this question out and the answers.
I'm not looking for a web service like Mendeley or citeulike. It should be self-hosted.
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10695 | Splitting publication fees among coauthors
What are accepted ways of splitting publication fees among coauthors, when authors are from different research groups and potentially even different institutions? Especially with open access publication, the fees tend to come out at a substantial amount.
In general, the corresponding author seems to be responsible to the journal for the payment of the fee. I wonder what would be commonly acceptable agreements with coauthors to split such fees?
There is already a general question on splitting collaboration costs here, but the current answer does not apply to publication fees, and I am really interested in this specific case.
I think an issue like this should be sorted out early on in the collaboration. Obviously one would expect the first author (team) to cover (most of) the costs, possibly sharing according to input (author order) but in general: whoever has money should use it.
@PeterJansson: Of course the first part doesn't apply to fields (like math) where authors are unordered/alphabetized.
I understand this question is different from collaboration cost. I think you can use the same concept. First, try the institution(s). Their reputation benefits from the publication. They should share some cost. Second, authors with full time salary may be able to (not necessarily willing to) share the cost. If still not enough, divide the cost evenly among the coauthors. I don't have personal experience with this case. Only my two cents.
In a field where there are journals that are very good and do not have a substantial fee, I would hope that the author who is pushing for the open access journal would foot the bill.
I think your question is a little backwards: All ways of splitting the publication fees are acceptable. You might run into some problems with your grant officer about transferring money around, but in the end they will get over it.
The more important question in my opinion is: What behaviour is acceptable from you and your co-authors. I believe the answer is to be nice since these are your co-authors after all. I wouldn't be too put off if a co-author refused to contribute to open access fees or if I was asked to contribute 1/N of the fees for an N author paper where I was a tertiary author and currently under-funded.
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9957 | How many manuscripts should I agree to handle as an associate editor?
I've been asked by a peer-reviewed journal whether I'd be willing to act as an associate editor for them. The question How to act as an editor? has some useful hints as to the tasks associated with that. But I am still wondering how much time these tasks would typically take.
The form where I accept to be an editor allows me to indicate how many papers per month I'd be willing to handle, and I am not sure what number to give there. My questions is how much time I should expect to take for each paper in the first or second year as editor?
I would start by asking the journal rep how many manuscripts (MS) other have agreed to, or what is typical. I would think that is what the journal reps would consider "normal". You probably have a sense of whether they need you for something very specific, in which case a lower number might be quite acceptable. Once you know what they tyically load on their editors, you should think hard about whether you find the workload acceptable. There is usually no guarantee that the workload is evenly distributed unless all editors are able to handle pretty much all submitted MS.
As editor you will likely need to at least browse the MS when you receive it, chase after persons willing to review, read the reviews and the MS carefully to provide feedback to the author, review the authors revisions, poissibly run the MS around again and then make a suggestion or decision on accept/reject. All this is within some time frame and chasing late reviews and authors who do not return revisions will take some time. I can also add that it will be the problematic papers that will take up most of your time, the good ones usually are not difficult to handle. You thus do not know how much time you will spend on any particular MS. A really good one could take half a day in total; a poor may take at least a day or more. So having slightly scared you with this, I will add that the work also has potentially tremendous rewards (reading brand new research and getting in contact with new persons).
So, in short, how many MS per month is really impossible to answer, it will strongly depend on how you feel about the work and how you think you can accommodate the workload in your own time. I will leave you with this slightly unsatisfactory answer, but urge you to try to get a sense of what the journal expects and what they consider normal. You could also ask to how much time they think the workload corresponds.
This varies wildly. It depends on the journal, how many submissions it receives, whether it has a full-time Chief Editor, whether it has one or more senior Editors below the Chief, whether Associate Editors receive any payment, and whether your subdiscipline is a popular one.
I'm an (unpaid) Associate Editor for two journals. For one, I handle about 6 manuscripts per year, for the second, I have been an Assoc Editor for 6 months so far and have yet to receive any submissions (it's a new journal so it isn't receiving many yet, especially not in my subfield). A colleague is an Assoc. Editor for another journal, for which she receives a substantial honorarium, and she handles 15-20 manuscripts each year.
The only way to find out is to ask the Editor who has invited you to join.
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7589 | How can my colleague use our joint results in his PhD thesis?
Over the past two years, I've been collaborating with a PhD student. He did experimental work, and I did modeling and data analysis based on his experiments. Now that my colleague is about to write up his PhD thesis, in which way can he ethically include the modeling and data analysis results in his thesis?
I don't need any of these results for a thesis on my own, and we are currently writing a paper on this together, so there are no worries from my side about misuse of these results.
There is the related question Are overlapping dissertations ethically acceptable?, but I am more explicitly asking about how my colleague can present the results which are more based on my work in a good way.
I think this is indeed a duplicate of Are overlapping dissertations ethically acceptable?, because the answers there, do answer your question very well.
@EnergyNumbers I'm not sure: the first answer says “it's okay to do it”, the second one is not exactly helpful, the third one is about division of contributions (which is trivial if A did experimental work and B did modeling). So, I think the question is different here (and silvado is aware of the linked question, and asks for explicit writing advice which is not treated in the linked question).
Don't worry, be happy (and be truthful). There's nothing wrong in including in one's thesis stuff that you didn't do yourself, as long as the delimitation between what the candidate did and what others did is clearly marked. And by that, I mean no lies, but also no half-truths either.
Basically, the presentation will thus depend on the interaction between you two and his part in the analysis (which ranges from “nothing” to “he suggested ideas that I tried” to “he ran my code himself”). In the first case, he could say:
As part of project X, I sent these results to Dr. John Doe at Big U. for him to perform his widely acclaimed topological Bayesian half-filter analysis. This analysis revealed that …
There's nothing wrong with presenting results obtained by others from your work, as long as they shed light into the phenomenon you're studying. I once had a student who published a work, which was built upon by another group during his PhD, and he presented this at some length (and critiqued their extension) in his thesis. That's part of the whole story.
If the collaboration was closer, just make sure the thesis clearly indicates its nature and the contribution of everyone. Then, no fuss!
F'x's answer is good. I would just add that your collaborator should check his institution's thesis guidelines. Mine had specific directions on how joint work should be included in the thesis, such as an extra paragraph explaining who did what part of the work.
Of course, your collaborator's advisor should also be in the loop.
+1 It's always good to be clear. In my field, this is simple: our results are theorems, so you can basically with each of them list, who did what. Well, if it's too complicated, the best idea would be IMHO to include an explanatory section in your thesis, stating which part precisely is your work.
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51867 | Former professor wants an update to write a recommendation letter, should I include a bad grade?
I studied physics and computer science as an undergrad, got a master's in computer science, and now am applying for a second master's in engineering physics. So, I have emailed one of my old physics professors for a recommendation letter. He agreed to write one, but has requested more information to do so seeing as though I haven't been in touch since I went to grad school. He didn't specify any particular items, but another letter writer has requested my statement of purpose draft, coursework/research highlights, resume, and unofficial transcripts, so I'm assuming he'd appreciate the same. Because he is from a different school and department and hence unfamiliar with their curriculum, I was planning to send a list of my grad school classes and grades with descriptions included rather than the unofficial transcript which only includes the course number and a brief, generic title.
I'm happy to oblige, except for one thing: I failed a class in grad school. This is explained by a medical situation at the time; I took the next semester off, it is since resolved, I did well in all my classes afterwards, etc. - it is a non-issue now.
My question is, should I include this black mark when I send him materials? It is not something that affected any of my work in undergrad and will not affect anything in the future, so I'd think it's not really relevant. I'd rather not tell yet another person about how I failed a class, especially someone who I haven't talked to in a while and have asked to write good things about me.
If you don't include the bad with the good, then you haven't provided a transcript – and you haven't satisfied his request. (Besides, if you "did well in all" your classes afterwards, he should notice that. Plenty of folks have a misstep or two on their transcript.)
True, and I did send the transcript and an explanation to the professor who requested it. This one didn't specifically ask for a transcript - his email only stated that he would be glad to write, and "I look forward to more information." I asked this question because I am embarrassed by the incident and prefer not to discuss it if not necessary. But hopefully the A+'s afterwards will make up for it :)
You are focusing on the little pimple on your nose instead of your nice hair, eyes, etc., and the pleasing effect of the whole. Just attach an unofficial transcript. If he has a concern with the little pimple, then give him a brief explanation with a neutral tone.
Why is "old" relevant?
@Michael I suspect he means "Old profressor" as in former/noncurrent professor (not as in elderly). Indicating that it has been as while since he studied under the professor.
@Oxinabox oh obviously. Maybe using "former" would have been more clear :)
"I'd think it's not really relevant" -- if the professor agrees then including it won't affect the letter and you have the benefits described in the answers of truthfully saying "here's my transcript". Whereas if the professor disagrees then maybe you should rethink what you consider relevant, or who you should ask for letters of recommendation, or both...
@Michael Oxinabox is correct (although I am a 'she') :) I updated the title to make that more clear.
Actually, I don't understand the point of the request. Should not the reference letter reflect the professor's knowledge of the student which should stop at some point in the past. Why would the professor comment in any way on the student's MS experience? Confused.
I would err on the side of being honest, as you have a legitimate reason for why one specific class was an issue. Whereas that is explainable, it would be a mark against your character if he discovers that you did not give him a complete list of a classes after he requested it.
Thanks for your answer, this is a good point. I don't really expect him to see a complete transcript, but you are right that there is really no reason not to mention it (other than my own embarrassment).
My question is, should I include this black mark when I send him materials?
Yes, you should definitely include it or, at the very least, make it clear to him if you aren't providing a complete list of courses from grad school. The danger is if he thinks it's complete and makes statements based on that in his letter, for example that you never received a grade less than an A-. Then he looks clueless (which is bad for him) and the admissions committee assumes he doesn't know what he's talking about and discounts any other good things he says (which is bad for you).
You can just give him the same explanation you're planning to give the admissions committee, and it shouldn't be a problem.
It hadn't occurred to me that he might comment on my grad school performance, since he only knew me in undergrad, but that is a very good point. Thanks for your answer.
You aren't applying to the professor. You're using a letter from the professor to help where you are applying. He's writing the letter to help you. Expect him to have some consideration for what to say about the grade (or even whether to bring it up).
If the people who are going to judge your application are going to see that grade, then it's incredibly useful if someone who is on your side can say something about it. So yes - of course send it to the professor and give a brief explanation. What do you think would be worse as someone reviewing applications: seeing that the student had failed a course and reading a letter of recommendation that says: "I know this student is hard working and talented, but struggled during a serious illness that is now resolved", or seeing a letter that says "without exception this student has always performed well."
You should also think about sending a doctor's note along with your application. Have a quick note saying, "Please disregard my performance in semester X. I became ill (see attached doctor's note). I took time off to recover. The illness has been dealt with. As you can see from my later grades my performance since then has been much improved."
If your full transcript will be available to the recipients of the letter, you should certainly send it to the author of the letter. At best, "inconsistent messages" in the letter and the transcript might cause delays and/or confusion. At worst, they would be a straightforward and objective reason not to consider your application at all, especially if there are plenty of other well-qualified applicants.
It would be sensible to add a note stating the medical circumstances to both sets of documentation, of course.
Yes. No professor in the world expects a student to have had stellar grades in every class. If he asked for your transcripts, he wants to see it all... not just the highlights.
You already know this... or you wouldn't be struggling with it.
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197695 | Do spelling changes count as translations for citations when using different English dialects?
Please assume I have a direct quote that contains: "found in the neighborhood". I wish to use this as a direct quote in my paper.
My spelling checker flagged on "neighbourhood" since I am using Canadian English. If it was part of the citation I would use this answer. To avoid references to other answers, please assume that I have the best reasons possible to use Canadian English in my paper. If I change the quote to "found in the neighbourhood" did I translate this answer? I ask since APA states that translation is considered a paraphrase and has rules to treat it differently.
Generally, if you are using a direct quote, you should not change the content at all, except to add "[sic]" to mark that you are transcribing something exactly as it was found in the source text.
I frequently write papers in (U.S.) English, finding myself needing to cite long passages from others' papers in (U.K.) English. I don't change the spelling. I don't bother with 'sic'. However, in MS Word, I select the paragraph being quoted and tell the spellchecker that the language is English(U.K.) (or occasionally German or Spanish), which stops the spellchecker from flagging them.
Generally don't take spellcheckers' suggestions as anything more than suggestions. They can be useful for avoiding mistakes that really are just typing mistakes or when you had a misconception about a word's spelling, but that doesn't mean everything flagged by a spellchecker is automatically a problem that should be addressed. It can absolutely be appropriate to write things that don't conform to existing spelling rules, like when you're introducing entirely new terminology. This should be the exception, not the rule, but it does happen.
I halve a spell check her, It came with my pee cee. It plane lee marques fore my revue, miss steaks eye can knot sea. Butt now bee cause my spelling, Is checked with such grate flare, There are know faults with in my cite, Of nun eye am a wear.
Firstly, it is far from clear that choosing to use Canadian English in your paper actually commits you to changing non-Canadian spellings in quotations to Canadian spellings. A spell checker merely provides suggestions for you to consider. The idea that because a spell-checker highlighted the word it needs to be changed is false. The rest of the answer addresses the case where you have some other compelling reason to change spellings in quotations beyond the fact that it was suggested to you by a spell-checker.
The situation seems largely analogous to what you would do if the original quotation were, say, "foun in the neighborhood". You would presumably quote that as "foun[d] in the neighborhood", and no sane person would think of this as being a translation. Similarly, what you are in effect saying is that the spelling "neighborhood" is incorrect for the purposes of your paper. So the solution "found in the neighbo[u]rhood" seems to be the appropriate one if you insist on changing the spelling.
The question of why translations are handled differently than direct quotations is considered here:
You may wonder why your translation is considered a paraphrase rather than a direct quotation. That’s because translation is both an art and a science—languages do not have perfect correspondences where every word and phrase matches up with a foreign equivalent, though of course some cases come closer than others. Even in the example passage above I considered how to translate “Les femmes dans des activités masculines”—taken word for word I might have written “Women in masculine activities,” but I thought “Women working in masculine fields” better conveyed the actual meaning, which relates to women working in male-dominated occupations.
Clearly this reasoning does not apply to trivial changes in spelling. Nonetheless, you should make it clear to the reader that you have in fact changed the spelling of the original quote.
If you're going to change the quote, this is the right way to do it. But I imagine the spellchecker will now start complaining that "neighbo" and "rhood" aren't words, which perhaps makes it clear just how silly changing the quote actually is.
Or how one should not be slave to a spellchecker.
"However, it's far from clear that choosing to use Canadian English in your paper actually commits you to changing non-Canadian spellings in quotations to Canadian spellings." <-- this
Isaacg in the comments made an astute observation that I want to repeat here since it's an equally valid answer and comments may be deleted at any time:
Generally, if you are using a direct quote, you should not change the content at all, except to add "[sic]" to mark that you are transcribing something exactly as it was found in the source text.
Put differently: what you can do is write "found in the neighborhood [sic]", with [sic] being the accepted standard in academical quotations to indicate that you are using this quote verbatim, including any spelling mistakes, grammatical errors or regional dialect idiosyncracies from the original author's message.
I don't think this is needed for human readers, they're aware of these common variations. So unless it also appeases the spell checker, it seems worthless.
I think adding [sic] in this particular situation would be arrogant and disrespectful, since the quoted author did not make a mistake, they just used a different (but equally valid) spelling standard.
@Barmar the spell checker doesn't need to be appeased at all (most of them do have some form of "Ignore" burton, though), and the [sic] is useful to ensure that some other human (e.g. an editor) doesn't try to appease the spellchecker and change the spelling.
The only reason the question even came up is because the spell checker complained. And I think a human editor would understand that we don't need [sic] here.
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150197 | Is it okay to keep a "Thank you" slide before references?
I am preparing a presentation in LaTeX and got at least seven pages for references only.
In general, as far as I know, a "thank you" slide of a presentation is the termination slide of the presentation, i.e., it comes at the end after references.
Since my presentation part, which demands explanation, ends with a page before starting of references, and I got a long list of references, is it okay to keep my "thank you" slide before references?
I dislike reference slides in talks at the best of times, but 7 of them? Are you sure this is the best format for your presentation? Consider checking this and this.
Also related: What is the best “last slide” in a thesis presentation?
You better be sure your presentation is on point, otherwise a thank you will sound like "thank you for bearing with me"
I like to use a slide saying "Fin." It usually goes over well.
Please avoid answers in comments. In response to a flag, several answers-in-comments have been removed; please consider writing a proper answer or upvoting an existing answer instead.
Perhaps check out if there are applicable guidelines. For example at my uni, Thank you slides were explicitly not recommended.
It is perfectly fine to have references, sources or deep dive slides behind the thank you slide with no intention to show them (unless asked), this ensures your notes will get published with the slide deck for anybody to study.
There are not references pages in a slide presentation. A presentation should require just few refs and their are better placed where they are relevant. This apply for conference presentation. If you mean presentation in a broader sense, eg kind of review for internal use etc, you just distribute the slides to the interested people. I would never project a slide of references only. At most one containing three/four of them, just to stress the importance to your point(s). What the speaker is supposed to say/do while projecting slides of references?!
Don't even think about going through seven slides of references. Put them in a separate handout or web link. Make the thank you slide the last (or next to last, if you are going to ask for questions).
If you want the references on slides so you have just one document, put them at the end and don't visit them.
Addition: Many commenters note that "thank you" might not be the best way to end your presentation. Consider verbal thanks and just your conclusions on the final slide, perhaps with a request for questions.
Short citations of key references at the bottom of the slide they occur is not a bad idea, also.
Short references allow listeners to take a photos of the slides if they want to do further reading.
This question was about thank you slides not references. Although we all agree about the referenences, I highly disagree with your recommendation to put in a thank you slide. It only distracts from the content.
On the references As expressed by other posters, seven slides of references sound like an overkill. Though, if the underlying reason to dwell on the references is sound, as it may well be:
I would suggest to choose a graphical format. A graph showing the cross-citations or a timeline could be useful. This gives the backdrop to your own story on why the references are important, other than plainly numerous.
Another option is to add a textual slide commenting on the references: that they are, say, 200; they date from those periods; they have been published in such and such journals or proceedings; a quick kind of meta analysis, that is. That could actually be intriguing.
On the closing slide I have long since stopped to put the final thank-you-for-your-attention and/or any-questions? slide. Rather:
I say that in spoken words facing the audience, which is a much more open and inviting gesture.
My last slide contains the conclusions, so that the audience can replay in their mind the whole presentation and have handles for questions to ask.
I had acknowledged co-workers and helpful people at the beginning: kind of this work comes into existence thanks to institutions and people.
Perhaps also others see a benefit in doing so.
Yes, I agree with getting rid of "Thank you" slides in the first place. These slides have two benefits: Thanking the audience, and signalling that the talk is over. If you compare this to the benefits of using a conclusion as the last slide (also signalling the talk is over, summarizing the take-home message, providing talking points for the discussion), a "Conclusion" slide beats a "Thank you" slide by far.
@Schmuddi Yes, it felt a bit strange to me that you give a fully-fledged talk to propose certain conclusions, in the end only to hide such conclusions all too quickly.
Por que no los dos? I agree that a “conclusions” slide is a very useful thing to end on, but I share the OP’s wish to put the thanks-to-the-audience in visual form as well as verbal. So I often include “Thank you!” on my conclusions slide, set centred below the main summary of conclusions.
Do not include 7 slides of references, that is absolutely no-go. A usual way to show references is at the bottom of the slide they reference (it is easier to find and match with the referenced content anyway).
I personally do not like 'Thank you' slide to the audience, I would thank the audience after I said a few words on the Acknowledgements slide.
Yes, I much prefer having "thank you" appear at the end of the last slide rather than being a slide on its own, particularly if there is something on the last slide which may be relevant to questions.
Presentation is a show. Presentation shall be catchy. Presentations are there to sell the presenter's products. Presentations are fluent, one-way only. From the ouverture to the grand finale.
In academia you are selling your results, your department, your research. The show here is not fancy, full of fireworks and othe ballast, but it is still a show.
Long lists of anything is a show killer, references doubly so. You want the audience's attention and curiosity first, then you can comunicate your results. You can back your claims thoroughly later; on stage you want to talk about your contribution, not the others'.
If you need to show references and citations, do it at the time you talk about it. No one cares for referencing idea two minutes ago. A footnote is appropriate. You don't mention it in your speech but they who will read your slides later will fing the reference in eyblink; if you would be asked, you can show both your claim and the reference in Q&A minutes.
Another trick is to have couple of uncounted slides with extras. Bigger graphs, detailed images, claims and references - just in case. You can build your presentation in beamer, build your supporting appendix and merge the pdfs. I think you can trick the LaTeX/beamer by using \label{TheLastpage} and \thepage/\pageref{TheLastPage}.
Sidenote: I think this is your first presentation. Try the presentation many times. Try to present it to your friends/colleagues even pets or a rubber duck.
Make yourself comfortable, find the structure, language and pace you are comfortable with (and fit within the time limit).
There's a Latex package for that, in case you prefer to use it rather than doing things manually.
My group tends to work from a set of common templates that have "Thank You/Any Questions?" slides at the end by default. The same thing ends up happening in almost every presentation: someone asks a question and the presenter rewinds to a previous slide in order to answer it. The "Thank You" slide is only visible for as long as it takes to ask the first question, then never seen again. It contains the same amount of relevant information as the black "End of Presentation" screen that PowerPoint displays after the last slide (that is, zero). For those reasons, it really serves no purpose.
Some of the better presentations I've seen will anticipate the sort of questions that might be asked based on the audience and their background. The presenter builds a final "Summary" slide that includes some graphs, photos, key statistics, formulas, etc. and is able to use the content of that slide to answer many of the questions.
Another technique is often used for presentations that are being video-recorded and archived. Instead of a "Thank You" type slide, the video feed simply switches away from the slideshow and cuts back to the video camera that's pointing at the presenter. This has the added benefit of helping focus the viewer's attention back on the presenter, which is where it typically should be during a question-and-answer session.
To specifically answer your question: yes, it's perfectly OK to keep a "Thank You" slide in the presentation. It may not be your best option for an ending, however.
Side note: Most slideshow software has the ability to place "extra" slides beyond the end of the slideshow. They will not be shown when progressing through the presentation normally, but the presenter can manually navigate to these slides and they can be seen when not in presentation mode. This is usually where presenters add extra content that will be of interest to some of your listeners but is too detailed to go over during the presentation itself. A "References" section falls into this category.
Early in my career in a talk coaching they told me a very important point against the final "thank you" slide. The last slide should be a conclusions slide, because this slide stays on for the whole duration of questions. That's a lot of time. Hence you'd rather have a summary of your research on that something less meaningful.
While most other comments say including 7 slides of references is a terrible idea, I don't think it's nearly as bad if handled properly. It's a very bad idea to try to discuss these slides in any sort of detail, that much is true. But if you just quickly flip through them - giving the audience enough time to skim but not to read - there is not much of a down-side. Better still would be to not actually go through these slides during the talk, just leave them there for the benefit of anyone who asks you to share the slides, or so that you can more easily answer questions about references during the Q&A.
In any case when I think using the many reference slides is appropriate, I think it's absolutely fine (and even preferred) to include the "Thank You!" slide before them.
Flipping through them at moderate speed might be distracting--I'd probably zone out pretty quickly. Unless it's just a rhetorical flourish ("Look how much work has been done on this topic!"), I'd not do that. OTOH, having them in reserve for questions is a great idea.
I would recommend adding a "Thank you for your attentention. Are there questions?" slide before the references.
Most people will not want to see seven slides of references. But most people would not read one, either.
Keep the references slides, so you can show a reference when somebody asks for a reference that were mentioned in your slides, but do not force the audience to read slides that are too full of text to memorize them or take notes in a short time anyway.
In addition, the references are very useful when you give out the slides as handout or put them online after the talk and they just belong to a scientific talk, even when you only show them when needed.
In addition I would suggest citing important sources on the slides where you mention them like
"As shown by Miller et al. 2016 [7], we can use ..."
This allows the audience to take a note, so they can ask you to show the references slide so they can take a note what paper [7] is, when they are really interested. Otherwise they will at least remember "Miller et al. 2016" and have a chance to find the paper themself.
I am preparing a presentation in LaTeX and got at least seven pages for references only.
I suppose you use beamer and/or advi to show your presentation. You would use bibtex for references.
If it is a formal presentation (think of some PhD defense, or some CS conference) and if you intend to publish that presentation (at least as a PDF file, perhaps as a *.tex one) on some web site, then providing seven pages (with hyperlinks) of references is definitely worthwhile, and is a material for questions.
If you don't intend to publish your presentation (or if that presentation is informal) seven pages of references is really too much.
These slides are a recent example. Many references (but inside the slides, not at end) given as hyperlinks.
Some conferences are requiring a particular and given beamer style.
Most important for an important formal presentation (such as a PhD defense): repeat that presentation several times. Like every movie or theater actor do.
You won't have time to talk about 7 pages of references.
You may keep them to prepare for questions.
When I create a presentation in which I anticipate that there will be a lot of questions, I put a blank slide in at the end (to indicate I'm done). But, in addition to the slides in the presentation, I create slides that address the questions and discussion that I hope will follow my presentation.
I can remember one presentation where I was told that I was limited to 5 slides and 10-15 minutes (it was not academic, it was a presentation to senior decision makers at a company). I presented my 5 slides, and the questions started. I ended up using most (not quite all) of my additional 43 slides, and the questions went on for more than a half hour. The more you prepare, the more you can impress your audience.
Oh,... Skip the references slides. You can leave them in the deck (in case someone asks), but don't show them.
I would make a references page with a QR code on it leading to a google docs file / website... with the references on it. Leave this page 30 sec in the presentation and then go on with your thank you page.
If he took this approach, I'd put the QR code (and a full text link) on the thank you slide, rather than having both a thank you slide and a reference slide.
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7997 | Transition from PhD to postdoc with an intent to change field
I'm in the following situation: In 3 months, I'll finish my PhD in theoretical physics, and I'm certain that I want to pursue an academic career. However, I'm just as certain that my PhD research is a dead end. (My advisor doesn't think so, but I disagree with him.) Thus, I seek to change the direction of my research, but I need a few months to obtain the necessary skills. Anyway, I missed the main application period for post-doc positions (in the US).
Given the following options (feel free to expand this list), which do you think provides the best perspective of leading me to a interesting post-doc position?
Finish my PhD. Get any post-doc position. Do the work I'm required to do there. Work hard in my spare time to teach myself the stuff I want to. After 1-2 years, find a post-doc position I'm really interested in.
Finish my PhD. Get a well-paying job in the software industry. Do the work I'm required to do there. Work hard in my spare time to teach myself the stuff I want to. Work harder to keep publishing papers. After one year, find a post-doc position I'm really interested in.
Abort my current work. Find a new subject and a new PhD advisor.
Live on unemployment money as long as possible. Work hard in my spare time to teach myself the stuff I want to. Work harder to keep publishing papers. After one year, find a post-doc position I'm really interested in.
Pros:
Get the PhD title sooner. Stay in the scientific community.
Get the PhD title sooner. Earn lots of money (6 figure). In a 9-to-5 job, have more spare time for private research than on a post-doc position, where work is never finished. Go to a foreign country.
It's what I should've done 2 years ago. I'll have the education I want when I finish my PhD, not later (but be older anyway).
No immediate advantages over the other options.
Cons:
If a logical continuation of my PhD work, I'll suffer from demotivation. My next advisor will not want me to work on other topics that I'm not paid for. Might have to stay for 2 years.
I'll move out of the scientific community for some time. I know it's hard to get back in.
I'll be even older when I finally get my PhD. Not sure if I would find another advisor. Open fight with my current advisor.
I don't want to live on unemployment money for long.
A particular question concerning the options above: Does being out of academia for a year kill your prospects of obtaining a postdoc position later?
I do have some collaborators who will help me to keep publishing, provided that I put enough work into my research. Also, I'm willing to familiarize myself with other topics on my own (a prerequisite for an academic career anyway).
The next application period will be from October to December 2013, which isn't far away. I'm sure I'll have most of the skills I want by then (and a paper published proving that), but still would have to work until summer 2014 wherever I am applying now.
Please give me honest answers, even if they hurt. I'll provide more information as soon as possible, if anyone has questions.
Depending on your department's policies, it seems that there is a fifth option: Delay graduation until next year without changing thesis topics; use the additional year to expand your skill set and to apply to the post-doc positions you really want in next year's application season.
Hi, and welcome to Academia. Note that Academia SE is a Q&A site, not an arbitrary forum. Therefore I suggest to state more clearly: What exactly is your question?
My department certainly allows delaying graduation. My advisor does not. It's been a fight with him anyway, which I'm losing.
why does your advisor insist you graduate ? is it a funding issue ?
My funding runs out, and he has a strict policy of how long a PhD may take.
As one of my advisors once told me,
The best dissertation is one that is written.
Tongue-and-cheek as it may be, I would strongly advise finishing up your PhD first, especially if you can do it in three months. If you have doubts about whether your committee will approve your work, then you should be having that conversation very frequently (at least once a week, if not more) with the committee members that you think will have an issue with the work.
If you are indeed "certain [you] want to pursue an academic career," choice (2) may be the hardest path. I've known a number of people who were certain they wanted to move back into academia after working in industry, but they didn't publish enough once they had a full-time non-academic job, and they weren't competitive for future academic positions.
Choice (3) would be a soul-killer if I were in that position. To see the finish line three months away and then scrap it for 2-3 more years of work? Not for me.
Choice (4) would probably be the worst decision -- every day you stay unemployed lessens the chance someone would eventually hire you (although maybe there are a ton of post-docs in your field). Proving that you've learned these things on your own is difficult, although you would have more time to publish (but will you have a university association still?).
Tough choices all around, but I suggest finishing up the PhD at least.
Thank you for your motivating answer! I don't have any doubts that the committee will approve my graduation. (3) is a soul killer for me, too. (4) means more time (assuming I keep publishing), but lots of other problems. (1) and (2) both mean little time for my own interests. During my PhD, it has been hard for me to clearly draw a line between work and spare time. That might be easier with option (2), but I definitely see that (1) makes it easier to stay in touch with researchers. Anyway, it's become clear to me that changing fields will be double work in any case.
@user1586001 Good luck with the decision! Breaking into academia is tough, and you may have to continue to work on things other than your own interests for the time being.
Avoid 4! The independent "gentlemen's researcher" (apologies for the non-gender neutral term) of the 19th century is not accepted anymore. 1 is the best solution, especially if you try to find a postdoc position which is close to what you want to do. Or try for some funding for Research Fellows (e.g. Marie Curie), then you might be able to do what you want.
In my experience, when you start a post-doc, you will start working on a topic that is rather different from what you did in your PhD. This is often simply the case because you will be working for someone new who has different research objectives. Some shifting of topic is not only permitted, it is required.
For example, in computer science, if you did your PhD on programming languages you could continue your post-doc research on another aspect of programming languages, though it would be less likely that you could do a post-doc in machine learning.
Think broadly about what your skill set is and be willing to learn new skills on the job when you start a post-doc. Your new boss will expect that you know how to perform research (at a high level), though s/he will generally not expect that you know every single detail about the research you will be employed to do.
Regarding the application position for post-doc positions. In Europe, for example, these are heavily tied to various funding bodies, and in my experience, these are available (at different places) pretty much all year round. The season(s) for each country will vary.
Programming languages vs. machine learning: This describes pretty well the magnitude of the change I'm planning.
Could you find a postdoc that's midway between your current and desired fields? To run with @user1586001's example, probabilistic programming projects (like Church or Anglican) might be a good way for a PL person to get some ML exposure or vice versa.
That said, a lot of postdocs are hired on the basis of promise, rather than experience, and the right PI might let you skip the intermediate step altogether.
Some postdoctoral advisors have a policy of intentionally making their postdocs do something radically different from their previous experience. I know that was certainly the case with my postdoc—I had to start on a brand new technique and a completely different problem than the one I was expecting to work on!
So, there really is no problem with jumping into a new field, if you find the right advisor. I also don't believe that there's an absolute "window"—some people may still have spots available; it's a question of being the right fit for the right project with the right advisor.
You might also have some other options available to you at your current department—is it possible that they can keep you on as an instructor? That way, you could have a little bit more of a cushion to look for your postdoctoral position, while not having to worry about having to take a job out of total desperation.
I believe you that jumping into a new field isn't a problem with the right advisor. The trouble is to find the right advisor. I'm a bit under pressure to find a position (few months left, but can't wait for a year).
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78668 | Teaching a blind student MATLAB programming
I teach a first year undergrad class in MATLAB programming, and one of my students is completely blind. Quite amazingly, the student memorises the whole chapter before class and regurgitates with the help of someone saying what the output is.
I wonder if anyone has some advice to help the student? I have heard of Emacspeak. There's also the issue of interpreting graphics - is there any software available that may help with this?
http://matheducators.stackexchange.com might also be able to help.
Has the student asked for help? It's a fair bet that the student knows what resources are available, and what's needed for success. I really recommend asking the student how you might be of best assitance. If not, there is probably some office in your scoop that deals with assisting students that have issues with accessibility.
What is the syllabus of the course?Do you plan to teach more programming and/or also toolboxes such as image processing, simulink,...?
@MikeyMike It's just an introductory 10 lesson course, they go through the basic functionality of Matlab, through to writing loops and conditional statements. In later modules, depending on their degree route, they may use simulink, image processing etc. but I don't teach that.
I'm curious how this went for you and the student, and if either of you found any tools or approaches that were particularly useful with MATLAB.
@BryanKrause unfortunately, this didn't go so well. I contacted the university's disability services to make them aware of the situation, but they were very poor in helping the student with software. My approach was to spend as much time helping the student with his progress and on a positive note, they achieved a first class mark in that part of the module. Remarkable I thought!
Thanks for the update, sorry to hear the university's support was sub-par but glad to hear they achieved some success regardless.
Yes, this is all possible, but I recommend seeking specialist advice. Blind support organisations often have technical advisors who are aware of the latest software and hardware adaptions that are available.
I taught a totally blind student through a whole computer science degree, including 3d computer graphics. The student had a box which was connected to the computer and supplied audio through an ear piece. This translated the screen pixels into sound so images could be perceived much as a hand-held scanner might. As the mouse was moved the pixels at the mouse location were translated to sound. In addition to text-to-speech and other features the student had a complete picture of what was on the screen.
Actually, it was better than that. The student could see windows hidden behind windows, because they saw it in three dimensions in their mind and the rest of us were limited to the limitations of a flat 2d screen. We were totally out-classed and out-performed by someone who although blind could perceive the screen images better than we could!
Ask the student if they have looked into the devices available or already have support from appropriate blind organisations. If they do encourage them to follow up. If they do not, go through the appropriate special needs support office at your institution who are likely to have the right contacts.
Never underestimate the abilities of differently equipped students!
PS: I see you are in the UK. The RNIB is likely to be able to assist. They have appropriate technical officers if the University does not.
Thanks, this is great advice, but also an incredible story; that is truly amazing the support you gave!
@MikeMiller Oh! the anecdotes I could tell about this one.... having the guide dog in lectures was the most amusing thing. The dog would be sure to let you know if the lecture was boring. It would yawn; roll over, snore loudly (stage snoring), until you made the lecture more interesting ... the class loved it!
Fantastic! I'm glad my student doesn't have a guide dog then! :-)
The company I work for (large multinational) has a totally blind guy doing software distribution and deployment. That's actually an advantage from a QA perspective, because he flatly refuses to action any instruction that is not in writing in case he "forgets" about it! But rolling out an software patch onto 20,000 machines spread across 5 continents without screwing anything up - no problem at all!
My former teacher used a braille machine.
He was reading code line by line... From both ends at the same time !
Try splitting your eyes to look at different things for a laugh
It is completely possible with the right device
One of our student of physics is 50 years old, blind since ever, works 80 % in a company as a coder (!) and he studied computer science when he was 20 years old. So everything is surely possible.
How he does it: he has a device, which is connected to the computer and displays the line in Braille by moving small pins up or down. He then can read around 20 letters a time, reaching the end, the device changes it's pins again to display the next 20 characters.
Additionally, a screen-reader often also helps him to navigate and understand things.
This way, I wrote once a lab report together with him in latex, no problem at all. And he regularly writes code and exercise-sheets. Quite impressive!
I highly recommend your blind student to get such a device (you may first ask if he is even able to read Braille as not a lot of blind people do) and get used to screen-readers! If he has problems reading mathematical expressions, he can in most cases ask the publisher for the latex-version.
Note that many blind people do not read Braille at all: in Britain only around 1% of blind people are Braille users (though that's probably higher among people who have been blind since a young age). So it's probably better to ask if it would be useful rather than recommending it.
@Max, it is a LOT higher among people who have been blind since a young age
I credit your ambition in this area, but the best answer offer is "talk to the professionals, after talking with the student". Your school will have specialists in some office that are very familiar with available accommodations for students who are visually impaired. They will be able to find resources faster than you, and likely better resources than you can find on your own. They will likely be able to make funds available if the necessary tools need to be purchased. This is what they do, and my experience is that people like this are very good at their jobs. In the US, such people are more or less required for schools to meet their regulatory obligations. I'm not sure for your country, but I can't imagine that the resource is non-existent.
As I stated in comments, I encourage you do work in conjuntion with the student. You might approach the student and ask who he is working with already, and if he feels he's getting the tools he needs. If he isn't using these resources, you should ask if he's comfortable if you try to help match him up with these resources, or if you could provide an accurate description of the needs of a person in his course to the people assisting him.
Be sensitive. This sort of help is not always welcomed or appropriate. People are often very good at using the tools they have to accomplish what they need to accomplish, and might resent other people telling them that they need help.
Don't be afraid to talk to the student, and be up front about asking the questions you want to ask. Don't skirt the issues or euphemize. Don't be offended if you receive a polite "no thank you".
Thanks, it was a useful comment and this answer is how I had approached the student before asking the question. They were happy with how the class was being run but I thought it would be nice to give them some extra options to help their programming skills in case it was something they would like to pursue in the future :)
I did feel there might be an issue in this case with the student saying everything was fine etc. without realising how difficult programming could be without having some kind of screen reader or especially interpretation of graphics. It's certainly throws up some interesting challenges on both parts!
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14563 | Post-doctoral research statement/project: current/future vs thematic
I am currently applying for several post-doctoral positions. For these applications I have to prepare a research document in which I present my current research and my future projects in a limited amount of pages (typically not more than 4 or 5). But there is two possible organisations of ideas:
1) A first approach would be to present first my past and current
research topics and then my future projects.
2) A second approach consists in a thematic organization in which I present for each topic
my past and current research and what I plan to do in this topic in
the future. Some topics can be only past/current and some other only
long-term project.
What is the best organization ?
I would favour option 1.
You are trying to tell the story of your research career so far, and how your story could continue at the institution(s) to which you are applying. Looking at it in this way, you are casting your past and present research activities as "Background".
Your subsequent sections would be about specific projects - the "Future". In each section you can refer to your skill set, showing how this project is based on a firm foundation of skills developed during your Background years.
A reader will get a much clearer picture of you as a scientist - past and future - if you structure your application this way. It makes for easier reading, and you want your admissions committee to be happy.
Splitting up your "story" thematically - showing how parts of your background set you up for the project under consideration - makes it more difficult for a reader.
There is a third option which you may want to explore.
1.) Current research
2.) Plans for future research
3.) Past experience in this area
In other words, structure this the way you would if you were talking to them rather than writing to them. Simon Peyton Jones recommends this approach for writing a research paper, but the same concepts work well for any types of writing. Explain your idea to someone else, and then write it in the same order, using slightly more formal language. When I am explaining my research interests to someone, I will often say something like this, "I am working on Idea B now, and I expect this to continue in to Idea C in the future. This line of research grew out of my previous exploration of Idea A."
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3498 | How does a research masters work?
I always thought PhD as being the main post grad research path if you wanted to get funded and that Msc was the way to get yourself ready for a PhD. I recently became aware that not all master courses are taught and some are research based, so I am wondering whether it's normal to do a research Msc (as opposed to a taught one) and if so, are there any advantages to this over just going for a PhD?
possible duplicate of What are the advantages and disadvantages to completing a Masters program before applying to a Ph. D program?
See also What factors affect how long it would take to get a phd, either going via, or without, a masters? and Physics masters and PhD degrees in England/UK
Advantages of doing a research-based Masters (e.g an MRes) before the PhD:
learn research skills
explore your subject
refine your research question
get a big chunk of your literature review done in a structured setting
work out if taking a PhD is really for you - whether you've got the aptitude and the interest
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4794 | How would I justify that my work isn't just 'normal' design and creation
Quick info. I'm a 4th year student (i.e. I'll be doing my masters when I complete my 4th year). Some of the work I'm doing now will however influence my masters.
One of my assignment questions in my research module is to come up with a few research strategies that would suit my research project. Whilst I cannot say exactly what my project is, it will in general be a new built system that will make decisions based on what rankings were given by people. (somthing similar to clicking the 'like' button on facebook or giving a review star rating for books as on Amazon.com).
I'm also using the following book (Researching information systems and computing by Briony J Oates) as a guide. I've identified the 'Design and Creation' research strategy as what would be the most fitting research strategy for my project seeing as I would be creating a new system. One of the questions in the evaluuation guide for the 'Design and Creation' research strategy is:
What makes this piece of work research and not 'normal' design and development work?
How would one go about answering such a question? What criteria would one have to look at to say that such a research project is an actual research project and just not your normal run of the mill application?
“ I cannot say exactly what my project is” / “make decisions based on what rankings were given by people” — Gosh! Are you working on Stack Exchange AI? It is true that the algorithm powering the supposedly human moderators could be improved… ;-)
According to the statistics box on the right, this is the 1000th question on Academia. Congrats!
Lol, No I'm simply an honours student with a wild imagination. But from your comment I just realised that there may be numerous uses for my project ;)
1000th question!! :D :D :D
I should've read chapter 8, design and creation properly. The answer is in the textbook (Oates, B., Researching information systems and computing, 2009).
According to the author, the major differences are that in the typical software industry is that the less that is learnt or the less that needs to be discovered the more successful the project is deemed to be. If all is going according to plan then using existing knowledge, avoiding backtracking and changing of design or avoiding having to redo analysis would be seen as a part success. Having to change your design, backtracking and redoing analysis are perceived as a negative risk which needs to be mitigated. These risks could overrun the project constraints such as time, budget etc. Therefore industrial practitioners often leave out risky or uncertain parts of a project.
A researcher on the other hand focuses on these risky and uncertain items because tackling these risks and uncertainties successfully would lead to new knowledge being created. Hence you can claim to be doing research rather than 'normal' design and creation through the risk taking of your software product or process. You can further claim justification for your design by using theoretical underpinnings such as mathematical formulas and or formal methods from the field. You should also be able to say how the knowledge aquired from your design can be applied generally to other situations.
+1 for answering a FAQ in my opinion. I have had a few wanna be grad students give up their idea for "research" for just this reason - it was just 'normal' design.
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1340 | How to tell what is 'widely accepted' or 'consensus'
How can I find out what theories are 'widely accepted' in the scientific world at the moment? When I read about a theory, or read a paper, how can I tell what 'the scientific world' thinks of these?
Background:
When hearing about development or history of science, the phrase 'widely accepted' is quite popular. One of the common stories seems to be of some discovery which nobody wanted to believe when published, but a decade or a few later the scientific world came to accept it and it turned into consensus. Prime examples in history would be the heliocentric world view or the theory of evolution.
More recently, I have read 'The Selfish Gene' by Richard Dawkins. He takes every chance to provide evidence that the theory of group selection is unnecessary to explain evolution. The book was published in 1976, when group selection was apparently quite popular. In annotations of the current edition, he gives comments about how the scientific world has now more accepted that group selection is wrong. I asked a question about one of his claims which I did not fully understand (irrelevant here) on Biology.SE and - unexpectedly - promptly got answers by people claiming that group selection was presently very widely accepted.
Good question, probably something that many people unfamiliar with a particular field often ask themselves.
Firstly, the "official" ways that researchers state their opinion is by stating it in either a publication or in a presentation at a conference. It is from here that we can gain any idea of what any researcher thinks about a given topic.1
That being said, the only way to know whether something is "widely accepted" is to be familiar with most of the current (academic) literature on a given topic. Only by really having read the publications of most of the preeminent researchers in a given field can you really get a sense of what the consensus is on that topic. This, of course, requires a lot of time and expertise (and, if you don't have access to a university library with journal subscriptions, money). It took me years as a graduate student to learn what was the consensus about certain topics within my own field.
Because of this, anyone can state anything and most people won't know the difference. The easiest way to really determine if it's true is to ask two or three recognized researchers if they agree with the statement of interest. You can do this via email, but they likely won't get back to you. You can ask grad students in their lab and the answer will be that much less reliable, but still close to the source. Beyond that, you'll just have to find experts you can trust and rely on them.
1 Obviously, researchers are people like anyone else, and will discuss their pet theories with friends and colleagues over email and in person; it's very hard to quantify these, and you only rarely see this sort of discourse being formally recognized. Occasionally a publication will cite "unpublished discourse", but that's a rare occasion.
@armatus - While I appreciate the correct designation, I suggest giving any question you ask a few hours before marking one answer as correct. This will often lead to more answers being posted, and then you can choose the best from all of them. If you think this answer is good, vote it up.
I disagree with leaving questions open just to get more answers to choose from (when my question is answered, it's answered - no need to give the impression that it's not resolved when it is; especially with a high quality answer like yours). But it's true that maybe somebody has found a way for them to gauge what scientists agree on at the moment, so I'll leave it open for a bit longer :)
Structured review papers can be a very good route into establishing what's the most-widely accepted state of current research.
In health care, the Cochrane Reviews are a good example.
Some subjects have journals dedicated to such structured reviews, such as Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Occasionally, a subject is so important that international organisations are set up to establish the state of the art in a current subject: the International Panel on Climate Change is one such example, and this produces a whole-field review every few years. At time of posting this, one (AR5) is being compiled at the moment, for publication in 2013-4. The previous one (AR4) was published in 2007.
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1598 | What are the factors one needs to take into account in order to choose an appropriate mathematical journal?
Several months ago I submitted a paper to a journal. The area covered by the journal is the same as the one covered in the paper. However, I waited several months and finally the paper was rejected by the journal, and they explained to me that it was not of sufficient interest for them. What can I do to avoid having to go through this again if I submit my paper to another journal?
Your question is completely general, and not specific to mathematical disciplines. I've edited accordingly, in the hope this will get more answers.
There is no easy solution to this problem.
I recently went through a situation where a paper was rejected from a journal without review; the same paper, with only minor edits to the abstract and the introduction, was accepted "as is" for publication in another journal of similar quality and impact factor.
The main issue for getting your work accepted may not be that it isn't of sufficient interest—it may be that the way you have presented it does not convince the editors and referees that the work is suitable. Have you hit on the "hot-button areas" that tend to come up again and again in the journal? Have you made it clear from your abstract and your leadoff paragraphs why this article will be of interest to the target audience of the journal?
Small differences—these changes don't require much work—can make a huge difference in the acceptance of a paper.
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15590 | Can a letter from a professor not from my university but a high-ranking university carry extra weight?
After reading this question, I started wondering about students applying for graduate school and the letters of recommendation accompanying their applications.
Let's say Student is studying at University A and one of his lecturers is primarily working at University B (lecturer was doing some adjunct or other kind of part-time work at University A). University B is a much higher ranked school. After graduation Student asks the lecturer for a letter of recommendation so Student can attend University B. How much extra weight is the letter of recommendation given in the application process if it is from a lecturer at the university?
I would guess that it would depend on how that lecturer's past recommendations have turned out but I'd like to hear from the experts.
Does it change anything if Student wants to become a PhD and would like to have the lecturer as Student's adviser?
In theory - it should not give any extra weight. In practice - it usually works to the student's advantage.
Getting a good letter is more important than getting a letter from a professor at University B. So if the professor in question only knows you through your attendance of his course, he most likely won't be able to speak to your research potential. As that is the most important aspect of an application for graduate school, this would not work in your favour. (The points in this answer are excellent guidelines for who to ask for reference letters.)
If he is otherwise qualified to write a good letter for you, then the fact that he is from University B might work slightly in your favour, as admission committees tend to give greater weight to letters of recommendation from researchers that they know.
You need tenure track or tenured profs to write your recommendation letters. References from TAs/Lecturers will give the impression that you did not have sufficiently good references from the faculty in your department to warrant a letter of recommendation.
Lecturers are generally post-docs that are hired on a contract basis, and therefore do carry much (if any) weight in the department. You're much better off getting 3 great letters from faculty at your current institution.
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36470 | What research shows how assessment design can minimize plagiarism?
This past semester has seen an unusually high number of students plagiarizing in one of the subjects I teach. To be specific, it was five times the previous maximum I had seen. This has lead me down the path of digging into ways to reduce plagiarism from my students.
I read this question which was great and had several good answers but it was broadly focused. I would like to dig a bit deeper into one specific area: How can assessment design be used to minimize plagiarism?
I realize that exams are less likely to have plagiarism but I want to avoid those because they are timed and I don't want my students to be assessed in non-real-world situations like that. So, I want the assessments to be take-home but I don't want to put more constraints on this question.
I really want to know what research has been done showing the effect of different assessment design and how it has impacted student-plagiarism (with a focus on what minimizes plagiarism)?
What concerns research on interventions on plagiarism, ERIC lists quite some empirical studies which look at the effect of different lectures, assignment or other kind of educational interventions on plagiarism behaviour or knowledge about plagiarism.
According to your profile, you teach management. So we are looking at writing, rather than equations?
This review article discusses steps taken at a university in Australia, and provides some lit review. It is open-source. In regards to research on assessment design, it recommends:
Regularly change the questions/prompts
Projects should require original analysis rather than be summaries or definitions.
More marks should be associated with the process of project creation, rather than the final draft. Examples of intermediate assignments are research journals, annotated bibliographies, and first drafts.
Change product from text-only to something else - a poster, an oral presentation.
Above is the "answer" to your question. You may also want to consider why your plagiarism is suddenly increasing. The linked article points out that many students plagiarize because of lack of training in how to effectively write without copying a source. If you have a cohort of students from a background of poorer preparation, I would recommend a module on how to write without plagiarism.
Best of luck.
Thanks for your answer. I look forward to reading the article you linked. By the way, the problem is not understanding how to cite. They actually copy-and-paste from other students changing every 3rd word - clearly trying to "trick" the plagiarism software.
Dee and Jacob (2013) (preprint) conducted
a field experiment that evaluated the effects of a web-based educational tutorial in reducing plagiarism. We found that assignment to the treatment group substantially reduced the likelihood of plagiarism, particularly among student with lower SAT scores who had the highest rates of plagiarism. A followup survey suggests that the intervention reduced plagiarism by increasing student knowledge rather than by increasing the perceived probabilities of detection and punishment.
Potentially including an educational tutorial in your assignment design would reduce plagiarism.
While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes.
I have heavily edited the answer to try and make it free-standing. If you think I changed the meaning of your answer, please feel free to roll it back (or improve it).
@jakebeal I edited the answer, what do you think?
@StrongBad Much better.
I don't know the answer from any direct experience (could point you to pages like http://drexel.edu/dcae/assessment/assessment-plans/) but two things I can think of off the top of my head without knowing what subject you teach or at what level: 1) Have students have some input into their own assignments built around objective criteria that you specify and 2) have the students take some part in grading one another.
The OP has asked for an answer supported by reference to research. This seems to be a guess, not supported by research or even experience.
Oh no, if only I'd said that in my comments! The horror! No one should ever try to be helpful!
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10493 | Are alternative metrics taken seriously by hiring committies?
Knowing that there are some members of hiring committees here, I am hoping for some insights.
Having read Rise of Altmetrics, I started to wonder what would be the best way to measure the impact on my publications. I do care for many reasons but one of the reasons is to impress others enough to be able to get a job/promotion/tenure.
So, my question is, do hiring committees take alternative metrics (Facebook likes, mentions in blog posts, etc.) seriously when trying to measure the impact of someone's work or are other issues like impact factor more important?
This question is related but is more about measuring the impact of a journal but my concern is measuring the impact of my own work (which might be in several journals).
This question is also related by asking how impact measurements affect job prospects and has some excellent answers but my question is specifically about 'unofficial' metrics like tweets, downloads on SlideShare, etc.
This question is also related asking how to measure readership of journal articles but my question is whether alternative measures are taking into serious consideration but those making hiring/tenure decisions.
I know there is the h-index (with its own flaws) but that seems to measure my publications as one unit (all publications taken together, therefore measuring me overall). I'm more interested in measuring the impact publication by publication in order to show an improving trend.
On a side note, it seems that there is a general feeling that a publication in a high impact factor journal equals a high impact publication. This feels a little off to me since one might convince the editor their work is important while at the same time fail to convince their academic community of the same.
I have not sat on a hiring committee for a higher education faculty position, but I would avoid putting soft alternative metrics on application material. If I was on a committee and saw that someone listed Facebook likes on his CV, I would think it was odd (possibly unprofessional?), and I would wonder why he felt it necessary (i.e., is he trying to bolster a poor record?).
Alternative metrics might be suspicious to people that are not familiar with them. If you want to show that your recent work had a lot of impact, why not just add a statement like "my recent 2 papers, which were published 2 years ago, have already been cited more than 500 times"?
@Bitwise There is no question about citations. My question is based on the idea in article linked above.
@earthling in the end, these alternative metrics quantify some form of citation, what changes is usually the method of quantification and the definition of a citation (e.g. a loose definition could include social media tags and blogging). The h-index that you mentioned is also based on citations. I just think it is more straightforward to give the actual numbers rather than some metric that aggregates them into a statistic.
I served on a hiring committee in mathematics at a research university in the United States, and I don't believe that any of us paid attention to the sort of metrics you describe.
My personal inclination is that I would not recommend listing any of this information unless it is unusually notable, e.g., if someone particularly well known blogged extensively about your work. However, different countries, universities, and departments might operate differently.
I think the "unusually notable" is good - if Paul Krugman's blog featured your work as The Thing That will Change Economics Forever? Maybe mention it. Random blogger things your nifty? Maybe not.
If altmetrics such as the number of Facebook likes, the number of mentions in blog posts, etc. would be considered as a measure of impact and rewarded by hiring committees, then scientists would have significant incentives to increase their altmetrics. Such altmetrics are very easily manipulable (e.g., by creating fake Facebook accounts, fake blog posts, automating downloads), so once they will start to be artificially increased their relevance for estimating impact would disappear.
I have not heard about altmetrics being taken seriously by hiring committees, and given the argument above it is likely that it will not happen in the future, neither.
This is more of a comment than an answer.
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16232 | Can I include under-review content in my PhD Thesis?
In the verge of writing up a PhD thesis, is it fine to include the content of the work which is submitted to a conference and is "under review" at the time of writing up. More specifically if the conference has 'double-blind' review process.Or is it advisable to wait till the review decision on publication is out.
Please suggest.
Thanks, KR
This really depends on the times. If you are writing up at this moment, I'd wait a little bit for acceptance/rejection before adding it, because it could be rejected, and then you would have in your thesis a paper that has been rejected. Rejected papers seem not to exist... PD: I just saw your history (don't judge me!) so the basic advice is: do as in the other question (if you can't wait).
@Trylks I don't understand, doesn't a rejected paper (assuming that the work is correct) simply get resubmitted to another journal?
@AruRay I think the problem arises if it gets rejected because the work is not correct.
Ask your supervisor.
@AruRay as gerrit says, the main problem is a rejection because the work is not correct. But even in the best case, assuming it's correct, resubmitted and accepted in a different journal, how are you going to edit the journal name in the printed book of your thesis?
"I think the problem arises if it gets rejected because the work is not correct." …in which case your committee should not approve your thesis! (You know, there was a time when most PhD theses did not contain peer-reviewed work…)
I am sure this may vary but this is standard procedure for our theses since they are based on papers. A student will typically have about four papers/manuscripts in their thesis ranging from published through all stages of revision in a journal to not yet submitted manuscripts.
You will need to check with your local guidelines what is expected from a thesis to figure out the details but it would seem difficult to demand all published papers unless the period to complete a PhD is open ended.
Thanks a lot for all the responses. I will contact my advisor for his suggestion and refer uni guidelines for this.
You can do it, but you should clearly label it as "submitted to xyz" to make clear it is not accepted, yet. You should update the status ("accepted for xyz", no additional remarks) according to the progress.
Nonetheless, you can (and should) write about the topics in your thesis since it is your work you are describing. The only difference is that the statments you are making are not peer-reviewed, yet.
In general, it is a good idea to ask your supervisor about it since some can have different opinions on this topic.
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20146 | Correct term to address the "academic publications"
I am trying to use/find the correct term for the practice of publishing research results in academia, mainly a reference to the practice of publishing research findings in a formal journal or conference.
The term has to have a clear contrast to the practice of publishing full data-sets of research results (ex: in a repository), but which is also a sub-form of "publishing of research results"
I have started my work by using the term "Scholarly Communication" which was somehow influenced by one of my mentors. Although I was happy on the initial suggestion, I am finding myself not so keen on the use of it, as it seems cheaper in contrast to for example: Academic Publishing which seems broader to include more research ventures (done also by non-scholars, but still viable for academic recognition).
The problems with the term Academic Publishing are two for my perspective. 1) I have not been able to find a strong definition of it, and 2) it is so broad that can include the "publishing of research data-sets" which I need to reference separately.
Would appreciate a discussion for a creative term which coins the academic publishing as it has been referenced traditionally?
Update 1: Considering also Academic Literature referenced in a comment below by darthbith
You could just be specific and say journal and conference publications
I have used the phrase "archival literature" to refer to journal publications; conference publications in my field typically aren't considered "permanent" and are typically not accessible to people that don't attend the conference. However, depending on your field, "archival literature" may specify both journals and conferences...
@nivag Although it is a correct usage, it might be tiresome for the reader to read "journal and conference publications" repeatedly in different paragraphs.
@darthbith "archival literature" might not necessarily be academic literature. I will add "Academic Literature" to the question as it seems an plausible choice for what I am looking for.
Would this be a better fit on the English Language and Usage Stack Exchange?
@aeismail I don't think so...
This seems unanswerable as it asks the putative answerer to engage in telepathy. What do you mean by "academic publications"?
"For purposes of this study, we define a frog to be any publication of research findings that has underdone stringent peer-review." (Or whatever your definition is.) From that point on, the proper term is "frog". However, I recommend using "research publication" instead of "frog".
I suggest "(modifier) dissemination" with (modifier) used to make things more specific. Usually I find the phrase "dissemination of (noun)", and it often refers to a formal release of information, where some semblance of validation of (noun) has occurred. You might find "result dissemination", "data dissemination", "report dissemination" useful. Of course, I'm already getting tired of seeing the word "dissemination" used many times in the same paragraph. I also suggest some synonyms to alleviate developing madness in the reader.
If a thing is publicly available, it is literally published, nevermind paywalls. It would be an unhelpful abuse of language to have "publication" mean exclusively "publication in a traditional, recognized, peer-refereed, journal". I propose (only partly facetiously) referring to the latter as "gatekeeper publications". :)
Srsly, there is an issue here. If the NSF or NIH require that we make our research public, but we can't get it through the gatekeepers, then what?
So, if you want to refer to publication in peer-reviewed journals, say "peer-reviewed journal publication". This might be in contrast to "internet publication". Adjectives.
I absolutely agree with your note. Actually I was trying to differentiate between two forms of publishing, the research report in the form of a scientific paper vs research data-sets (which are actually needed to support a research paper)
A data set is probably the sort of thing that should just go on your web page, or in an archive. Should be made publicly available, but since it doesn't make sense to "peer review" the data itself, you won't "get credit" in that sense.
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11546 | A MD-PhD in Oncology
I am about to finish my Bachelor Degree in Computer Engineering and Computational Biology, and planning to apply for a MD-PhD with focus on oncology. After talking to my academic advisers, I had very bad impressions about MD-PhD Program ("such a waste of time", "please just focus on one thing at the time"). However, it seems that such critiques are targeting the general approach of MD-PhD programs, and I still think that for the case of cancer research, it would benefit me a lot to gain the experiences in both.
To that extent, I have one question with two sides: Does earning an MD help improve my research as a PhD (for example, identify more significant and meaningful problems), and does earning a PhD side help me become a more skilled practicing oncologist?
This is a good question. A certain extended family member of mine earned a MD-PhD from one of the ivy league medical schools. Apparently, it was a good way to get a MD while being funded. Most become medical research professors.
possible duplicate of MD-Phd (MSTP): What are the benefits?
@Daniel. I'm aware of that post. My question is focusing on cancer research.
If you are aware of a previous question that is similar and might be considered a duplicate, it is best to include a link in your question and explain why your new question is not a duplicate.
Since you indicated that you are focusing on oncology, it seems likely that a PhD will enhance your oncology practice. This thread on The Student Doctor Network explores the pros and cons of an MD-PhD in Radiation Oncology. The general consensus is that it is worthwhile if you plan to be active in research as an MD, otherwise it may be a waste of time, money, and energy.
As Shion mentioned in a comment, most MD-PhD's become medical research professors, while it sounds as though you will be in active medical practice. There is a possibility that having a PhD may exclude you from consideration by the hiring boards at non-research-focused institutions. At research-intensive insitutions, the PhD will probably help your case, and certainly can't hurt. It appears that many practicing physicians at top US cancer centers are MD-PhD's. See here, here, and here.
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9554 | Job Websites for University Teachers
What are the main websites teachers look to when searching a new university teaching job? If it varies by discipline, I'm talking about finance in particular but business in general would also be appropriate.
As far as location, I'm looking for teachers from the US or from the UK (but anyone with decent English skills would be considered) to come to beautiful Asia.
I saw this post but it seems focused on research jobs (PhD positions, postdocs, etc.). I'm really looking for teachers to teach financial subjects.
jobs.ac.uk is pretty standard for research, teaching and admin academic jobs in the UK.
@DanielE.Shub Thanks but I see they have a grand total of 29 jobs outside of Europe (Asia, Middle East, Africa, and Australasia). Is there no place with more of an international presence?
The first part of your question suggests that you want to find resources on how to find jobs in Asia. That's easy. Googling "Academic Positions Asia" found me this website (www.unijiobs.asia), (on the first hit) which claims to be "Asia's University Jobs Portal."
This seems to be what you are looking for. The site seems to have a fairly comprehensive set of search tools, with the ability to do keyword searching or to search by position type, by discipline, or by location.
The end of your question suggests that you really want to find people to fill positions that you have. Listing on sites like I just found and like what you found will help, but in general, you need to advertise. The best advertising is to be had in the publications or on the website(s) of the professional organization(s) relevant to your discipline.
In terms of advertisements see http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2699/are-pay-announcements-worth-their-price-to-hire-people
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10214 | How do you record your lectures?
While reading this question, and specifically Chris Gregg's answer, I started to think about recording my lectures in order to help students review, help students who missed class, and generally provide a way for people to learn about the subjects I teach.
So, how do teachers (with the same goal as I wrote) record their lectures? Do they simply ask someone to record them with a video camera? Do they go in and do more serious editing like you see in Coursera videos where the video transitions between the lecturer's face and slides being drawn on by the lecturer (as described here)?
I'm curious what my options are, considering my university provides zero support for this idea of recording lectures.
Thanks for the shout-out! This is what I said about the topic when it came up a couple of months ago. I don't edit at all, but I do provide slides separately because it's hard to read on the board when I'm presenting.
This looks related: Using iMovie and Keynote to Make a Web-Based Keynote
"help students who missed class" I think you meant to write, "help students to miss class". Because if you provide good video recordings of your lectures, many will elect to do just that, thinking they can skip class and just catch up online. If you're OK with that, then try it. I myself feel it's not good to encourage this at a brick and mortar college.
If you could record lectures it benefits everyone - our uni uses Panopto, but you could use OBS or even just bring a hand-held microphone recorder ('Zoom Handy Recorder' or the like); everyone would benefit even from just a simple audio recording to follow along with the course notes/presentation files.
@Vix One issue is that when you give students one more reason why it is OK to miss class, more of them will then miss class. While some students are advanced enough to make an informed decision based on how they learn best, there are students who simply give into the laziness and end up hurting themselves.
Whilst I appreciate that @earthling- some of us have unresolved mental problems which inhibit our ability to attend lectures reliably (the cause of this is a topic for another question) but without recordings we would fall even further behind than our more able colleagues and deeper into disrepair; encouragement and consultation with the students as to their lack of attendance begins to address the deeper issues I alluded to - there is often a reason, we wish to be attending and on-top of our studies, mixing us with the lazy/apathetic would be to diminish our possibility at good outcomes.
@Vix I get it, I really do. I was only mentioning one factor for consideration. Finding a way to help those who need the help along with not enabling others' lax behavior would be something I would very much like to read about.
@earthling "Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.” - this quote sprung to mind, and yet another reply at 4am (wondering why I miss my lectures?) - at this moment in time I'm researching and attempting to implement raymarching which is totally unrelated to my studies but fascinates me. As long as the offer of help is known, and occasionally reminded, perhaps you could issue recordings on a case by case basis after a little bit of enquiry as to why they are failing to attend (then you can determine who is lax vs. struggling and in need of help to catch-up).
If my lecture is done via a presentation (not my preferred method, but necessary for some classes), I record the audio of my lectures along with a "video" of the slides I use. I use Camtasia to record everything, so the only other thing I need is a microphone.
When I give lectures at the blackboard I don't record them. However, for those lectures I provide a fairly detailed set of course notes.
To clarify, are you saying you record using Camtasia while you are lecturing/presenting in front of students? One thing I'm wondering about is how to capture the audio of student questions (whose voices might be too weak to be picked up by a mic in the front of the room).
You can solve this problem by repeating the question.
For people using Linux (as I do), an alternative to Camtasia is Kazam. It's very simple but does the job.
The system my department uses for large lecture classes captures two video feeds: One showing the lecturer and the screen, taken from a camera mounted on the ceiling, the other showing whatever is currently being projected onto the screen, captured on route to the projector. (I normally lecture with a document camera, printer paper, Sharpies, and the occasional small prop.) Audio is captured separately from a microphone on the instructor's lapel.
My department's playback system allows the students to show either or both videos, at adjustable sizes, with synchronized playback, and to slow down or speed up playback. The capturing system automatically locates transitions between slides (or, in my case, new pieces of paper) and provides navigation landmarks for the students.
The system is almost entirely automated. In particular, the lecture videos are not edited at all.
I also provide detailed course notes.
My preference for teaching undergraduate courses (in physics) is:
Audio-record the lecture using a small MP3 player hung around my neck, and provide the file to students as a MP3 file
Write coherent notes on the blackboard that students can use as the basis for their own notes
I specifically do not do the following, which I believe is harmful to students' learning in such courses:
Provide detailed printed notes
Use slides (except for occasional complex Figures and animations)
An old question, but a new answer.
Since COVID-19, I've become more familiar with tools such as:
Zoom
Streamlabs
and, depending on the audience, I use one or the other.
Streamlabs allows me to compose a video view that includes my laptop screen, the webcam in the corner, and some text to title the video. I can then share the output of Streamlabs on Zoom, if that is the system the school uses, or stream the output straight to YouTube for playback later.
Even if the students are in-person, many of them (once or twice a semester) miss class and are thankful for the video version of each class so they don't fall to far behind.
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43353 | What is the best way to design a paper questionnaire to support scanning and converting to raw data?
When surveying my students for various reasons (which have nothing to do with my institution which does not care about, nor fund, any of my "research"), I find that online surveys get a very low response rate. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I can get up to 50% of students to respond (sometimes only 10%). However, if I hand questionnaires out during class time I can usually get 80-90% completion rates.
The problem comes that I end up with hundreds of paper surveys and keying them into a computer takes hours. There must be a better way.
I am actually looking for two pieces:
How can I design the paper survey to best support scanning and having a computer convert the scan into raw data which I can then explore
What kind of software can do the scanning and conversion (I realize this might be a question for softwarerecs.SE)
For point 2, I usually use multiple choice or Likert-type scales so full OCR is not required.
Are there standards for questionnaire design which support this process?
Depending where you are, there's a good chance your institution has a Scantron system, which you could just use.
While academics need to frequently do this, I do not see anything academic specific about the question. I think softwarerecs.se is the way to go.
@NateEldredge Sadly no such system at my institution.
@StrongBad I agree about the software but I believe questionnaire design belongs here more than there.
While this question is the reason I asked http://meta.academia.stackexchange.com/questions/1696/are-we-migrating-away-too-many-questions, I think it is a good example. Despite my statements in that question, apparently it is not clear to me how I feel about migration.
Have you considered asking your students to do an on-line survey at a specific time in class? The response rate may be more affected by in-class vs. not-in-class rather than on-line vs. paper.
@PatriciaShanahan One challenge is that not everyone has the ability to connect in the classroom. I've got 60-80 students in the room so having them take turns at a laptop that I bring it would simply take too long.
Could you design the survey so that it can be done on a smartphone, without requiring a laptop?
@PatriciaShanahan It's the same issue: I have many students without connectivity. The only connectivity I can depend on is my own (hence MY laptop) tethered to my phone. Too many students with too few devices to accomplish the task in a reasonable time.
Have you considered outsourcing the keying to Mechanical Turk or a similar crowdsourcing service? Then your only job is to throw the stack of forms into a sheet-feeding scanner and upload the images. Obviously you have to consider things like privacy, duplicating the tasks to cross-check accuracy, the hassle of initial set-up, how to pay for it, etc. but I still think it would be much simpler than trying to roll your own scantron-type system, and I suspect the cost would be pretty reasonable.
@Pont I have no desire to re-invent the wheel. I'm looking to see if anyone has solved this problem already. It seems like something many, many people here would use already (paper surveys then scan-OCR).
What if you ask the student to participate in an on-line survey and in order to motivate them to do so, you offer them some points in their final exam? E.g. say the exam has 100 points for all correct answers and you give an extra 5 for those who participate. Down-side: Survey can not be anonymous.
This does really seem like it should already be a point-and-click level of "easy", even if it has restricted options. Though this may also help to explain why so few professors I've ever encountered design and administer their own evaluation forms, especially for large classes!
I can offer some help with scanning paper questionnaires as this is something I've done in a previous job. But, first, I would suggest it's quite involved so you may want to at least revisit improving your 'digital' response rate first.
Audience response devices
One option may be to allow the students to use 'clickers' to respond to questions. I would recommend having no more than 10 questions that can be answered on a multiple choice or Likert scale, which fits your requirements. Our department use something like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audience_response
We've found that about 10 questions can be answered in about 10 minutes.
Re-consider your online/digital surveys
If clickers aren't suitable - for example because the students are not physically situated together - you could consider reviewing your digital survey, purely because it's significantly easier to obtain data from responses. To improve response rates, I tried to follow these rules of thumb:
No matrices, ever.
No more than three questions per page.
No more than six pages.
Obviously this is going to vary depending on how much detail you need, but these reminded me to keep the questions light.
Scanning paper surveys
So, with all that in mind if you still need the paper copy route, here goes. To make it worthwhile you need:
a scanner designed for automatic throughput. That is, a single sheet personal/small office scanner is not going to speed things up for you if you have to manually change ~200 sheets. Something like this Fujitsu ScanSnap might do the trick.
Software that recognises marks. I used Eyes and Hands, which is deprecated and has been superceded by ReadSoft as far as I can tell. ReadSoft can recommend a compatible scanner.
There are some requirements about how you set your paper questionnaire up, and this needs to be precise. Therefore I recommend something like QuarkXPress or Adobe InDesign.
You need four recognition marks for each page, one for each corner. I often found a character from the header or text ok for the left hand side, but on the right hand side if text wasn't justified I needed to manually add some marks.
You need to lay our tick or text boxes quite clearly. For example, it's quite common to see tables without any padding used for response boxes on paper surveys but you need a gap between them for the scanning software to recognise them unambiguously.
With these basic requirements you can set up a survey to be automatically scanned and entered in to a spreadsheet or database.
Clearly this is quite involved so you may be able to find a company who can do this for your commercially. Some market research or survey companies might be able to do the heavy lifting for you.
Your answer is very detailed and certainly covers the points. However, I am quite disappointed in how complex this actually is. Now I am thinking of giving up scanning and auto-recognition and moving towards finding/building a (simple) voice-controlled data-entry app so I can just read out all the answers and still get the raw data for processing.
It certainly was - and probably still is - quite an involved process. I've not used the software @Willie Wong suggests, so that might make things smoother for you. And you could get away with just Word, but it would be difficult. But you would still need to lay out your surveys in a way that was compatible with your software, and get an automatic scanner. Perhaps post an example survey and see if people can help improve it for better response rates, or look to see if a company would do the scanning for you?
In terms of the software solution, as one option I would suggest playing with the AutoMultipleChoice software package if you have access to a Linux computer. The software can certainly output a CSV file with each response recorded for you to do your own data analysis (i.e. you can completely ignore the "grading" part of the software and just use it to capture data).
A few caveats:
As the software is designed for multiple choice exams, each page is barcoded. You will have to convince the students yourself of their anonymity (if that's necessary); this can be achieved by randomly distributing the copies.
The software supports autoshuffling of the multiple choice responses, as well as the question ordering. This can be used to great effect (if you want to avoid biases due to ordering of things), but sometimes you have to pay attention (questions of the type "on the scale of 1 to 5, rank blah" really shouldn't have the answers ordered "4, 1, 3, 2, 5".)
The software was written by French people; the English documentation reads fine but with some slightly quirky word choices and grammar constructions.
Make sure the students use a dark black pen to mark the questionnaire, and make sure they fill in the boxes. Experience has told me that blue ink or pencil, or tick marks or "X"-marks are often missed if you scan them using the default settings. You have to play with the contrast and darkness settings on your scanner a bit to find the right settings.
The scanning can be painful if you have a large stack and not one of those automatic-feed photocopiers.
Have you looked at Akindi? https://akindi.com/ You or the students can print out the answer sheets which are similar to those used by Scantron (you know, the SAT's and such).
I will also add to the notion made elsewhere that with so many kinds bringing computers and smartphones to class that using something like SurveyMonkey.com (or similar) will probably be even easier than going the scanning software route.
This question covers quite a wide area to be comprehensively answered. The first point that comes to mind is "Why are you doing a survey and keying the results in?"
Is it because your institution requires it of you? Do they require the survey to be performed as part of a teaching quality process? Is the desire for the survey your own and on your own initiative? (You just said "for various reasons") I say this because when someone starts doing a task that is difficult I ask "Do you need to do that?"
The surveys could be for you to learn about your teaching in some way in order to make a teaching improvement, perhaps. The surveys could be caused by you performing research on your class students in order to collect data, perhaps. The surveys could be done because you are teaching the students something about the role of surveys in business or marketing, perhaps. Maybe you are doing the survey as a substitute for other forms of summative or formative assessment, perhaps. (... and even more reasons I could speculate on).
I'll address these points in more detail. If you are surveying the class for your own personal teaching quality improvement, then I suggest that typing the data is not necessary. You can collect two kinds of data (qualitative and quantitative). The numerical and statistical parts are probably less important if the only consumer of the results is yourself. What is important are the detailed comments from the students. These involve reading all the responses irrespective of whether the survey was done on paper or online. I have used all three systems over the years (online survey, scanned paper survey, just paper survey) and for qualitative personal feedback it takes the same time to read them all.
If you are surveying the class for personal research data, then research ethics approval comes into play. In most research ethical approval and participant informed consent is required and this usually rules out mass questionnaires of classes of undergraduates! If mass surveys are required then some form of funding for appropriate data collection tools should have been part of the research plan.
If the surveys are part of teaching business and marketing processes then perhaps the investigation of how to do them better should be part of your teaching preparation, because helping students learn how to solve these problems in a business context is what you might need to include in the course, perhaps.
Having challenged the need for the survey or the data entry, lets assume your premise that it needs to be done.
I would next look at the relationship between yourself and the institution. Does the institution expect an online survey of the class and are they providing the web facilities for this that they expect you to use, or do they expect you to organise some form of online form yourself and provide them with the data? If the institution is expecting you to collect the data by a method of your choice and enter the data into their systems then they are leaving themselves open to external criticism of their quality mechanisms. This means that there is no audit mechanism that the data collected about any course from any group of students is valid and meaningful. One should challenge it through the various management and committee structures that exist in an institution for that purpose. The goal would be to either get the need for data collection to be properly supported or abandoned.
If you are trying to improve the response rate to an institutional provided online student questionnaire by substituting a paper copy and inputting the data yourself also sounds suspect. If the institutional data collection permits someone other than the accredited student to give feedback, then again this leaves the institutional mechanisms open to criticisms if any external audit were done on the data. It also means that you could equally criticise the invalidity or validity of other courses or faculty data as untrustworthy.
(Does my analysis begin to hint that perhaps your question is a little weak in construction, because this feels like answering an undergraduate course assignment from a business school; you can grade me later..)
OK. Lets continue to assume that doing a paper survey to collect quantitative and qualitative data is sensible and valid. What software and facilities are available? There are quite a few vendors that offer surveying capabilities in bulk supported by combined online and paper surveys. These have been adopted by quite a few educational institutions, my own included. A quick google search for such things shows many many vendors. There are online survey makers (some free), there are OCR questionnaire tool makers and those that do a combined job. There are those that do the data analysis for you also, and some that operate at an institutional level. Just so many to choose from. Perhaps you were just asking us to sort through the many offerings - oh! if it were that easy to answer.
Its hard to get cheap and good together. Those tools that provide what you need are often priced in a way that only make it economic for adoption at an institutional level, which is why action for a solution at an institutional level is often the best route to a solution.
I have used (and written) software to handle the OCR and data extraction from paper sources for large populations (~100,000). It is not easy, and also depends on your technical skills and processing and customising your data handling.
The first technical task to consider is the paper handling. How do you plan to OCR the physical material? If you have to use a single sheet scanner and turn the papers by hand then you have a problem. It is not a sensible task for an academic to perform, it is time consuming, tedious and error prone. If you have so few sheets that it is not tedious, time consuming and error prone, then it would still be faster to process the data by hand by reading and calculating yourself! You need a bulk sheet scanner that does accurate paper placement and has high speed sheet feed. These are not cheap. The salaries of clerical staff to do the scanning and paper handling are also not cheap. These are further reasons why solutions are best sourced at an institutional level and not a personal one.
OK, lets continue to assume that we can get the paper OCR processed in a reasonable manner. We need software post-processing. What software to use? It either comes with the package you buy/adopt or you have to customise. How capable are you at the customisation. I wrote textual matching algorithms using regular expression pattern matching combined with structural parsing of the resultant text generated by the OCR. Handling user errors was not easy , but you can structure the questions in a manner that permits regular expression matching to find the necessary glyphs.
For example:
1. This is a Question? X
2. This does not have an answer
3. This question has a textual free form answer:
=====================================================
Answer goes where we can find it
=====================================================
Can be pattern matched to detect the glyph mark after a question or the absence of a mark. The problem with real paper is that dirt and coffee stains can also look like response glyphs. Human post processing is required. I had to write a data error checker before I could write a useful data capture phase. If you are not into heavy professional coding, then one must adopt a professional and probably pricey solution or service provider. (Sorry, institutional again).
I also assume you know there is a whole science and scientific discipline to making surveys and questionnaires?
(For example: The Duke Inititiative on Survey Methodology, Odum Institute an UNC)
Perhaps you should be involving some professional input to your problem, rather than us dilettantes? (But then I'm back to an institutional level again)
Thank you for your (long) answer. As for my motivations, they are my own: Doing my own research into different pedagogical techniques. My institution does not care about any of it (in any way). Student opinions I can just read. However, in some cases I want to do some number crunching (multiple choice, Likert-type scale, etc.) and that is just easier on a computer. My needs might be better categories as optimal mark recognition than OCR. I will update my question accordingly.
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20554 | What guidelines exist for volume of evidence in an undergraduate business assignment?
When teaching undergraduate students, I find freshmen students to be mostly unaware with the idea of including evidence to support the author's opinion. That is, they write something like:
Leaders should be friendly and support those in lower positions in the organization. Being friendly makes others like you and that makes them work harder.
Where it should be more like:
Goleman (2000) wrote about affiliative leadership in which the leader focuses on the emotional connection with the followers. In the ABC case, the leader is likely to be well served by using affiliative leadership due to the fact that workers who feel a strong emotional connection with their manager are known to push themselves harder in order to gain the approval of the manager (Jones, 2008). This implies that the leader should not only be affiliative but should also withhold compliments from the subordinates in order to maximize output.
I remember my teachers telling me the guidelines was 80/20. 80% of the writing should be from the student and 20% should be from external sources, which support the student's opinion.
Meanwhile, I have read quite a few papers from students where they basically have a citation for every sentence. This makes me wonder if they actually know much. After all, if 80% of the writing is from academic sources, it shows that the authors of those papers understand, not that the student understands. However, I also consider that the fact that the student knew which text to include should count for something.
Then I start thinking about plagiarism. If the student has simply quoted their way through a paper (with proper citations) then someone else could submit the same paper and it would not count as plagiarism because everything is cited.
Is there any generally accepted guideline on the percentage of writing in a student's written assignment which should be from the student and what percentage should be from other (hopefully academic) sources?
I realize that this might vary by field. My field is business management.
Nice question but I fear it would greatly vary from field to field. I don't think it would be easy to pinpoint an optimal ratio that would be applicable in all scenarios
@posdef I suspected as much, that is why I included my field, though I wonder if there is a guideline that spans fields.
Context: my Bachelors degree was in Management and Electrical Engineering (double major). Though it was several decades ago, I think I understand your field and setting. My current PhD field is Computational Social Science and it includes some Organization Science.
I agree with your general intuitions, and the 80/20 ratio seems reasonable but I would definitely not be presenting that as a rule or even as a guideline. Instead, I would say that the nature of the paper and the arguments should dictate the use of evidence and citations.
Papers that analyze foundational ideas might only have one or two citations -- the original seminal papers. But there might be so many ideas in those papers that the student should devote considerable space to examining them.
In contrast, papers that summarize or survey a sub-field will have a very high number of citations and quotes from the research literature. The students task is to present the survey as a cohesive whole (if it is one) and to show how the various lines of research tie together or diverge.
Rather than focus on citations, I think its better to focus students on the principles of argumentation -- with analogies to legal arguments and formal debates. Too often students will believe that their points are "obvious" and "common sense", or maybe "best practice", and thus requires no justification or support from evidence. Disabuse them of those notions through Socratic questioning: "How do you know that? Why do you believe that? How would you persuade someone who holds the opposite view?" and so on.
Once their argument has a structure, they can begin assembling evidence to support it and defend it from criticisms. That evidence might come from published research or other sources. But they shouldn't include any citations where they do not need support. They also need to consider the credibility and relevance of the evidence. No matter how authoritative a citation might be, it shouldn't be included if it is not highly relevant to the student's argument.
Here's a test that students can apply after they have written their paper, in a final edit pass:
For each citation or piece of evidence, ask:
Would my argument be weakened if I removed this?
Can I replace this with stronger evidence?
For each point in the argument or assertion, ask:
Is this adequately supported with evidence or citations from the literature?
Is the evidence and support both credible and relevant?
Have I, as author, fulfilled my role in this paper, given the nature and goals of the assignment?
Hope this helps!
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42073 | Can I refuse a stipend during a PhD program?
I was admitted to a US PhD program (in computer science, if that matters) with fellowship + stipend.
I am getting a separate stipend from my government (which is higher than the university stipend), but they forbid me from getting an additional stipend from the university.
Is it OK to ask the university to just pay for my tuition (with the fellowship), and refuse the stipend?
Make sure your government is ok with that! It may be not obvious, but they might be forbidding you not only from getting a direct stipend, but also from getting direct or indirect benefits. So check out very carefully what exactly they forbid you and what they allow.
Yes. The university will generally be happy to work with you to make sure your tuition is covered and call the money whatever they need to. As you are saving the department money, you may also ask the department to provide some additional travel or research funds instead of the stipend.
You may have to make sure you talk to the dean of grad studies at your department about this. Sometimes the person with administrative duties will not know how to handle this and may tell you it is not possible when in fact it may be possible to work something out.
Also you're getting a conversation with the dean about how you're making his program more cost efficient. He'll like that.
@corsiKa I am not sure how Hadi is using Dean, but at least in my experience Deans in the US and UK do not get involved in this stuff.
Usually, this would work, but not always. A Sweden-based scientist I know declined a PhD student who came with their own funding, because he did not want that there would be two classes of PhD students in his group. The externally funded PhD student would have a different amount of money, different rules for vacation, sick leave, and other benefits, and he considered this to be detrimental to the group. Therefore, he declined the student.
(At least, this was the reason I was told. There could have been other motivations that I was not told.)
I can only imagine the response of the department head to that one. My departments promotion committee would not look to kindly on "I turned down that funding because I was worried about the inter-personal issues it would cause."
@StrongBad It is definitely not uncommon to turn down externally-funded students in Europe. What gerrit mentions is one reason, another is that sometimes there are concerns about the quality of the externally-funded student. Afaik, deans or department heads do not typically get involved in such cases. (also, the decision power of department heads over professors is more nominal than anything in many European universities, anyway)
@xLeitix yes, my UK department turns down externally funded students fairly regularly because of concerns over the quality of the student. I see no problem with that. We do not regularly turn down externally funded students because of inter-personal issues.
Perhaps the reasons this professor told me were not the true reasons.
@khayal Sadly this is not an accurate description, at least in some European countries. There are often fewer applicants that places people would like to fill
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170957 | Names/salutations for international students of unknown gender
I often receive e-mail (typically inquiring about studying with me as a graduate students) from students, especially foreign students, whose gender/pronouns I can't easily tell (they haven't specified). (For people from the Americas and Europe I can usually guess reasonably reliably, but I get fuzzy when we get to names from Asian/African cultures). Let's say their name is "Foo (given name) Doe (family name)". I normally start formal e-mails "Dear [whoever]".
Applicants don't typically have a PhD, so I can't address them neutrally as "Dear Dr. Doe"
"Dear Foo" could work, but I generally like to be a little bit more formal with people I don't know (could argue that the rank differential [professor/prospective student] makes this OK?)
"Dear Doe" is not a form of address I ever use with anyone else, seems weird
"Dear Mx. Doe" is unusual in North America (and seems uncommon anywhere outside the UK: (Wikipedia)
"Dear Mr./Ms. Doe"?
Look up the name on the Internet and make a guess based on the region of origin?
Is there a best practice?
Never guess somebody's title; it's a part of their name, so you should only address somebody by a title they have chosen to be addressed by.
What's with the formality? If they do come, we'll be on a first name basis. A plain "Hello" is fine.
"Hello, " works for me
@kaya3 The only alternative seems to be guessing that they are happy for their title to be omitted.
@EspeciallyLime If somebody would be unhappy for their title to be omitted, then they should not omit their title when telling you their name. They can hardly complain that you call them by the name they call themselves. If they introduce themselves without giving their title, then you are not merely guessing that they are OK with being addressed without their title; you have evidence they are OK with it.
For a comparison, I think addressing somebody by a guessed title is as wrong as if somebody introduced themselves to you (in writing) as Alex, and you respond by addressing them as Alexander when their name might be Alexandra, or Alex might not be short for anything. If somebody has given you their name then that's the name you address them by, don't make something else up yourself.
@kaya3 It has always been normal to sign a letter with one's full name but no title, even in times when omitting a title in reply, or using someone's given name without explicit permission, was unheard of.
The Wikipedia article says "Mx" is "accepted by the UK government." That does not mean it is commonly used. I would guess that 99% of the UK population have never used it, and would have to guess what it meant. Compare that with the fact that everybody in the UK knows what "Ms" means.
@EspeciallyLime Assuming you are talking about people who would be unhappy to be addressed without their "Dr." or "Prof." title because that could indicate disrespect, it seems quite normal for people to include such titles in their email signature. In any case, if somebody is upset about being addressed by the exact name that they put in their own email to you, and insists you should address them by their title (which they didn't previously tell you), it is pretty easy to just say "sorry, I didn't want to assume - I suggest you include your title in future correspondence so that people will
know how to address you." That seems to me to be the absolute safest option because if anyone is offended that you didn't assume something about them, then they are just going to get offended by a lot of benign things and you can't really do anything about that - whereas it is more reasonable for somebody to be offended if you do assume something about them which turns out to be incorrect. Of course, sometimes somebody's title can be inferred (rather than guessed), e.g. if somebody signs their email "Jane Doe PhD" then it is presumably safe to address them as Dr. Jane Doe.
There are many gender-ambiguous "traditional" names in the UK and US, and many more "modern inventions", For example Alex, Andy, Charlie, Hillary, Jackie, Jo, Leslie, Noel, Robin, etc.
If it's just email, do you even need the formality of a salutation? I just go with "Hi," myself, if I use anything at all.
I like to maintain a little bit more formality when responding to someone I don't know, especially if I'm acting in an official capacity (e.g. as graduate chair; I didn't mention that in my question)
@Marc Glisse - There are huge cultural differences in this. Getting an informal reply to a formal email could be really offensive/distasteful to some. It could make them feel they are not taken seriously or are not respected.
as a non-binary person in the UK, what the wikipedia article is referring to is just that the government offers it as an option on dropdown lists online (and quite a few other large businesses have followed suit). Most people are still unfamiliar with it, or have just seen it as a vague curiosity. I've never experienced anyone using it for someone who's gender they do not know, only ever for people who have actively chosen to state that it is their title (usually because they are non-binary)
For a salutation in communications written in English, I would suggest using:
Dear F. Doe,
or
Dear Foo Doe,
These salutations seem pretty gender-neutral (gender-inclusive) and sound natural to my ear. They avoid any assumptions on the gender or title of the applicant. This is probably close to the form that you are currently using already.
Justification for this particular best practice: Gender-inclusive writing: correspondence (Linguistic recommendation from the Translation Bureau, Government of Canada).
From the same source, it is clear that a "best practice" might change for communication in a different language. For French, they would recommend:
Bonjour,
or name-specific:
Foo Doe,
However, language dependence is just a side note for this particular question.
Other guidelines also exist, and if your educational institution or country has them, they are definitely worth taking a look at and considering for use. But choosing some guideline that targets gender-inclusivity is what one should do nowadays (unless something obviously flawed is discovered about a certain guide at some point).
Indeed, this is what I do when writing to editors of magazines, for instance...
I suppose it does assume you know which name is to be abbreviated, which can sometimes be unclear, e.g. with Chinese names, who sometime use native Chinese order (Family Given), and sometimes flip them to Western order. I'm not even sure if would be normal to call someone e.g. "Mao Z."
@AzorAhai-him- True. And then a "Dear Foo Doe," is perfectly good I guess.
When responding to emails to people I have not met, I usually copy the name from the signature and add "Dear" in front.
This is the best answer - the simple principle is that somebody's name is what they tell you their name is.
Especially if it's unclear which part(s) of their signature would be "surname", or if that even makes sense.
This answer is good but I accepted @AntonMenshov's answer because it goes into a little bit more depth.
@BenBolker This answer is actually better because it works for people who only have one name. I've gotten emails from Javanese students before. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mononymous_person#Mononym-normal
First, even in cases where you feel you can guess the gender, I suggest you to avoid using Mr or Ms because, first, there are exceptions that are easily misgendered and, second, you don't know the pronoun of the recipient. As an example of the former, Andrea in my country is a masculine name whereas in other countries is feminine. Many an Andrea has been misgendered along the years (a few years ago a former student of mine who had moved to Switzerland told me that he started signing off his emails as Andreas to avoid this).
Guessing which is the family name and which is the given one is also risky because in many Asian countries the family name is written first, but some people use the Western convention when writing to international recipients. In 2006, while organising a conference, I addressed many participants in the wrong way, until I realised about the exchange from the signature of someone I was familiar with.
So, in most cases, I've been using Anton Menshov's solution, with full name, for quite a while. For students, I also use
Dear Student
A bit impersonal but safe.
In fact, it's happened numerous times in math that the author ordering has been non-alphabetical (our standard) because even collaborators confused family vs given names of East Asian coauthors! (see https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/150414/19607)
Your former student, Andreas, may find that some people assume that's a female name too. (Source: personal experience)
@AndreasBlass fwiw, that has never happened to me.
@AndreasGrapentin: If I had to guess, it might be more common for people to wrongly assume "Andreas" is a female name in regions where "Andreas" isn't a common name in the first place but "Andrea" is.
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9017 | Should I pursue my PhD dream based on my Undergrad experiences?
I'm an Undergrad student from one of the Indian Institutes of Technology and I still have a year left to complete my Dual-degree course in Computer Science(offers me M.Tech & B.Tech by the end of June 2014). I've a not-so-proud-of gpa of 7.5/10 which is around 3.0/4.0 which I assume is pretty low when compared to my seniors' gpa who've taken up a PhD. But, what I've experienced from a last summer's industry internship and the previous summer working under a professor doing research is that I really can't work in the industry for a longer time writing Software as making money is the least of my concerns. The research work yielded in a rejected publication though I was way more satisfied than the internship
I worked under another professor the next winter, published an article in a highly reputed journal in the field of Complex networks and working on another publication this fall. I'll be working along with IBM in a research internship this summer and hoping to do well. A bit of a late realization haunts me day-to-day. Needless to say, my transcripts suck. So, to dodge all the obstacles that I created myself, I'm planning to do research work extensively for the rest of my Undergrad time. Also, I'm thinking of joining the industry after my graduation for about a year or two before PhD for two reasons. One being, my work experience can be of help and can make up for my poor transcript and second being that I can reinforce the industry-is-not-so-interesting belief. The second being not so important.
So, is pursuing PhD from a reputed university still in my scope? What suggestions can you offer for increasing my chances that I can do during my last year? Reading a lot of questions in this forum site, I believed this might be a good place to vent my rant. Thanks a lot in advance.
A 3.5+ is generally preferred but a 3.0 and some solid test scores (GMAT/GRE) can really bump you up in the admissions line. Keep working on your publications and when it comes time to write your personal essay talk about how you have published already but really want to develop those skills so you can be a prolific researcher.
If you love research, and the creation of knowledge, then go for the PhD it will give you the best training and opportunity to advance your research.
GMAT for grad schools? In what disciplines?
GMAT is used primarily for business schools. Some CIS programs are housed in the business schools with MIS programs
My cents:
Academia is broken ([1] and other articles).
However, you need to show your future employer that you are not just a Adderall user [2].
Thus, I would get a Master's degree in ECE. Now, why ECE and not CS. I consider CS (as well as physics, chemistry, etc) to be a fundamental science. Industry usually is looking for more applied field, which in the case of CS is ECE (IMHO).
Now, in US, is possible to get Master's degree in ECE for free. Apply for PhD school, then drop out with Master's, preferable with thesis option. This way you will show your future employer that you can do: independent research; describe and present your results.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5429651
[2] http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/01/health/drugs-adderall-concentration
This is not an answer and is not related to the question in anyway.
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9393 | Effectiveness of grouping students to balance skills
In the past, when forming student groups in class I've always allowed the students to form their own groups, which has certainly made them happy as they tend to form around social circles. As a side note, students at my school go together as classes so they have years where they know all the other people in their class quite well.
However, I'm considering doing things differently this time. I'm thinking to actively form the groups in such a way that strong students are in groups with weak students and average students - that is, groups are balanced and there are no 'strong' or 'weak' groups. I believe I can simply randomly pick students for each group and as long as strong, normal, and weak exist in roughly equal numbers, I will naturally achieve my goals, at least for the most part.
What I'm really wondering is if anyone knows the effects of student groups being formed by teachers as opposed to being formed by students themselves when those students have a strong social connection because of traveling though university as a group.
Edit: The class size is 70 and the group size is five.
Edit(2): While the studying will be done in teams, individual members are assessed individually - social loafing will hurt the loafer the most.
What are the sizes of the groups we considering here?
I believe I can simply randomly pick students for each group and as long as strong, normal, and weak exist in roughly equal numbers, I will naturally achieve my goals, at least for the most part. — So, it's not a probability class, then.
@JeffE: It should work in the limit of an infinite class size!
@aiesmail: No, even in the limit, 1/9 of the groups would be all-weak and 1/9 would be all-strong.
@JeffE It's neither a math class nor is it critical to have a perfect distribution of skills. I just want to balance the strong with the weak. So far, the groups are balanced for the most part without a clear identification in class of who is strong and who is weak (and the associated stigma which goes along with that).
@Nicholas I've updated the class size / group size.
How are you going to determine who strong and weak students are? By GPA?
@Irwin I have experience with this group of students - I know the strong and weak ones.
There's an additional thing to think about here: the quality of the work handed in by a group vs. the benefit for each individual student. In theory, if you have one strong student in each group, and all the other students in the group slack off and let the strong one do most of the work (which has been my very frustrating experience as a strong student), then the quality of the average assignment will go up, but not the amount learned by each student.
@Ana That's a good point and caused me to edit my question - assessment is not done at the group level, it is done at the individual level.
In my experience, the motivation of the students is vital. Is it a mandatory course? If many don't care for the course, the good and motivated people in the groups will do the work while the rest sits back.
My armchair researching dug up a lot of articles about this. I'm not an education scholar but here's a brief slice of some results from some research in the business education literature.
From Randall S. Hansen (2006): Benefits and Problems With Student Teams: Suggestions for Improving Team Projects, Journal of Education for Business, 82:1, 11-19
In their related work section, their works surveyed suggest that professor-selected groups appear to have a more positive experience.
However, Muller (1989) stated that student preferences are not
necessarily the most important criterion for successful group work,
whereas Koppenhaver and Shrader (2003) suggested that
instructor-assigned teams lead to more stability in membership, and
that stability enhances each team’s ability to perform effectively.
Contrary to earlier researchers, Hernandez (2002) stated that student
teams should be formed by the instructor, and that students are more
likely to have a positive learning experience when groups are selected
by the professor.
In an empirical study by Praveen Aggarwal and Connie L. O'Brien (2008): Social Loafing on Group Projects: Structural Antecedents and Effect on Student Satisfaction, Journal of Marketing Education. 30:255, they hypothesize that self-selection of groups might reduce social loafing, based on some related work below:
[...] This prediction has some precedence in the pedagogical
literature. Groups formed by the students instead of random assignment
by the instructor are assumed to be more cohe- sive, more productive,
and experience a lower incidence of social loafing (Strong & Anderson,
1990). Mahenthiran and Rouse (2000) found that paired groups of
friends had less incidence of social loafing than randomly assigned
groups.
However, after their empirical study of 420 students in marketing and marketing-related fields, they conclude that there's no effect of student self-selected teams on social loafing.
In this study we proposed four such factors: reducing the scope of the
project, reducing group size, allowing students to self-select group
members, and including multiple peer evaluations. Three of the four
factors were found to have an impact on social loafing.
The only one that didn't have an impact was self-selection.
So one paper says that self-selection is worse, another says it generally doesn't matter. This might suggest that there are other factors that you may want to consider first with respect to making teams perform.
However, as mentioned, I'm not a business education researcher, and these projects might not generalize to other domains either. For example, the fact that these two papers don't cite a similar body of work might suggest that there's a lot more stuff out there. If someone out there is able to expand on this that would be excellent.
Although I did not read those papers, I believe there are some values in them. My concern is that, were the studies conducted based on the eduction system similar to the one the OP is in? As far as I know, all the students in the OP's class know each other very closely in a number of years.
Nice list of references. much better than my speculations :)
@scaaahu: I cannot generalize these papers to the OP's situation, since I don't know enough about either the body of literature nor the OP's class and students. However, given the preliminary evidence it appears that combating the "good and bad" group perception might be better done through breaking the project up into smaller units, reducing group sizes (five is plenty small already), and by introducing multiple peer evaluations before worrying about group formation method. In absence of other evidence, those suggestions all sound reasonable.
I have a practical suggestion based on a course I used to attend.
It was a natural continuation of another course (which was a requirement), and the majority of the student body from the first course was proceeding to take the second course.
The only team leaders were picked by the professor, in a sense that the best students from the previous class were team leaders, and were free to form their group as they wanted.
This ensured several things:
no "elite" team with only the top students
the groups were formed mostly to students liking
some degree of balance was naturally present
(e.g. we grouped on purpose with 6:4 in favor of "stronger" students, because we were allowed to distribute the assignment grade on our own, and that way non-perfect score still meant everybody got approximately the grade they wanted which coincided mostly with their effort: non-perfect project was not a tragedy)
on the previous class, a small number of students were actually "pushed" to go the extra mile, do exceptionally, and provide a team leader for their social group
From the student perspective, at least, it worked pretty well. If you say the student body is not changing that much from class to class, maybe something similar could work.
The downside might be that an "elite" group is clearly identified, but if it is based on objective criteria, and not seemingly the random whiff of a professor, it does not seem so bad.
I am not sure this is a good idea in your case,
They go together as classes so they have years where they know all the other people in their class quite well.
So, there is a long story in their social circles. You really don't want to be part of that story.
For example, if student A and student B happen to be dating the same person, where do you put A and B?
In addition to balance skills, I can understand one of your purposes is to let them work together as professionals regardless their personal relationships. In the real world, it would work if there is a good group leader.
In your case, how do you find 14 good leaders from 70 students? (group size is 5)
Note that you mention strong, average and weak students. I would like to emphasize that it is not too hard to find 14 strong students from 70 students. However, it is not an easy task to find 14 good leaders from a 70 student class.
I'm hoping that the strong students will 'step up' and become good leaders. It might be wishful thinking.
@earthling You may have 14 strong students in a 70-student class. But, strong students may not be good leaders. I grew up from that kind of college system (in Taiwan). In my experience, there is a handful of good leaders in a 50-student class in 4 years. (we elect representatives for our class). You need luck to find 14 good leaders from 70 student class - not 14 strong students .
If you choose the groups, then in a sense you have taken responsibility for their success. A group that perceives themselves as "weak" will subconsciously or consciously blame you for their predicament, absolving them of the need to work hard.
You also open yourself up to charges of favoritism or worse. Again, your perception of strength and weakness might be quite different to the students' own perception, and this has little to do with what the "right" answer is.
It's not clear that the pedagogical benefits of explicit grouping (even assuming you're able to separate weak from strong, which I am dubious of) balance all the downsides of grouping in this manner. While your goal is honorable (balancing groups so that they're of roughly equal strength), it's a doomed goal.
You can never force equality in the classroom. What you can aim for is fairness. A group formed by students is fair in the sense that the students can't complain that you forced them into it.
Balancing skills is very different from balancing past performance. Strong students will, by definition, be strong at most things. Weak students on the other hand will have different strengths. For example, a group of weak students who are all bad at X, will form an extremely weak group. A group of weak students where student A is bad at X but excellent at Y, student B is bad at Y but excellent at Z, and student C is bad at Z but excellent at X could actually form an extremely strong group. Better than grouping on past performance might be for students to rank their strengths at X, Y, and Z and create groups based on this. This will alert students to the strengths required to do well and also allow them to see the strengths/weakness of their groups.
An alternative, which was used during my undergraduate education, is to use a personality test to create groups. This way the students are aware of the benefits/difficulties of personal interactions, which is of high importance to success.
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9892 | Choosing the title of a paper: are provocative titles better?
I am currently working on a paper that challenges some long-standing practices within my field, but am questioning how to title the paper. Basically, the old view in the research field is "we do Y instead of better method X, because X takes too long." We show that X is usually just as fast as Y, and often is actually faster.
Given the fact that we're taking what could be a "controversial" stance, does it make sense to put the controversial idea directly in the title, or should it be saved for the abstract.
Basically, the question is if a "traditional" title, such as:
Using New Method X to Improve Solving Problem Y
is preferable to directly mentioning the issue in the title:
Using New Method X Makes Assumption Z Obsolete.
Or is finding a title that suggests superiority without questioning relevance a satisfactory compromise?
Somewhat related, longer titles get more citations https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2859422/ and humorous titles get fewer http://jis.sagepub.com/content/34/5/680.abstract Also question marks get more downloads but less citations, and information on colons-in-titles here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/14/does-a-question-get-science-paper-cited
And one more link summarizing some of the above with graphs: http://www.researchtrends.com/issue24-september-2011/heading-for-success-or-how-not-to-title-your-paper/
Also, voting to close because this is subjective. If you define 'better' (more citations?), we could do a research study to find the answer...
@mankoff: The requirement of "subjectivity" on this board is definitely laxer than on most other Stack Exchange boards, just because of the nature of academia itself.
Some journals do not prefer non-traditional titles. For instance, have a look at
https://sites.google.com/site/acmtosn/information-for-authors
They specifically ask authors to "Avoid cute or clever titles". -- does that answer your question ? I see most academics do not want to change the traditional way of writing paper. I agree with them.
what about "the topic name: Revisited" ?
@seteropere or "re-revisited" or "re-re-revisited" (although I don't think I have ever seen it get that far).
@mankoff Your list of citations should be part of an answer, in my opinion.
+1 for putting a colon in the question title. You're getting the hang of gaming the system!
Possibly related, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines: "Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." (although papers are probably less likely to ask yes/no questions than newspapers).
If I correctly understand your description of what the paper shows, then a suitable title might be "X can be faster than Y."
It might be viewed as incivil to refer to someone else's work as "obsolete", whether or not one could defend such a claim. An editor or referee might object to the title, too, and, perhaps even be subliminally biased against your result because of a too-aggressive title.
That is, "provocative" in the sense of more-vividly-descriptive, without too-direct negativism about prior work, might be a very good thing. But I think if "provocative" too much means "antagonistic", the net would be counterproductive and regrettable.
Asserting that you've made progress is already a bit aggressive, suggesting, as is inevitable, that previous work is being superceded (even if still relevant as some sort of historical/dialectic record). My own taste is that winners can afford to be generous.
Edit: in light of edits to the question... I'd still encourage a sort of "innocent" -seeming, or almost-apologetic seeming, self-description. My point would be that people who understand the situation will see the implications of even a very-modest statement. Descriptiveness is good, yes, but perhaps not "judgemental" phrases.
I've edited the question to provide some more details about what's going on. We're basically saying "what's been done before is (mostly) OK, but you don't really have a good reason now not to do it the better way."
+1 for 'if "provocative" too much means "antagonistic", the net would be counterproductive'
A significant fraction of papers in theoretical computer science describe results of the form "we describe an algorithm for problem Y that is faster than every other algorithm known." But it is very rare, and would be considered quite rude, for the title of such a paper to specifically call out a previous method as "obsolete", especially if that previous methods was strongly associated to a single person or group. In fact, I know of ony one example: Volker Strassen's seminal paper "Gaussian elimination is not optimal", which was published centuries after Gauss was safely dead.
Provocative/evocative titles are fine. Challenging conventional wisdom is great. Insulting your colleagues, not so much.
Or is finding a title that suggests superiority without questioning relevance a satisfactory compromise?
Supplementing Paul's fine answer, I agree that if by "provocative" you are directly attacking someone else, then you should not do it. Be provocative in stating the benefits of your method. Ignore the inferior method in your title.
You should also include a descriptive subtitle so that we know what your paper is about.
For example, this paper has the title "Sequence Matters: Modulating Electronic and Optical Properties of Conjugated Oligomers via Tailored Sequence". The first two words are provocative, but not antagonistic. They suggest that those who might believe that sequence does not matter are incorrect, but it does not say so explicitly, nor does it specifically accuse any previous research/method of being deficient. It is followed by a descriptive title that then tells you what the paper is about.
So, in your case, you might go for something more like
"Simplifying the Solution to Problem Y: A New Metric-Based Analytical Methodology for Enumerating the Variance in Substandard Models."
The first part of the title gets at what you want (that previous solutions to Problem Y are not as good as yours) without specifically targeting any previous method. Save that for the body of your paper.
I agree with the other answers that "obsolete" is too confrontational. You could still directly address the issue in the title, though. How about something like:
Using New Method X challenges Assumption Z
or
Using New version of Method X challenges assumptions about problem Y
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10932 | Is index required for a PhD thesis?
Nowadays, since (almost) all of the submitted works are usually available in an electronic format (e.g. PDF or Word) besides the printed version, is it recommended to add an index to a PhD thesis in order to facilitate search within the printed version? Was it required in the past?
No.............................
You may if you want to, but it is not generally required. Of course, check your local regulations. It is recommended to plan on having an index or not when you start, rather than adding it later.
Indexes were not required in the past, though check historical local regulations.
+1 for "...plan on having an index or not when you start...". I put an index in my PhD thesis, and discovered that it takes a fair amount of human thought and interaction to create a good index. Identifying key words and concepts as you write can help you create a useful index, along with considering where your index should - not just could - point the reader based on a search keyword.
That is why I always use \define{keyword} when i introduce a new term in a LaTeX document. \define is usually defined as just making the text italicised, but can easily be converted to adding things in the index, if i ever want one.
I don't recall when I've ever used an index to search an electronic document, and I don't recall the last time I asked for a paper version of a Ph.D thesis to browse it for a certain term. In my opinion, if you have limited energy and want to include a list of something in your document, go for a glossary rather than an index.
+1 for local regulations. At my university the answer was "Yes, and if you try to submit one without an index in a particular format, you're doing to have a very bad day."
Whether its required is probably field/institution dependent. However, just for the sake of those who (we hope!) will be reading your thesis, include an index. Even in electronic versions, an index is a useful tool for the reader; it allows them to see what the author(s) thought important enough to index, if nothing else! And if your PhD thesis turns out to be good enough to be printed and bought by university libraries, you will definitely increase the ease of use for those who access the print version (and yes, some people, myself included, do still wander the physical stacks when researching!See this book for reasons why this is a good idea).
Ideally, I recommend having an index with hyperlinks (both from keywords on the text to the index, and the other way round). The difference with in-text search is that you select the most relevant occurrences of the selected words; this is especially useful with terms that you use at all pages, e.g. to point out where they are defined.
If you think it ahead, it is not that much work to do (at least with LaTeX and the right packages). Otherwise... I remember a few hours spend with two other people on this question for a PhD thesis in biology, where the index contained both abbreviations and complete names of a lot of molecules.
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17873 | Article that shows the complete publication history of acceptances and rejections of a successful academic
I remember reading a journal article where a researcher in psychology analysed their entire manuscript submission and publication history. The way I remember it, the researcher had around 40 publications, many in top-tier journals. A large number of the publications were rejected 2,3,4 or more times before they found a home. As an early career researcher, I found it to be a really interesting read for highlighting just how much rejection is a normal part of the publication process.
Does anyone know the reference to this article?
Equally, are there other equivalent documents written by other academics?
Update: I found the article. See answer below.
No, I hadn't even heard of such an article until now. And now I very much want to read it.
Oh I really wish we had more data on this. I almost feel like I should compile this for my own work (or at least for the ones I can remember).
@Suresh you should, I highly recommend it. Then you should make it public and link to it from your academia.SE user page, so the rest of us can read it and be inspired :)
It would be horribly depressing :). but might be a good exercise.
I finally found the article.
The ArXiV link and PDF version: Scientific Utopia: I. Opening scientific communication.
It reports the publication history of "all 62 unsolicited articles co-authored by Brian Nosek" at the time. Brian Nosek is a well-published researcher in social psychology and more recently has been a leading figure in the reproducibility and open science movement.
The mean time to publication for published articles was 1.7 years and longer for not yet published manuscripts. That said, I could not see the distinction between published online and published with page numbers in an issue. Presumably, for some purposes published online is sufficient (e.g., for appearing in database searches, and for showing research productivity).
The table is shown below, or otherwise, go to this pdf where the tables are listed at the end of the document.
A few comments on the table:
This is the track record of a very successful scientist.
It's interesting to consider the relationship between this long publication lag and annual performance reviews. The submission is often the hard work (although revisions can be time consuming also), yet the recognition may come quite some time later.
I don't know if this is the article you're referring to, because the researcher is in biology, not psychology; and the journal article doesn't include the list of manuscripts, only the recommendation to keep one:
Stefan, Melanie. "A CV of Failures." Nature 468.7322 (2010): 467. Doi:10.1038/nj7322-467a. Web. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v468/n7322/full/nj7322-467a.html.
I can't seem to find the link to the author's actual CV of Failures (though I feel like I've seen it before), I can only find the article explaining it. However, if you search "CV of Failures" you will find some publicly available examples from other researchers.
P.S. I keep an ongoing CV of failures as described in the Nature article and I highly recommend the exercise.
With a quick Google search, I found these two CVs, http://everydayscientist.com/CV/sjl_CV-failures.pdf and http://everydayscientist.com/CV/sjl_CV.pdf. The CV of failures refers to Stefan's article.
Thanks, its not the one I've previously read, but its a good read.
@LPlatts I'd post your comment as an answer.
Leslie Lamport details his history of publishing, including the Paxos paper, on his website. It took eight or so years to publish the Paxos paper.
Lamport received the Turing Award in 2013; and Paxos and its derivatives are now at the core of almost all large-scale web-sites (Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix, ... ).
From the comments: Lamport's paper on Buridan's Principle took 28 years to get published! He explains the long road to eventual publication, ibid.
When I first read OP's question, I too immediately thought of Lamport. Lamport's paper on Buridan's Principle took 28 years to get published!
@ESultanik That's a great example. I think you should promote it to an answer, or perhaps edit this one.
+1 On Lamport's website. I was about to answer this. It is such a fun read that I've read it a few times over the years.
After popular request, I'm posting this as an answer. Hopefully it's interesting to see a different example (or inspiration) of a successful researcher sharing how much rejection is part of academic life.
The economist Nattavudh Powdthavee keeps an online paper diary that displays the warts and all rejection trail for many of his (very interesting) papers. He also wrote some musings about his most rejected paper, now in the OTEFA Newsletter
from p.7 - 14 times - but I'm sure many can beat this.
I think you are talking about this article;
Overcoming Fear of Rejection, by Marty Nemko
Even if it is not what you are looking for, the following article might definitely brighten up your day if you are just interested in knowing that rejection is not the end!
Nature rejects Krebs's paper, 1937, By Brendan Borrell
That's an article from a career coach about rejection. It's not even about rejection in academia, specifically.
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14754 | Benefit of publishing large articles/papers instead of books
After reading this question, and specifically this answer, I find myself wondering why someone would publish an extremely long paper, for example 200 pages, instead of publishing as a book.
I was always under the impression that publishing a book was more prestigious than publishing articles so why would someone write something with the quantity to be a book and prefer to publish it as a journal article? Are there hidden benefits of publishing as an article over publishing as a book?
As always, it depends. First of all,
publishing a book was more prestigious than publishing articles
depends on the area. In parts of the humanities, writing a book is an almost-necessary condition for tenure, but in my area of CS, a book is viewed as best as a waste of time pre-tenure.
In terms of absolute prestige, books and articles serve different purposes. Even a 200 page article might be a technical exposition of a single result. Witness for example the ongoing series of articles on graph minors in mathematics. A book often tries to distill and put in perspective a body of work, and (sometimes) might have educational components like exercises/problems.
A well-written book gives you some cachet as an expert in an area, but a seminal journal article can do the same. It really depends on what purpose you expect the document to serve.
A final point. A book (even a technical one) may not be peer-reviewed in the same way as an article. Indeed, it's not common in my area to have brand new research appear first in a book (I'm excluding simple observations and recasting of results).
This depends on a number of factors (the field, the scope of the work, and the reputation of the publisher), but a book often summarizes the current state of a field, while an article adds something new to the state of the field.
So, one of these (the book) estabishes you as a subject matter expert, while the other (the article) establishes you as a subject matter pioneer. In institutions where research is highly valued, it wouldn't surprise me at all to find more prestige associated with article publication.
That said, there are exceptions, of course: A textbook that becomes recognized as a standard in the discipline might garner more prestige than an article in some lightweight publication. Unless the book happens to be based mostly on your own research, though, it's easy to see why a textbook might not gain you too much reputation in an environment striving to be known for their cutting-edge research. One is more forward-looking while the other is more backward-reaching.
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15589 | Do authors always have final approval over what gets published?
After reading this answer, and the subsequent comments, I found myself wondering if it is a rule for publishers to get author approval after edits before publishing a paper? I would assume so because of copyright issues but I would like to know if there are legal or ethical guidelines in the publishing industry about this.
In my experience, editors will make edits but they have always asked me for my approval before actually publishing the edited piece.
I know of no journal that doesn't give authors a chance to review the proof prior to publication. Not doing that would seem like a very bad idea anyway considering the subtlety of errors that may get introduced in the editing process. I don't know whether there is any legal basis for this but it seems like good practice.
In the answer you are referring to there is nothing to say that approval is not required. The issue is rather that an editor can request certain things can be removed from the paper so the author cannot demand everything written is finally printed. Editors have the right and obligation to weed out materials that are, for example, offensive just as we can flag posts that contain such phrasings on Stackexchange. Jokes, which was the point of the post you referred to, are not edited out by any means as a rule but can be misunderstood or considered offensive and might be more likely to be edited out than other material during the review and editorial process. In such a case, the author will certainly be part of the process and asked to revise or accept changes. the point here is that the editor has the final say through approval of the paper as well as a responsibility to make sure the publication is free from material that violates, for example, ethical of the publisher. As an example, in Sweden, where I reside, I as an editor am responsible by law for what is printed in "my" journal. This responsibility may lie with the publisher in other countries.
So, authors will definitely be part of the revision process and sign off on final proofs, it is just that some changes may not be subject to additional discussion and will have to be accepted. Does this happen often? Not at all. In my case, I have had to deal with this in heated "Letters to the Editor" where authors have been in a written, published, exchange over issues in a published paper.
Edit (to expand based on earthling's comment): Basically all changes except typos and changes to adhere to journal or publisher style are subject to an "OK" from the author (although it would not hurt to also get an OK on these). The publishing of a paper is a joint venture between an author and the journal, so with a functioning working relationship both parties should agree on changes. But, again, some changes are non-negotiable, which does not mean they can be imposed without the knowledge of the author who always has the option to go elsewhere to publish.
So changes can come in three forms, (1) those that can be changed without consent (e.g. typos), (2) those that must be made without discussion (subject to ethical considerations) and (3) those that can go either way after, say, clarification (most of the normal changes). In cases 2 and 3 the author need to approve the changes it is just that for case 2 the option might be accept or withdraw the paper.
@earthling, see edit in reply above.
When I took over being the Graphics Editor / Typesetter of one journal, I realized that there used to be no proofreading stage for the articles! I of course insisted that the articels are proofread.
However, we give the authors only a limited amount of time to claim any corrections, but not less than 2 weeks. This is because the journal is quite small and we need to "schedule" the articles into the issues to make the issues reasonably equal in size.
Even after the approval, small changes appear; the Chief Editor goes quickly through the text just before publishing to catch last small typos and mistakes: missing full stops after figures' captions, corrupted text-flow on the page (widows/orphans standing out badly etc.), wrong capilatization, and stuff like this. However, we never modify the text itself in this phase, not even by adding or removing an article (since this can change the meaning of the text).
In general, by law, nobody is allowed to publish anything signed by your name without your approval. The reality is that this rule is violated quite often and it's difficult to do something about it. As well, remember that by submitting an article, you agree with the policy of the journal that can state for instance: "By submitting an article, you give your permission for it to be published, and you confirm that all authors have agreed to this. The Editor's Office is allowed to make modification to the text without the authors' agreement."
I've also met much tighter deadlines (like 48 or 72 h) for the print-proofs.
@cbeleites That's quite possible. These things vary. One has to be prepared for different things when publishing. Most journals have very complicated (and quite unique) workflow that usually does not really threat the authors as "publishing partners".
In my experience, even corrected typos, grammar mistakes and changes necessary for correct typesetting are usually approved (or rejected) by the authors. Thats what the print proof is for. In my opinion that is absolutely necessary, because even changing a few letters could change the meaning of a sentence, and as an author I have the full responsibility for the whole paper.
I've once made the weird experience that I found a paper listed in pubmed before we had received acceptance notification or print proofs. While nothing bad had happened to the paper's text, we decided never to go with that publisher again.
It's quite common with open-access journals that articles are electronically pre-published before the proofreadings. It's not a big deal IMHO, and one should be happy that they get shipped quickly. After final publication, the online version is of course updated.
Ah ok, that's a bit strange. However, it still would be quite common for it to be published when accepted in final form, however, not before the authors are notified. But I get your point now.
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5793 | How much time should I spend on reviewing a paper?
I never tried to avoid becoming a sub-reviewer, and still, this question made me wonder. How much time should I, as a PhD student, spend on a review of a paper that my advisor gave me to do? Does the answer depend on whether I'm getting credit for the review or not, that is whether I'm a sub-reviewer or not?
You should do slightly more reviewing work for the community than the community does for you. So, as a rough estimate, assuming every paper you write and submit needs three reviews and your average paper has three authors, you should review slightly more papers than you submit.
There is no way to predict in the abstract how long a paper takes to review; that varies from field to field, subfield to subfield, and even paper to paper. Answering a similar question in Theoretical Computer Science Stack Exchange, I wrote:
Expect to spend about an hour per page, mostly on internalizing the paper's results and techniques. Be pleasantly surprised when it doesn't actually take that long. (If it takes significantly less time than that, either the paper is either exceedingly elegant and well-written, you know the area extremely well, or the paper is technically shallow. Don't confuse these three possibilities.)
No, the answer does not depend on whether you get credit for the review. If you're not going to write a thorough, professional review, just say no.
+1 for not accepting the review if you do not intend to invest the time needed.
Note that you must calculate based on papers submitted and reviewed not papers published.
I fully agree with this answer. @JeffE
A very nice answer, except that if your advisor gives you a subreview, most likely you can't "just say no". Your advisor expects a review.
As a person not familiar with TCS formatting, when you say an hour per page do you mean something like a narrow margin, single spaced, small font journal typeset page (maybe 750 words per page) or a wide margin, double spaced, big font student paper type format page (maybe 250 words per page) or something else?
@StrongBad Closer to the former. A quick glance at my own papers suggests that preprints, including conference and journal submissions, typically have about 600-750 words per page; this is probably the most common format that people actually read. Single-column mathy-journal papers have about 500 words per page; two-column proceedings papers can have over 1000 words per page. Nobody double-spaces anything.
Read the entire paper in one go. For a 12 page* paper, that should take you an hour at most. This is the first pass. From this you can now decide how to proceed, now that you have (quickly) covered all the sections. (edit: The goal on this first pass is not to understand all the details, but rather get an overall feeling of the paper, quality and organization of ideas)
If a paper is terribly written and difficult to understand you should reject it outright for being so. It should not take a reader 12 hours to read a 12 page paper - and indeed, many papers are badly written and do take this much time - and you are still left wondering because it was not clear.
If the basic claims seem sound and sufficiently interesting/important and the idea is clear enough to understand, then you need to dig in. Depending on the type of paper this means looking at definitions, proofs, or experimental design, hypothesis testing and the analysis of the results. Likewise for any related work you know of that should be cited (and not just your own - that is too cliche! - if you do recommend your work as a citation at least include some others!).
All along, help people out with typos and readability. As a reviewer, you are the last chance to make this a good read before it is published.
And even if you reject it, don't just shoot people down. Give them ideas about how to make the paper stronger, suggestions for different directions, etc. Remember that it is most likely some other student who will receive your review back - so try and help them make the next paper better.
(* 12 single column pages. A 6 page paper with two columns can often contain the same amount of text as a 12 page single column paper)
Your answer is somewhat field-oriented. Very few 12-pages papers in my field (fundamental mathematics) can be read in one hour (except if you mostly read the introduction), at least not by me.
I am also a mathematician, and I agree with Benoit. One can easily (and profitably) spend more than one hour per page on a math paper. On the other hand, there are other 12 page papers that I have spent only a few hours reviewing in total...and have recommended for acceptance. This makes me think that it is not helpful to suggest figures on hours per page.
In my field, computer science, and especially papers with theoretical proofs and algorithms, it is the same. I still think that a full first pass of the paper in an hour is a good approach for the following reason: if the paper cannot compel you to dig deeper with a single pass at 1 hour, how do you expect any other reader to actually read this paper. The first pass should entice you into going deeper - if it does not because it is badly written or makes a trivial claim, then it not worth going further.
@Tom: sure, taking about an hour to flip through a 12 page paper sounds quite reasonable. I was objecting to your sentence "It should not take a reader 12 hours to read a 12 page paper". Why not?? Or are you still talking about skimming when you say this?
I agree with your previous comment - there is no magic number on the number of hours you can spend reading a paper, especially one that is several pages of proof. That said, I still feel that it is an author's obligation to make the salient points clear enough for a reader to understand the big idea quickly! As to the upper bound on time taken to digest the details of a paper, that could take a lifetime. In the case of a review, I would only progress to this level(not a lifetime) of detail if the big idea was clear and significant.
There is no clearcut answer to how long a review takes. I would say that the amount of time spent on it is the time you need to understand the paper and provide good advice on wether or not it is a paper that can be accepted, with some changes or as is. In general, this should take you around a full working day. How long this exactly becomes depends on:
The level and clarity of the paper (very bad paper takes less time, mediocre paper takes more time, very good paper takes less time).
Your familiarity with the subject (less familiar more time).
The requirements of the journal/conference you are reviewing for, is it a full review, or just a go/no go.
It depends on how many reviews you've done and what your experience is. If you're just starting out and have never reviewed a paper before, you should expect it to take a minimum of several hours to do a decent to good review.
Your mileage may vary depending on what discipline you're in, but a good review generally will consist of:
a summary of what the contribution of the paper was
a brief list of 1-3 strengths and 1-3 weaknesses that the paper had
several paragraphs explaining those strengths and weaknesses in greater detail along with constructive suggestions of what would be needed to improve the weaknesses
a brief listing of any related work that you feel is missing from the paper
a recommendation to the reviewing committee of whether or not you believe the paper should be accepted
usually there is a part for a numerical evaluation of your expertise and whether or not it should be accepted
The more reviews that you do, the less time that you should need to spend on doing the review. It seems like many professors can knock out a review in an hour or less, but most of the graduate students I've seen will tend to spend at least 1-2 hours per review if they're doing a good job.
Same comment than to Tom Carchrae answer: your time indications must be somehow field oriented, because I cannot see how one would do even a barely decent review in one or two hours in my field (where typical reviews come back six months after submission, due to the time it needs from the referee).
Why would you limit the review to 1-3 weakness? Surely you want to point out all the weaknesses.
Again, your mileage may vary depending on what discipline you're in, but my understanding has always been that you want to try to group weaknesses into a few main points in a list, then to expand on all of the things that are wrong in the paragraphs under the headings of those topics so that it's easier for the authors to understand your criticisms and to address them.
I think it is on the border of irresponsible to suggest that a review of a paper can or should be done in an hour or less.
Take enough time to find most (~80%) of the important strengths and weaknesses of the paper and to describe and explain the weaknesses thoroughly and clearly but if you encounter one particular non-core aspect or section of the paper that would take excessively long to do this, just skip it and be frank: "I have not reviewed ((aspect X)) thoroughly, because my expertise in this area is too shallow."
If the editor is worth her salt, this will actually increase her confidence in the rest of your review.
All of your reviews should be careful but none of them need to be perfect.
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29405 | What should have capital cases in the title of works in the bibliography?
According to this answer it is a feature that BibTeX converts all characters to lower case for titles in the bibliography. This is confusing for me. What characters in the titles I cite should be upper case?
Here is a screenshot were I marked all characters that I would have written uppercase:
(The first 'r' in recognition was a mistake)
So I think I should write everything in capital that I would write in capital in a normal English sentence. Is that correct?
It depends on the citation style. Basically there are two possibilities: title case, or normal English sentence style.
If you are writing for a journal, it surely has a citation style that you should adhere to. In practice, however, the style of citations won't really matter until the time your paper is accepted, so you do not need to worry about it when writing.
If you are writing for yourself, you are free to decide as you prefer, as long as you are consistent. If you are writing a thesis, be sure to inquire because some OCD university committee might have imposed requirements.
Bibtex is essentially a program to abstract out citation styles and apply them programmatically, separating content (in the .bib file) from formatting. Using a properly formatted .bib file, you just need the command \bibliographystyle{} to change from a style to the other.
So, how should the title field be formatted in a properly-written .bib file? Like this:
title = {Handwriting Recognition with Hidden {M}arkov models and Grammatical Constraints}
Basically you use title case and embed into a pair of braces the characters that should stay in capital even if the text is converted to sentence case. Bibtex can convert automatically title case to sentence case (but not vice versa). Commands for diacritics and special characters (such as \"a or \c{c}) and dollar-delimited formulas should also go inside an extra pair of braces.
Incidentally, another tricky aspect of Bibtex syntax is author name formatting. Authors should be in the format
author = {von Lastname1, Firstname1 Middle and Lastname2 jr., Firstname2}
or, if full given names are not available,
author = {von Lastname1, F. M. and Lastname2 jr., F.}
Note that 90% of the bibtex files that you will find on the internet, even the ones from the publishers' websites, are badly formatted. Bibtex's syntax is quirky and complicated to get right.
Some journals use capital letters for All The Words In The Title. Some others (thinking about legacy systems) may put it ALL IN UPPERCASE or all in lowercase.
Really, the case of the letters is completely irrelevant for the reference itself, so it is understandable that BibTeX wants to give it all a coherent format. All in all:
A. Einstein, The Foundations of General Relativity.
A. EINSTEIN, THE FOUNDATIONS OF GENERAL RELATIVITY.
A. Einstein, The foundations of General Relativity.
Are equally easy to find and unequivocally point to the same reference.
Note that in the comments to the linked question it is stated that the style may override this behaviour, using a different convention, or leaving it as written on the bib.
As always, general rules for English grammar apply:
Proper names should be capitalised, so Markov is capital.
Acronyms, like NPEN++, ought to be in all upercase.
Academic disciplines (like Physics or Biology) should be. It is debatable if "pattern recognition" should be or not.
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10244 | Should I add references to conference presentations?
I am preparing a CS conference presentation and wondering how can I handle the references. I am thinking about three different possibilities:
Ignore them!
Just list them at the end of the presentation
List them and cite them within the presentation.
I chose the first option since anyone interested can go and check the whole set of references in the actual paper.
Does this mean not crediting the others for their work? How this is usually handled in CS conferences?
If the slides you're using are going to have "independent life,"—in other words, if you're going to make them available separately from the conference paper (on your website, for instance), then the citations should be included as part of the presentation. I would follow posdef's example and place the citations on the same slide as where it's needed; this will save the reader from having to flip back and forth between different parts of the presentation or between the presentation and the paper.
Not including the citations is a bad idea, because it means you are potentially failing to give people the credit they deserve for ideas that were originally theirs. Even though it's "just" a conference presentation doesn't mean that the rules of crediting people for their work should be ignored. (Citing the work of others is also the right thing to do from the perspective of "playing nice with others." Taking credit for other people's work can make them leerier of working with you.)
I don't know if there is a specific way within the CS community but the way most established seniors seem to do in my field is to note down the reference at the bottom of the slide where they refer to someone's results/figures.
I think this is a better approach than to list them all in the end, because the audience gets the reference together with the content, that way you don't have to puzzle the references and the content 6 months after you attended the presentation.
If the people you are referring to are people you have had collaborations or communication with, it would not hurt to have them listed in a "thanks to" or more formally "acknowledgements" slide.
Hope it helps
Applied mathematician here; my solution is putting them on the same slide as the material. I use formats such as [Someone '99], [Lin WW, '00] (initials are almost mandatory for some common surnames), [Doe et al, book '04], [P and SomeoneElse, preprint '12] (my name is always abbreviated to an initial, which is a common convention). I find it a good compromise between clarity and shortness: I don't need to include a full sentence, but only the names in brackets.
You can use a different color or font to differentiate them visually from the text --- preferably something light but readable, a color that does not attract much attention.
I use them sparingly nevertheless --- overall I have typically less than 10 such citations in a 15-20 slide talk.
This makes immediately clear whether I think that a theorem is new/mine or not. Its original authors could be in the audience, so I think it's important to acknowledge them properly.
If your slides are already so cramped that these citations won't fit, then you have a much bigger problem. :)
If you do this, it's also good practice to include a bibliography slide at the end listing these in a more extended standard format, just as in a paper.
@ComptonScattering I disagree. I don't see the advantage; I find that usually this information is sufficient to locate relevant papers.
Per, aeismail your slides have a life of their own, and your citations should be intelligible in your absence. Having said that, including a bibliography is good practice, and is not universally observed.
I'll first discuss the advantages and disadvantages for each of your options on how to handle citations:
Ignore them!
pro
This technique saves time and space.
Most often, the citations go unnoticed during talks (and I have been criticized once or twice for showing any citations on the slides in the first place).
contra
You make way for the criticism that you neglect to give credit to other authors.
If your slides are ever accessible outside of your talk, having the citations somewhere comes in handy.
Just list them at the end of the presentation
pro
The slide needs not be shown during your normal talk, but can be considered a part of your "backup slides" that you show only upon request. Thus, both people who do not like to see citations during a talk, as well as people who expect a certain citation information, will be happy.
Citations that are referred to several times during the talk have to be listed just once (hence the reader does not get confused and wonder whether they have already seen that citation).
The citations can be written using a readable (in a projection!) font size rather cramped into another slide with a tiny unreadable font.
It does not matter how many extra slides you fill with citations, so you can even include rather elaborate info (a full list of authors rather than just the first one and et al., the DOI, direct links, ...).
contra
Readers have to switch back and forth between pages/slides while reading slides with citations (though the same is valid for a paper and it doesn't seem to bother anyone there).
List them and cite them within the presentation.
pro
Citations are immediately available while reading the slide that refers to them.
contra
Space is scarce on slides, which means that the citations have to be written with a tiny font, probably too tiny to be legible during the talk.
As you need to save space, you will tend to using the shortest possible citation format, such as 1st author et al. rather than 1st author, 2nd author, 3rd author, 4th author, thereby arguably reducing the credit you give.
The citation clutters the slide (which should in general only contain the most important keywords/key statements rather than all details the presenter talks about) and thereby draws attention away from the contents of your slide (e.g. how a concept presented in related work works, understanding of which is required for the next slides).
The citations either disrupt the reading flow on the slide (when in between slide contents), or they gather at the very bottom as footnotes (where, depending on the room the talk is given in, they can only be seen by the first few rows of the audience, anyway).
To conclude, I vastly prefer technique 2, Just list them at the end of the presentation over all others.
That leaves the question whether or not to include citation references ([1], [2], ...) within your slides. This depends mainly on the purpose of your references:
If whatever information you are presenting is self-contained, such as a concept fully explained with a single concise graphic, the reference needs to be there mainly for the sake of giving credit. In that case, you can go the way of some books by not including a citation reference on the slide (thereby reducing unnecessary clutter) and instead only relying on a backreference on the citation slide (bottom-left image on slide 16).
If the information you are presenting is a summary of someone else's work (for example when presenting only a conclusion or statement without presenting the proof it is based upon), or even an explicit pointer to more information, do include a citation reference right next to the information, both to signify that there is more to be found about your statement and making finding the additional information convenient.
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28888 | What should I do if I've enrolled in a badly organized course?
I am nearly finished with my master's degree. Recently, I enrolled in a required course that is a terrible mess. I'd like to wait another year, and take it again with an instructor who has their stuff together and will actually answer student questions and prepare lessons that match the exams. Delaying graduation seems preferable to wasting more time on this course.
Some classmates gave the teacher what I believe are reasonable suggestions, but the instructor just gave excuses.
I looked all through the course catalog, but only see policies that assume students are the problem-makers. For instance, after one week into the term, students get no tuition refunds and a "W".
I'd rather not create problems for the instructor, who is new to this job.
Are there any steps I can take to clear myself of this mess?
Since it is required course, do your best to pass it this year with a reasonably good degree and move-on. It is not worth another year just for a single course.
I had a similar situation in grad school. I initially hated my last class, an elective intro course that had a 50-page paper requirement. You need to weigh the costs and benefits of such a decision as delaying graduation. When you say "another year" is not a big deal, I would like to counter that it is. That's a year's worth of potential salary you're throwing away. Compare that to the worst you'd get out of this class if you finish through with it, which is likely at most an inadequate learning experience you can supplement with your own studying time.
And to add to the other two comments, there is no guarantee that next year instructor is going to be better! At this level, you should be able to learn by yourself anything that is useful for you.
If it is unpassable, what should one do? Multiple-choice exams are 90% of the grade. No correspondence with lectures and homework content and exams. No study guide. Syllabus information about the exams is wrong. Small class size, but no homework feedback, just low marks. Instructor ignoring or setting aside important questions for later. Instructor has no clear plan of course. I spend much time waiting for information, then rushing to do work when it is finally available.
If it is consistently like that and everyone gets 40% Fs at the end of the semester, that is grounds to complain to the school. Classes should never be impossible, and a failure rate that high is both impractical for the student and the school.
Personally I would complain. You are paying money for this course and if there is no correspondence between what you are being taught and the exams, then there is no hope of any of the students doing well. Take it higher. The instructor needs to know what is and isn't acceptable - it shouldn't matter that they are new to the job. You wouldn't forgive a nurse or doctor for doing their job wrong just because they are new!
To piggyback on what @Davidmh said, there's not even a guarantee that it won't be the same instructor next year. Then what would you do?
some have suggested complaining or going to some authority, but offer no specific suggestions about how to do this
First, you need to understand how the authority chain is structured in academia. Your first course of action is to confront the instructor, which you've already done. The next step up would be the department head, and after that, the dean of the school – but I wouldn't recommend going past the department head with your complaints.
You need to do this very carefully. You need to be level-headed, respectful, factual, and specific. Be sure your case is compelling. In the event of a "he-said/she-said" debate, assume the department head will probably lean toward having the faculty member's back, rather than believing an offended student. Many students are too quick to complain when things don't go their way, making it easy for complaints to fall on deaf and jaded ears.
For example, in the scant details you've provided here:
Assignments are graded without rubric.
I won't dispute the value of rubrics, but this is hardly a grievous offense. Many instructors don't opt to use rubrics.
Homework is graded inconsistently with instructions.
This will be very hard to prove. A lot of assignments are by nature subjective, and it's hard to pinpoint why grades are given the way they are. Students often turn in work that is inconsistent. For example, say I assign some problem to be answered with an essay question. One student gets right to the heart of the matter, but the overall work is sloppy, and it reads like a draft that was hastily written 10 minutes before class. Another misses the point a little bit, but the essay is carefully crafted and has a lot of supporting detail. A third addresses the matter from an angle I hadn't considered before. How are my instructions supposed to cover all those cases, and more? (Moreover, assignment instructions are often very hard to get right the first time around, because you don't yet know how students might misinterpret stated requirements.)
Tests are very hard, but contain no relationship to the course assignments and lessons.
The first part of that is not a problem, although the second part is. If you start out by complaining about difficult tests, you may come across as a whiner and get very little sympathy or support. Be very careful about even mentioning that "tests are very hard."
You'll also have to figure out what you want the end goal of your complaints to be. Do you want action taken before the semester is over? Or are you only looking to give feedback so that next year's students don't find themselves in the same unfortunate circumstances? If you're hoping for intervention this term, probably the best you could hope for is for the department head to counsel the instructor, urging him to get his act together before the end of the term. But there are two sides to every story, and, unless your complaints are true on a large level, you're unlikely to get much sympathy. In other words, a bad question here and there on an exam is part of getting a new course underway, as are confusing assignments. If these are just normal "growing pains," you'll come off as a malcontent. On the other hand, if these are verifiable, wholesale shortcomings in the ability to conduct a course fairly and effectively, you might get a department head to step in, and urge the professor to get his act together. Even then, though, you'll probably have to make it to the end of the course, and you might see very little improvement. It's unlikely that the instructor will be reassigned midstream.
In short, you'll have to convince the department head that this faculty member is bordering on incompetence, and that it's not merely a case of an unpopular professor. This might be a tough sell.
I have seen cases where the instructor is given a module just two weeks before it starts, has no time to prepare, and might not have the proper background to teach it.
You might consider that the instructor is doing his/her best with what they have to work with. You might consider talking with the instructor to see what they believe you should be doing in order to succeed in the course. If they say "read the book" then you should read the book and study with little support.
Not all instructor are good and some are good but in a bad situation (that is, a situation not of their own making but rather one forced upon them). Either way, talk with them and find out what you can do to succeed.
+1 for "talking with the instructor to see what they believe you should be doing in order to succeed in the course"
I haven't seen this suggested...
How connected are you to the other students in the course?
Is it possible for you to meet as a group with the department chair?
You've got little power in the situation, but one thing you do have in your favor is that a new instructor is unlikely to fail a huge proportion of the class, particularly if those students have politely met with the department chair to express their concerns and provide samples of the lectures, homework and exams.
You can't get out of the class, but you can make it advantageous for the instructor to give everyone a good grade.
I think you mean "give everyone a fair grade," not "give everyone a good grade" (unless everyone has truly earned it). That aside, I like your "there's power in numbers" approach. One person alone may be regarded as a whiner and a dissenter, but a good percentage of the whole class might indicate could be more to this.
I would like to mean "fair grade." But if this poor instructor is unable to make tests that show some vague relationship to the material covered in lecture or the homework then I think "fair" has left the building. I meant that if the instructor knows they did a poor job, they may give everyone an A- just to avoid drama.
My thoughts:
First, you need to make sure that the problem is the instructor and not you. Are a large number of other students having the same problems? In my experience, it is also often the case that a class appears badly taught to a student who is missing something key about the material. For example, when I was a grad student TAing for an artificial intelligence class, we often had people complain that we tested them on different material than we had taught them. In fact, however, they were missing the point: the real material was the methodologies for decomposing problems, not the particular examples of problem decomposition that had been used to teach this methodology. Their classmates who had grasped the key idea of the class, however, had no problems.
If, however, the problems are really a matter of the instructor giving a terribly badly organized course, then I think that your third premise (don't want to cause trouble because they are new) is fundamentally flawed.
If this instructor is expecting to have a career involving teaching, it's much better to have serious problems brought up early, where they can become part of a "plan for improvement" rather than several years down the line, where they are part of a pattern that will get them fired. Most departments really do care about teaching (among other things, because it affects the number of students they get and thus their resources within the institution), but often don't have a lot of resources available to devote to managing teaching.
You have an academic advisor in the department, yes? Go to that person with a report of the widespread problems, and ask their help. It's unlikely that anything will actually be able to change this semester (schedules are set too far in advance), but:
It will help establish a record that can cause things to change in the future.
Your academic advisor will be able to help figure out how to deal with the matter of credits in your program, and whether it's better to drop or to grind through or to attempt some sort of petition (in many departments, you can do anything if the right three people are willing to sign the right piece of paper)
Warning: my answer might be out of focus for you because it takes into account only the information on your question, while some of your comments complement that information.
Unfortunately, some instructor do waste students' time by doing a very poor job; I'll assume this is the case here (but note that sometimes students feel that a course is done very badly but realize later that they learned more than they expected: student need not know better than instructors what they really need).
Here is basically what I told to students complaining that their instructor made the course impossible to follow when I was responsible for a 500 students, 20 instructors course (they were not the first to complain about these instructors, and I had other evidence preventing me to blame them for the problem): I know your teacher is not the teacher you would have wanted, but I cannot do anything beside reporting the issue to him, which will certainly not solve the problem instantly. We have the same issue as teachers, having some students that often do not know the prerequisites for the course, are not willing to learn them as we tell, and/or do not believe us when we say that the course needs a fair amount of personal work. Both teachers and students should do their best in the situation they are given, which means that you can and should try to talk with your teacher to mitigate the issues you have, but at the same time be prepared for the issue not to be solved before the end of term, and find a way to learn what you have to learn. There are books, there are other students with whom to work, etc. If you think it is best, don't waste time with the instructor's course and learn by yourself while keeping in touch with the important information (homework, exam dates, etc.)
So to state this again in fewer words, it seems much more efficient for you to make your best to master the course content, judging this content from the syllabus and what related books discuss, rather than expecting next year's instructor to be better.
I would say that the expected outcomes of such an attitude should be:
you learn valuable things and pass the exam, because ultimately it tested what you learned,
you learn valuable things and pass the exam, because your institution realizes that there is an issue and makes it right somehow,
you learn valuable things and fail the exam, which turns out to be indeed impossible.
Even in the last case, you get more from this attitude than dropping the course altogether.
Edit: this answer was written under the assumption that the class is mandatory, as I (mis-?)understood the question. Of course, for a class that is not needed or that can be switched with another, then these would be options to consider seriously. If the course can be delayed without losing the benefit of the other courses, this would also be an option to consider. So my answer is really about what to do if dropping or failing the course implies one has to take the whole year again.
In the last case, you may have gained in the sense of personal enrichment, but a failing grade on your transcript may hurt you in a practical sense. I'd be a little more hesitant to recommend "stick with it regardless".
@NateEldredge: I find unexpected that the course of action I propose results in failing the class; I just do not promise that it will be sufficient to pass it. In other words, I find unlikely that mastering the class' content would be less effective in succeeding than any other strategies, even if it might not be sufficient. Also, recall that the course is described as mandatory: if one has the opportunity to switch for another class the same year, then that is an option to consider.
Based on the asker's comments, the instructor is not making it sufficiently clear what material they are expected to master, and the asker doesn't seem to have any confidence that any efforts of their own would significantly improve their chances of passing. "Mandatory" means they have to take the course eventually but not necessarily now, so their other option is to withdraw from the course (which will be duly noted on their transcript) and take it in a future term, accepting that their graduation could be delayed. I think that merits serious consideration.
@NateEldredge: ok, I might have misunderstood the context. In French it is not very common to be able to continue the studies with a mandatory course lacking: one would have to either compensate by other grades if the rules permit it, or take again the whole year of study.
I would not recommend going over your professor's head at this point. At least, it is not clear that you have done everything possible to turn the situation around. I'm hoping that your goal is to understand the content of the class so that you are not wasting the term.
I think that, instead of asking the professor to change, you should approach him under the premise that you want to adapt to do better in the course. To do this, I would propose the following strategy:
1) You want to understand the grading of the homework. So go to your professors office each week with your graded homework and tell him/her you want to find strategies for doing better on future assignments. Ask to go over the assignment to learn how/why you lost points.
DO NOT ASK FOR POINTS BACK. If the grading is fair, you will get a better sense for what is expected. If it is not fair, s/he will likely recognize this as you go through the assignment, and might offer to regrade it without prompting. Be polite and engaged with the material. You want your professor to take an active interest in your success in the class.
2) The midterm may or may not have anything to do with the content of the course. At the master's level you should be expected to go beyond regurgitation and apply your knowledge. Take your graded exam to your professor and tell him/her you want to learn the material better. If you do not understand how a particular problem is connected to the course, it is okay to say so. But, don't make it seem like it is the professor's problem. Remember, you are trying to learn. You might say something like "could you explain how you think about this problem? I didn't see how to solve it using the techniques from class."
Again, DO NOT ASK FOR POINTS BACK. Give your professor the opportunity to help you understand the test. If some aspect of the test is unfair, allow your professor to realize this on his/her own. As before, be positive and engaged. You do not want your professor to feel threatened.
In summary, I'd like to remind you that professors are people too. If you only give negative feedback, you are unlikely to get the outcome you want. If you are not receiving the support in class to succeed, it is okay to get more help outside of class. However, this is going to also require more work on your part.
It is going to create more work for your professor as well. If other students struggling in the class do the same thing, this will amount to a lot more work, and may be enough incentive for the professor to make the changes you are looking for. Just make sure you keep your interactions polite and respectful.
If, in the end, this strategy doesn't work, you will have taken concrete steps to improve the situation. This will be important if you ultimately feel you need to take the issue to the department chair.
I've discussed grading with the instructor. Each week, the instructor discovers new ways to give me a terrible mark. Features present in the first couple of assignments that weren't marked as a problem suddenly became a problem in the third assignment. Since there is no rubric, the teacher just grades as he likes and invents new reasons to give a poor grade, sometimes ignoring the assignment's instructions.
@Village Have you asked for a comparison of grading? What I am suggesting is that you spend a lot of time with the instructor outside of class. You need to make it so that being unhelpful is more work than being helpful. If you are not satisfied with an answer, keep pressing. "I'm sorry, I still don't understand. Can you explain again?"
RE: Features present in the first couple of assignments that weren't marked as a problem suddenly became a problem in the third assignment. This shouldn't surprise you. Early in a course, a professor might be more lenient, figuring, "Students shouldn't be expected to know this right now." Later, grading might become more strict, with the reasoning, "By now, students should know better than to keep making this mistake." You'd have to get much more specific before convincing me the problem is solely his and not partly yours.
If you are about to finishing your master degree I strongly suggest not to postpone this course another year. Study for it with the material the professor gave you and if you find that something is missing or not clear speak with the professors.
Doing a master degree is not only about having good professors and learning from them. You are also supposed to learn (a little) by yourself. Not like a PhD student, of course.
If you want to help your professor in getting the course better talk to him. Going through his superiors is not helping.
Yes, my goal of taking the masters degree and this course is to learn the material. But the instructor is not providing any support for learning the material.
I read all the questions and comment. As @J.R. pointed out: "You'd have to get much more specific before convincing me the problem is solely his and not partly yours"
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5937 | Are studies centered around one's own students regarded as publish-worthy scholarship within educational research?
I have read a number of papers within the field of educational research where researchers simply used their own classes for testing. For example, they test one of their classes with a certain type of instruction, but leave another class without this instruction, then: (1) test which group of students did better and (2) collect student opinions about the lesson.
While I can understand why a teacher might conduct an "informal" study on their classroom, I cannot understand why this would regarded as publish-worthy research. It is possible that I am simply misunderstanding the benefit and purpose of publishing such studies?
Within educational research, is it regarded as acceptable practice to publish research which is only conducted on such conveniently available groups?
Within educational research, is it regarded as acceptable practice to publish research which is only conducted on such conveniently available groups?
Sadly, yes. In fact, some of the most noted and most often quoted work on the psychology of learning was conducted by Jean Piaget on his own children.
However, there is a benefit to conducting such small studies of the type you describe. In the type of study you describe, where an instructor teaches two sections of the same course at the same institution to the same body of students that are otherwise identical except for whatever change in pedagogy the instructor desires, many confounding variables are inherently accounted for. Principal among these are the "instructor effect" and the "student-to-teacher ratio". Additionally, two sections at the same institution should be influenced similarly by demographic, socioeconomic, and academic effects on the student population.
I don't understand why you begun with "sadly" but then followed that by listing only the benefits?
Well, because some populations are indeed chosen only by convenience. This idea of confounding variables is relatively recent.
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1983 | Who holds intellectual property rights on a thesis?
I thought of an interesting idea for a thesis for my Masters program and I think I would eventually be able to sell a product that is built from the algorithms/code that I develop for this thesis. I realize my thesis is my work and I have the copyright permissions, but I am wondering what rights I have and what rights my school has if I were to take my thesis and develop it into a product which I then sell to customers.
Would I have all rights for selling this product or since my professor is essentially guiding me and assisting me in my research, does he/she own a part of it as well? I can only seem to find answers on the internet that pertain to the copyright permissions of the actual developed thesis, not products that might be derived from such efforts, or code that was developed in tandem with writing the thesis.
Any links to proof or legal precedence would be very helpful as well.
Almost every university (especially research universities) has policies on intellectual property rights. PDF to Duke University's, webpage from U Denver, and webpage from the University and College Union (a union organization representing students and employees of universities and colleges in the UK). Policies are generally largely the same in spirit while differing in detail. You should ask around for your local version.
Your institution almost certainly has a policy on this, and an office dedicated to administering it. You should consult them. If you really think this is serious, you should also consult an intellectual property attorney rather than relying on the babblings of some goofball from the Internet (e.g. me).
In the US, employees of a university are commonly required to sign an agreement that the university has an interest in any patent or other profitable invention that they develop in the course of their work. The agreement usually specifies that the royalties and other profits are to be split between the university and the inventor.
I have not heard of this being required of students, and if you had signed one, you would presumably know. However, if your advisor had a significant part in the project, he or she may have some rights in it as a matter of law (and the university in turn would get a share of your advisor's, per their agreement).
Note that it may be relevant where the funding for the project came from, and what if any financial support you received from the university.
In the case of PhD students, the line between employee and student is remarkably blurry. I'm not sure whether the situation is similar for Masters students.
As a PhD student at my institution, I was definitely considered an employee. I signed a great many things, and one of them was an intellectual property / patent agreement.
Would I have all rights for selling this product or since my professor is essentially guiding me and assisting me in my research, does he/she own a part of it as well?
This is a very difficult and touchy question. You need to talk to your supervisor as early as possible. Many students drastically underestimate the supervisor's contribution. Starting your graduate studies with the idea is very different from developing the idea in conjunction with your supervisor.
Regardless of how the legal situation is, discuss it with you supervisor in a friendly way to figure out
if he wants to put stones in your way, even for the things which you legally could sell. (Even if you may win a lawsuit, financing a lawsuit before you actually sell products could be a problem)
if he is plainly supportive of the idea and helps you without own interest
if he like to give you recommendation for a company/group working on these topics
if he would like to create a company with you (in that case you would have continued access to the research)
if some technology is already patented for some applications or if parts of the materials you used were obtained under an NDA.
if there is a competitor (e.g. another student of his/people he knows in the field)
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141199 | I wasted six years of my life getting a PhD degree. What should I do, and how will I survive?
I struggled with low self confidence throughout my bachelors, masters and PhD in chemical engineering. After spending two years in Masters and six years in getting a PhD degree, I am lost at what I can do with my life.
Initially, my plan was to be in academia. Though I love doing research, I don't see that as a possibility anymore.
I did not do well in my PhD. I have only two first-author journal publications in ~2.5 impact factor journals. I did not acquire significant skills. I am bad at programming, and I have a 3.7 GPA. I did not learn to drive or learn any foreign language. I did not improve my health or developed a new hobby. I even did not spend time on having a relationship. In short, I have done nothing over the past six years.
My PhD supervisor has given me a postdoc position. And I feel extremely inadequate. I feel that I won't be able to do anything after my postdoc year, and I will just be a burden and disappointment to my parents.
I am an international student living in the US.
I don't know what I should do. What should I do?
I think your only issue is one of self esteem. I suggest you find a counsellor and discuss where you are and how you feel. Don't let imposter syndrome lead to depression. Your advisor can give you professional advice, but you should also seek personal advice. The future is brighter than you think.
Is the work fun though?
Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.
Is there anything in your past that is unresolved? I suspect your low self confidence stems from something else and not the PhD itself. For example you mention lack of relationship, so I suspect you have a non-existent sex life. Are you exercising and eating right? All of those things need to be in order for you to be happy doing a PhD. Otherwise all you'll have is a PhD which is empty and meaningless.
‘I have only two publications …’ to me, who has a grand total of zero from both the PhD project that fell short of its desired outcome and my first two years of postdoc in which the ‘basically already finished, just this’ project turned out almost impossible, this is quite a violet slap in the face.
Get wasted, you won't surive this life anyway - no seriously, the others are just as bad at their job. Use the postdoc as an opportunity.
In addition to the other comments and answers pointing out that you have in fact achieved valuable things during this time, I want to add that living in a foreign country is objectively difficult. It is much harder to find friends and form relationships, and family are not around to help with chores and life.
Seek counselling! The problems you describe have very little to do with academia, but very much with you. This website cannot provide adequate counselling in that regard (although some of the answers of course hit very relevant points).
It's never too late to start living.
Imposter syndrome. Look up the word if you did not hear of it before (Maybe you need guidance from a counselor?). I am in no way qualified to evaluate you, but one is not blind. You got a master, a Phd and you published papers, let alone having a good GPA. How can you say you are incompetent if your own advisor offered you a postdoc! This mean he believe in your abilities. If you love what you are doing, fight for it.
It looks to me like you did not do so badly as you think. Two publications and 3.7 GPA are not so bad. It might depend on the field, it might not be the best ever, but I have seen much worse. If your supervisor offered you a postdoc position after having you for 6 years as a PhD student, it means that they consider your work useful.
You might be suffering from impostor syndrome. Do read the question and the answers in that link and see if you identify.
If you are not sure now, you have plenty of time during your postdoc year to decide whether you want to continue in academia or get a job in industry. The pros and cons of both options have been discussed extensively, as a quick Google search for "industry vs academia" shows. I personally agree with this source.
And, in most cases, the answer to "I have wasted X years of my life because I did not do Y and Z" is "do not look at the past and do Y and Z now". Especially when, as in your case, Y and Z can be done at any stage in your career life, such as learning languages, programming or driving.
Also, the field is chemistry, where the PhD is basically required for an entry level position in industry, so that is certainly not a waste of time.
@SimonRichter Actually, the field is engineering (chemical engineering) where a BSc is enough for entry level jobs industry.
Get a job in industry. The great part is, that at the end of the project/delivery/month, work is done and completed. At least for me, I never considered the results in science 'done'; also pace is probably faster, so you will get getting quite a few achievements under your belt quickly (since you are smart).
@Cell Where I've worked, a PhD is automatically hired into a position that it would take ~5 years to get promoted to from entry-level with BSc, and the PhD can offer more job opportunities and security in the right industry. If OP goes into industry, the last six years could be well worth it!
@Sam That's nice, but I never said getting a PhD is a bad idea. I was only correcting the previous poster. With that being said, unless you plan on doing novel research, a PhD may make you overqualified for many jobs that can be done by a BASc, or MEng. You also didn't say what your field is.
@Cell Wasn't contradicting you, just adding that I've often seen PhD's hired into level 3 positions where a BSc gets you into level 1 -- I hadn't seen anyone mention it, and I think it's relevant to the OP. My field is physics, but most of my coworkers are in chemical/materials/electrical engineering (MS or PhD, and a few BS) at large U.S. manufacturing companies.
I would upvote this a million times if I could. Imposter syndrome is... god... it's just real, that's all I can say without invoking profanity. It is very, very real... and the OP's problem sounds a whole lot like it.
To be honest, I'm tempted to agree with Buffy. It sounds like the biggest issue you have might actually be the one you identified at the start of your post - low self-confidence. Studying for a PhD, and working in academia in general, has a tendency to have that effect on people - you're far from alone.
If I were you, I'd be tempted to take stock of my overall life situation at this point, perhaps with some input from the people around me, and try to get an objective view of how things really are - they may not actually be as bad as you think.
For example, here are some plus points:
You finished a PhD. That's already a huge deal - lots of people don't even start a PhD, and of those who do, a proportion never finish. Of those who finish, lots of people feel like they didn't change the world with their PhD, and that's fine - most people don't, and that's not required. You've got the rest of your life to worry about that, if you want to, and it's not required even then. It's ok to just live and be happy sometimes.
You've got a postdoc position lined up, if you want to stay in academia. Your supervisor wants you to stay, which means you probably did something right during your PhD. Maybe your PhD didn't actually go as badly as you think.
If you've just finished your PhD, it's quite likely (in the absence of other evidence to the contrary, which I don't have) that you're still relatively young. That means you've got time on your side - there's still a whole lot of life ahead of you in which to do all the things you want to do (learning to drive, learning a foreign language, improving your health, developing your hobbies, having a relationship, ...). It sounds like you're unhappy that you haven't been doing those things, which means you'd probably be happier if you started doing them. Pick one and go start on it right now - hopefully you'll feel better (it's generally worked for me, when I've been feeling down). Starting on one of them sounds like much more fun than carrying on feeling fed up about not doing them, at any rate.
Best of luck!
p.s. For what it's worth, the fact that you've got a list of things you wish you'd been doing, and are unhappy that you haven't been doing them, is a good sign - there's an easy fix for that, which is go do some of them. That's much better than not having a list of things, and sitting there having existential angst and wondering whether life is pointless :)
The postdoc is with my PhD advisor. I don't think that's an achievement. Probably my advisor felt pity on me and gave me the position.
@AbhikTandon: Bear in mind that your advisor has something to lose from keeping you if you're truly not delivering (there's an opportunity cost - they could look for someone better). If they're keeping you, it's safe to assume you're at least above bar. Some advisors are kind, but few are so kind that they'll use their scarce funding to renew someone who has no possibility of being useful to them in any way. Advisors who pity you buy you a beer, gently tell you the truth, and help you find a job elsewhere; they don't generally commit £30k or more just to cheer you up.
@AbhikTandon Do consider that a PostDoc position often involves mentoring or teaching junior students, grading work, running tutorials, et cetera. Given that your PhD advisor is judged and graded not just on their research, but also on their teaching methods/standards, it's a role they quite literally cannot afford to give out of pity. You not being "up to standard" would put their job on the line! (That said, finding a hobby - preferably something more physically active than mentally, such as a martial art, to contrast with work - for a couple of evenings a week is a good idea.)
You have:
the highest possible academic degree that one can achieve
a job in the field
a life in a developed country
You're faring really well.
This is not to say that what you're feeling isn't real. It is real, and there is a problem. It's just that the problem is not what you have, but who you are. What you have is a highly successful life, at the same time, you are depressed and miserable.
You don't need more things, you have it all. No Nature publication will take you out of your dark place. You need to learn to enjoy life and accept yourself.
I know the last sentence is useless in itself, because it only tells you what you need, but not how to do it. Unfortunately, that's about as far as a stranger on the internet can get you. Speak to friends, speak to a psychologist, speak to anyone willing to listen, speak to yourself and try to figure out where does this need for accomplishments comes from, so you can move on.
Technically I believe a DSc is a higher academic degree - but that usually comes at the end of a distinguished academic degree.
@MartinBonnersupportsMonica DSc is not universally higher than PhD. In some countries DSc is just what a PhD in biology/physics is called, while in other countries DSc is just honorary, while other countries don't use PhD at all and have only DSc, which are seen as the equivalent of PhD, in countries that have PhD.
You need to talk to someone – be that a counsellor (as @Buffy has suggested in the comments), a family member, a friend, or even (depending on your relationship) your supervisor. It does sound like a good part (if not most!) of the problem you describe may stem from impostor syndrome, and if that's the case, then it will be crucial to have others as a sounding board, to help put things into perspective. I have never known anyone in academia who didn't struggle at some point, somehow. Academia is tough, research is hard and failures are inevitable.
You mention you love doing research. Considering that you have also successfully turned that research into publications, it rather sounds like you do have what it takes to succeed. (Again, to put things into perspective, in my field it is normal for PhD students to graduate with 0–1 publications, and the impact factor of what's considered the leading journal is about 2.3. Different fields are different, yes. But you have definitely not failed.)
The other things you mention seem more minor to me. You say you are bad at programming. But you can always improve – programming, if anything, is one of those things where practice makes perfect. You mention you have neglected your health, hobbies and interpersonal relationships. But this is not uncommon: these things happen to many people who pursue a PhD, in various ways, and it is not too late to do something about them now. You say you have done nothing over the past 6 years. This cannot be literally true (you have earned a PhD, an enormous undertaking), but even if it were, the thing to do now would be to start doing those things you have neglected in the past.
But please do consider talking to someone. Having to verbalize your own thoughts and feelings is an excellent way of beginning to understand your thoughts and feelings, and of starting to see a solution.
Get your frame of reference right.
Achieving a PhD puts you in the 5% highest educated part of the population. That's quite significant. But you're comparing yourself to the smartest people in your direct environment - an environment set up try to get together all the smartest people.
If you don't manage to be in the top 1%, surely being in the top 5% is still something to feel pretty happy with?
They are marathon runners on arrival.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSZlSaPJAdQ
Do they look well? Can you imagine, how bad feeling could it be, being there, after 42km of running?
But believe me: it is uncomparably better to be there, than for us, watching them on the youtube.
Don't do any irrecoverable mistake now! Wait, at least some months, more ideally some years! Take some longer leave, if you can (probably you can), and do nothing! Only think.
For example, now you can learn to drive. Ask anybody having a driving license, but no Phd, would they switch to the other.
I know what it's like to feel like you "haven't been living" for years. Six years of my life disappeared by my being extremely sick.
I have 5 years of unemployment in my résumé, an unfinished PhD, a tiny professional network, and ongoing health problems which make many things impossible. But I'm living again.
Some people have been in prison for 10 years. Some have escaped war-torn countries. Some have recovered from drugs or alcoholism. It's very hard when you suddenly awaken from a world of constraints into a world of choices, seemingly at a huge disadvantage from others within it. (I am not saying you've got it easier than they do. I'm saying you have this in common.)
Some of them go on to do amazing things. They have a moment that will define their life, and they work and work and work and work to a level that others can't imagine, and do something great for the benefit of their fellow man.
Others are just happy to be alive, happy to have gotten away from a bad place. Nothing wrong with that.
The most important thing in life is not success or respect or glory. It is to make choices that keep you out of misery. Anything more is a bonus.
But asking the question you're asking proves you are ready to change your life.
Maybe you could go to your home country or a country in poverty, where your skills and knowledge could make a bigger difference. Remember you don't need to use your degree at all; you could enter a completely different field. It's better to do it by choice than by necessity. Doing a variety of menial jobs of different sorts can be really enriching, since you see life from so many angles.
Doing a PhD doesn't just teach you about your topic; it teaches you about being thorough, exploring the state of the art, problem-solving, organisational skills, and so on. These make you very valuable if you use them well.
I know what I want to create. And I know what's stopping me is not my 6 missing years; it's my unwillingness to confront my weaknesses (like networking and time management.) Now I'm confronting these things, and I'm surprised at my success.
Go get 'em.
Two first-authored papers is not bad, I seen a lot of people getting phd for way less and still being full of themselves. You are doing good.
You don't think you did well during your PhD, but you stuck with it anyways. That sounds like a lot of PhD students. But, it also sounds like students that stuck with something, b/c their parents were back-seat driving their futures.
As others have said, your self-esteem issues stem from something. Something makes you feel inadequate all the time, and makes you compare yourself to others all the time.
Usually, that starts from overbearing parents constantly comparing you to other kids, chastising you for not being as good as some top-tier, stellar performer in your same grade or field, etc.
My dad did that to me my whole life. I was expected to get good grades. When I got them, I didn't get a "good job!" or anything. But, if I got bad grades, I got punished. As I got older, my dad would constantly compare me and my siblings against each other and to other kids his coworkers had. "So-n-so's kid is doing XYZ." (to insinuate it's better then what I was planning on doing, or was doing).
Even when I was an adult, my dad was trying to back-seat drive my career with "advice" that wasn't so much him trying to do what was best for me, but what was best for my career. He never took me, as a person, into consideration when giving advice.
What I realized over time (chatting with my dad extensively) was that he made decisions in his career... he gave up moving up the ladder or managerial positions, because he decided to start a family. He took a back-seat position at his job where he kept his head down and kept his mouth shut so he could keep earning an income and not rock the boat while supporting his family. He made one major career shift up the ladder to get more money, and in retrospect it was an awful decision that uprooted the family and set in motion events that pretty much tore the family apart.
What I realized as I got older was that he was trying to coach me to have the career he wished he could have; he was trying to guide his dream job vicariously through me.
He would push it in ways by either telling me exactly things he thought I should do, or package it as "I was chatting with kids at the gym and giving them advice, and this one kids doing XYZ" (again, to insinuate this "one kid" was doing something better then I was).
I got sick of it.
So, I stopped chatting with him about work, school, etc. When he'd ask or press, I simply told him that I was only going to speak with him like a member of the family, not someone I was seeking career counseling from.
I eventually had a blow-up with him, because I was tired of him trying to back-seat drive my life while I was watching his life implode around him with issues he wasn't staying on top of during a situation that basically forced me to take control of his responsibilities when he ended up in the hospital.
What I learned was ... just ignore him.
In 20 years time, my dad won't be around any more. But, god-willing.. I will.
In 20 years time, will I be happy if I had followed my dad's advice and done this and that? No. I'd be miserable, because he was pushing me to go in directions that were making me miserable.
So, why bother listening to him? Why bother trying to please him?
In 20 years time I can follow his advice and be miserable while he's dead, or I can ignore it and be happy while he's also dead.
Ultimately, I have to figure out what makes me happy, though.
But, when you have someone constantly telling you that you're not doing good enough, you need to do better, you're not doing as well as so-n-so over there, you should be heading in a certain direction, you need to do it all before a certain BS time limit... you know what, you eventually turn into a hot mess that thinks very little of yourself b/c you constantly have a devil on your shoulder that never thinks what you're doing is good enough.
Tell that person (or those people) to go screw off.
Since you're international.. and you're in a STEM field.. and you went through a PhD even though it sounds like you didn't really want to .. I'm going to assume you're Indian.
You need to have a moment of clarity where you decide to be your own person and stop having your family tell you what you need to do and where you need to go in life.
That can be hard if your family is paying the bills.
But, I may be making assumptions, but your story sounds almost identical to a ton of other folks I rubbed elbows with in college... all of them Indian. They were taking STEM when really they wanted to do liberal arts or whatever they were passionate about. Their family pushed them into an "lucrative career", b/c it's all about the money and status with them.
I had a couple of Indian folks tell me they had a massive weight lifted off their shoulders when they told their family to stuff themselves. They were dating people locally, and one was wanting to marry the girl he was dating. One guy dropped his STEM and went into art which is what he really wanted to do (and he was an AMAZING artist).
Ultimately, you have to figure out what makes you happy, and stop listening to folks constantly running you down and telling you you're not good enough.
I rented a room from a gay couple, and one of the guys had a degree in aeronautic engineering. You know what he did for a living? He was the director of a high school band. His parents pushed him to do engineering, b/c he was in the closet and just kept his nose down and did what they said. When he finally got older, he got tired of them, and came out of the closet and pursued what really made him happy: music.
People have to have that moment.
So, you're asking how you'll survive over here? I think you really need to ask yourself what will make you happy. And, you need to start ignoring folks that are running you down.
With a PhD in Chemistry, you don't have to be a great programmer. There are companies that will hire you to figure out some chemistry, and team you up with Comp Sci or Info Sys folks that will do all the coding and stuff for reports, data science, etc.
If you don't like what you have a PhD in, then go figure out what you do like. Maybe you like working on motorcycles or scuba diving or whatever.. find a way to make a career out of it.
It's better to live a modest life that makes you happy, even at the expense of others, then to be rich and f'ing miserable b/c you decided to make everyone else happy.. usually folks that won't be alive in 20 years time.. which just leaves you miserable while they're dead.
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81671 | Best way to find references for statements in the thesis
I am struggling finding proper references for the known facts that are mentioned in my thesis.
For example: foundation of Cartesian coordinate system introduced the grid system for data visualization techniques.
How can I possibly find a reference to support that claim?
What is your best method for finding references?
You might be able to turn this into a good question if you can edit it to be more specific. As it is, there's no right answer to this.
@user1449456: I fail to parse your example statement.
@Wrzlprmft I think the answer the OP needs would involve finding out who invented the Cartesian coordinate system. Hint: all the required pointers are already there >:-)
Although the question is a bit vague, I try to give you an answer from my experience. There are often statements that you heard somewhere or which are "obviously" true, but you need a reference.
My best bet is to search google scholar for a variety of different combinations of the terms or suspected authors. If you find some source stating the claim (or something similar) you can often go back through the chain of citations to find a more accurate and reliable source.
Depending on the subject, searching google books is also helpful.
Another good starting point can be the references section of the relevant Wikipedia page (treading with caution of course).
"Common knowledge" are usually not referenced. Yet, what is or is not common knowledge is field- or even individual-dependent. A little investigation may help: look at some journals you think would be a potential home of your article, and learn about their points of view on common knowledge. Talking to your supervisors will also be a good method.
And just a side comments: I am not sure if I understand your example statement and if other problematic statements are like this you may want to talk this through with someone. The coordinate system was meant to project data/information, and one of the manifestations looks like a rectangular grid. But why does it have to be "introduced" again to data visualization when the means and motive were pretty much identical? Be it on a sheepskin map or on a hi-def flat screen, data projection is still data projection. (tl; dr: I humbly think that example statement is redundant. But I am not an expert in this field, sorry if this sounds naive or offensive.)
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76915 | Having trouble getting my "assistant" to put in work. How do I tell him to help out more without being rude?
I was recently asked to train a new undergrad research assistant in the lab I work in. I was then told this new lab member is my assistant. He has no experience working in the lab before this, but I had been there for about a year before he came in. We have been working together for a few months now, but I am stuck.
I did have the chance to talk with him more, and he told me that he is only doing research to get a paper published. After all, if you complete research and do not get published, what is the point? I was a little bit taken back when I heard this, though not surprised. Of course almost every researcher dreams of being published, but me personally, I truly want to learn. I am not boasting and trying to make myself look better, but I personally believe my experience as a researcher will serve me well in my future career. If I do get published, all the better! I do strive to have enough data for publication, but I put my learning first.
After hearing this, my opinion of John changed, though I try very hard not to make it personal. I try very hard to focus on the research, and put all of my energy towards making my project successful. He always mentions to me how his schedule is very full, that he is always busy, but at the same time, I also struggle in giving him work to do. I do not want for him to take credit for something I did (in the long run), but I am afraid that because I may appear weak to him, this will most likely happen.
We had a meeting with our PI a few weeks back, and though John had mentioned to me he would be available for work that morning... once our meeting concluded, and several alarms later (that the professor subtly hinted his annoyance with the constant going off of his alarms), he mentioned to me that he has to get going. He gave me one idea that we could do to improve our project, but then as he walked away, said that his schedule is starting to become busy. I am busy too, I am overwhelmed sometimes, but I simply cannot stand the complaining anymore. I would like to tell him in a nice way, that if we are to work on this project together, he must put in the same amount of work that I do. However, the professor has mentioned he is to be my assistant, so I am not sure if he does have to put in as much work as I do?
I am really stuck on how to stand my ground and not appear weak, but at the same time, I do not want to be mean/a jerk. I am also wondering whether I am just putting John in a negative light because I see him as competition? Any thoughts?
I think there is a good question here, but there is way too much text. Can you edit out the information about your personal research goals and remove some of the identifying information? Even with that, I don't think we can give you any insight into your personal psych and why you don't like your new lab mate.
Meet with the person and lay out ground rules and expectations.
Seems very related: http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/75096/how-to-increase-the-productivity-of-undergraduate-research-assistants
"Of course almost every researcher dreams of being published" I don't understand this statement. Being published is a fundamental part of being a researcher but you talk about it it as if it's some lofty goal that's unachievable for all but the very best. "Almost every researcher dreams of winning the Nobel prize" makes sense; "Almost every researcher dreams of being published" is like saying "Almost every doctor dreams of prescribing medicine."
@DavidRicherby: Publications for undergraduates are not so ubiquitous, are they?
@BenVoigt The sentence I quoted says "researchers", not "undergraduates." If that was intended to mean "undergraduates doing research", it should have said that: to me, in the context of academia, a researcher is somebody whose job it is to do research (i.e., a grad student or upwards).
Disclaimer lable: 100% organic locally grown opinion
I think there are a few aspects you need to reflect on.
First, it's fine for different people to create a joint effort with different motives. As long as the motives move the main goal forward. In addition, just because he wanted to publish a paper does not imply that he does not value learning. If his saying made you assume that he is just on for a free ride, I think that can be too premature a conclusion.
Second, learn how to manage people. Don't expect them just to fit in perfectly with your schedule and work style. Set up ground rules, lay out tasks, and negotiate on the ways of reporting. A very good feature about this case is you know his Achilles' tendon (or hanging carrot if you're a glass half-full kind of person): Name on the publication. Lay out all the works or tasks or learning for him and demand him to complete them on an agreed time or his name will not be listed as an author, but in the acknowledgement. Be civil about it and listen to what he says.
Third, sort out your own conflict. First:
How do I tell him to help out more without being rude?
And then:
but at the same time, I also struggle in giving him work to do. I do
not want for him to take credit for something I did
Actually do you need an assistant or not? If yes, then make sure the terms are clear and he followed through. If he did, and ended up in the paper, he will eventually take some credits of yours AND you will also take some credits of his. This is what collaboration entails, at the end we have a general idea who did what, but it's inevitable to have some shared credit. If you're completely possessive about your work, and you think that he is taking advantage of you, then you should consider if you need an assistant or if you should decline this responsibility assigned by your supervisor.
Lastly, strengthen yourself up. Listen to this:
I am afraid that because I may appear weak to him, this will most
likely happen.
What about you that is weak? Why do you just label yourself weak from the get go? Personality? Physique? French? The only thing you need to be stronger than him in this case is your knowledge in this project. All others are side matters and you should not place yourself in the victim seat. An effective manager does not have to have strong personality, he/she just need to be fair, just, and remain clear and open in communication.
Lastly lastly, you should also talk to your supervisor for advice and tips. Work on it to create a happier collaboration experience.
Very nice answer. Mine would have been shorter if I had seen it before.
"French" as in Napolean? As in, has a nuclear stockpile? As in, Algerian War massacres?
I was about to comment but then it got too long and even as a post it is quite long.
Speak with your PI
However, the professor has mentioned he is to be my assistant, so I am not sure if he does have to put in as much work as I do?
I suppose this is the first time you have an assistant and in that case, it seems fair to ask your PI what is the scope of tasks and the amount of time you are entitled to ask your 'assistant'.
I know that the amount of work/time really depends on your country/university/field/department and lab.
Your PI should be able to give you at least general guidelines and what it is the minimum expected from an undergrad assistant in his lab.
Then stick to it at first and see how things go.
BTW,
Were you given an assistant for the sole purpose that you were too busy?
OR
This new research undergrad had to be trained and since you have taken care of it, you can now 'be paid back' by his work to compensate the time you had put in his training?
If you don't know you should also figure this out with your PI.
I do not want for him to take credit for something I did (in the long run), but I am afraid that because I may appear weak to him, this will most likely happen.
I am also wondering whether I am just putting [him] in a negative light because I see him as competition?
This should not happen as long as you keep your PI 'in the loop' about what everyone has done.
Keep a log of everything he has done and the things you have done. In a matter of fact and professional way.
This is also good to find out what is the contribution of each author/co-author in the final paper.
It is a good practice to keep your PI up-to-date by e-mails (particularly if you have a busy PI) of the progression of the work. (CC everyone involved in those emails). Even if your PI doesn't really read these emails. The purpose, here, is to keep track in a more formal way.
Speak with your "assistant"
He is busy, you are busy, everyone is busy.
There are several points to consider here:
Is your assistant still studying?
Is he 'doing research' in your lab as a full-time job? As a side?
As a requirement of his curriculum?
As to gain more experience for later so basically for free and his own volition?
Is he earning some financial compensation or reputational one due to this position?
And same questions about yourself?
The way to handle this situation is going to depend on his and your situation.
In any case, you can ask in advance how many hours per week he can give you and when: even if he is very busy, he should be able to give that much information before hand. Make him then understand that not being able to keep his words on what he promised is very unprofessional.
However, do give him a bit of time to figure this out, he looks pretty disorganised to me, so he might need a couple of weeks before he can give you a proper figure.
I also struggle in giving him work to do
That would help you to figure out what to give him. Particularly as you seem to do wet-lab work for me (chemistry I would guess if there are many alarms going off). It is hard to plan on the spot.
I would like to tell him in a nice way, that if we are to work on this project together, he must put in the same amount of work that I do.[...] but I simply cannot stand the complaining anymore.
Depending on the amount of time he can give you, you should be able to tell him something like:
OK, based on your schedule, you can only work 10h on this project per week, while I put 35h and X is putting y h., which means that would be only 2% of the total work per week and then I was working on this project from XX months and X,Y,Z from MM months.
You do realise that won't be enough for a proper contribution to the paper
The guy might be truly very busy and just didn't realise what he was committing himself to. You don't expect the same thing from an intern and an assistant. You don't expect the same amount of work from the technician and the PhD student either. They also won't have the same priority on the final authors list.
Try to keep in mind that he is unexperimented and maybe he doesn't realise what is the normal amount of work he should be doing. And maybe he is not fitted for it. What you think about his opinion about research is irrelevant to the problem; how much time he can spare is.
You should also assess why he tends to trigger the alarms so often. If it is because he doesn't apply the best practices, ask him to do so.
Teach him again if necessary.
Safety matters are not a joke. These can also block you to land future positions.
(In a former lab I was working in, one of the post-doc was a real danger and wasn't carrying about anyone health and safety but himself; he created different bad accidents - at the end, he had to go to teach in one this 'after school' complementary school for high-schooler as nobody was allowing them in their lab anymore).
Alarms might be seen as a nuisance to some people, but in the long term (life long-term) there aren't.
Speak with other people of the lab/department
If you can't have a clear idea about what to do from your PI, look/discuss with the other people from the lab about general politics of the lab. No need to complain about your assistant to other as it might be perceived as unprofessional.
Just figure out what is an assistant suppose to do, and how you are supposed to manage them, if there was any other undergrad assistant, etc.
About the publishing part:
If you do science, it is sad to be the only one to know about something, so please consider publishing in any case. ;)
And when you are publishing a paper, everyone is not required (and most of the time they are not) to put the same amount of effort and time. However, the contribution of everyone should be clearly stated in the final paper.
As long as you communicate clearly with your PI, you will be fine.
The context in which the question used "alarms" suggests to me the sense of an alarm clock, most likely an audible reminder from a cell phone of a meeting/task/etc. Maybe the notification of incoming email or text message.
@BenVoigt I didn't think about that. While I am working fully in silico now, I was working at the bench before and nobody was bringing their phone in the lab (too dangerous for the phone and the experiments). And as everyone was writing in the office, nobody would have even dared to have their phone even pinged. I remember several undergrads being frowned upon as their phone vibrations were strong! The apps that change the led colours based on the notifications are very handy in such environment.
You need to tease him in a slightly edgy way, e.g.:
(Monday morning) Hi, Manny, how's it going?
(Answering your own question, pretending to be or speak for him, so you'll have to change your voice slightly) Spent the whole weekend working! (Now speaking for yourself) No rest for the weary! Come, let's get started so we can get out of here in good time. Do you remember ... [and now quiz him on some safety procedures you taught him last week.] Do not humiliate him under any circumstances. Just tease him in a friendly, cheerful way.
We want him to get the idea that complaining, and not doing his job, is ludicrous.
Edit: If you're a grad student, and he is an undergrad, then you can expect his number of hours in the lab to be much less than yours. However, you needn't have to put up with constant bragging, complaining, whining, etc. Deflate his airs of self-importance by poking fun. Gently.
OP is in a difficult position, as a quasi-peer of the new undergrad assistant. Anything remotely stalinesque is not going to come off well.
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113819 | Is it acceptable for a referee to suggest changing "theorem" into "proposition"?
In mathematics, it is usual to call terminal results "theorems" and intermediate results "propositions" or even "lemmas" depending on importance and place in the overarching proof. Suppose that one is refereeing a paper where the authors have decided to call almost all their results "theorems", making a paper with a large number of "theorems" that even emeritus professors don't usually reach by the end of their career. (Such theorems include computation that could conceivably given to as end of year exams to master students. Not to diminish the importance of the paper, the actual theorems are good, but the 20 others are not theorems. There are more theorems than pages.)
Would it be acceptable and well-received to suggest toning it down? Or would it be overstepping and rude? This is not just a philosophical question: I truly believe that it makes the paper harder to reader, because it is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to say. A reader does not know what is important and what is not.
When I was being taught how to proof I was told two things about a the definition of a theorem, 1. A theorem is an important and true proposition. 2. The distinction between a proposition, lemma, and corollary is somewhat fluid. Recommending a change from theorem to proposition or lemma could legitimately be taken as a diminishing of it's importance, depending on their academic background.
I think we should begin by acknowledging that it is the author's choice whether to label results Theorem, Lemma, Proposition, Remark, etc., so a referee should not insist on changing this as they should insist on the correction of an actual error or gap.
Suppose that one is refereeing a paper where the authors have decided to call almost all their results "theorems", making a paper with a large number of "theorems" that even emeritus professors don't usually reach by the end of their career.
Don't say that to the author, by the way. It's snarky and not really helpful -- you seem to suggest that the author is somehow cheating their way to "too many theorems." That's not a thing.
Referees can make stylistic suggestions, of course. How much they should do this is quite a judgment call. I think a good referee should make stylistic suggestions when these suggestions impact the readability of the paper or affect its appraisal by readers. Will it look a bit weird to many readers to have multiple theorems on every page? Yes, I think so, and perhaps the author deserves to know. However, if by having "too many theorems" the author makes it hard for the reader to see what are the important results of the paper -- and, as a statement about human cognition rather than mathematical achievement, a paper simply cannot have, say, 50 important results -- then that's a much bigger deal.
If I were you, I would lead with the latter: explain that you had trouble isolating the important results of the paper because so many results are being presented in the same way, then suggest that changing some theorems to propositions or lemmas might be helpful in alleviating this. (Then, if you like, say that having fewer results called theorems might make a better impression on the reader.) I think this is putting things in the right order and does the best possible job at getting your concerns addressed.
But it is possible to address the main concern -- that the important results not get drowned out -- while still calling every result a "Theorem." If the author pulls that off...okay. Up to them, really.
It's also worth considering that the author is from a different discipline (e.g., computer science) where the word theorem doesn't have the same connotation. I've considered submitting some of my more general results to mathematical journals, and I was not aware of this connotation. As an author, I'd appreciate a reviewer bringing it to my attention (but as you suggest, without sarcasm).
@BenHocking which author are you referring to? I’m not seeing any mention of computer science in the question. And can you clarify what you mean about the word theorem not having the same connotation in computer science? As far as I’m aware computer scientists mean exactly the same thing as mathematicians when they use that word, but perhaps that’s not inconsistent with what you meant.
@DanRomik — computer science was an e.g. (i.e., "for example"). The author I'm referring to is the one the OP is referring to. We don't know the author's discipline. In the NASA PVS libraries, you'll see theorem occasionally used for properties that are not necessarily terminal, though they are typically higher-level than lemmas, but you'll also find terminal lemmas. PVS itself enforces no hierarchy between CHALLENGE, CLAIM, CONJECTURE, COROLLARY, FACT, FORMULA, LAW, LEMMA, PROPOSITION, SUBLEMMA, or THEOREM (all are PVS keywords). See also http://pvs.csl.sri.com/doc/pvs-language-reference.pdf
@BenHocking OP’s question starts with “In mathematics, [...]”, so I don’t see the relevance of talking about other disciplines - it sounds like both OP and the author they are referring to are mathematicians. But thanks for the interesting reference.
@DanRomik, I correctly read the OP's question. He states nothing about whether the author comes from the mathematics discipline. He states that the author is doing something unusual for the mathematics discipline. I posit that it's at least worth considering that the author is not embedded in the mathematics discipline, but could be an outsider so might not be familiar with the connotation the OP refers to. It seems to me to be worth considering. Cross-discipline scholarship is not that unusual. It appears to me that you feel very strongly that it shouldn't even be considered.
@NajibIdrissi: When an author fails to follow the stylistic conventions of a field, one very common reason is that they’re coming from a different field. And considering the likely reasons for the author’s overuse of “theorem” here is very relevant for considering how the referee should respond.
@BenHocking you could well be right, but I guess my point is that from the referee’s point of view it’s completely irrelevant why the author writes in this unconventional way - this has no bearing on OP’s question of what the referee should do in response. Anyway, if you feel that it’s worth mentioning, that’s fine.
@DanRomik: it's relevant because the author might not be aware of the convention. Thus, politely explaining the convention is completely reasonable. As an author myself, I personally would welcome such an explanation.
@BenHocking As a computer scientist (algorithms, complexity theory, etc.), I don't see any difference in the use of the word "theorem" between field and that of mathematicians (combinatorics, graph theory, probability, etc.)
I’ll work my way to answering your question by going down in decreasing levels of generality.
First, at the most general level, it is acceptable to require the author to make any changes to their paper that you believe in good faith to be warranted to bring the paper up to whatever level of clarity and readability that is your and the journal’s standard for publishability. In fact, it’s not just acceptable - it’s your job as a referee to do exactly that.
Second, it is perfectly reasonable if some of those changes are purely stylistic. If the paper has horribly formatted equations, or uses highly nonstandard terminology or notation (e.g., using a swastika as a mathematical symbol), or any number of other stylistic issues are present, it is perfectly acceptable to make the author correct them to make the paper readable by the community the journal is targeting. Someone might object and say “but authors should get to choose their notation!” (analogously to Pete Clark advocating in his answer that authors get to decide how to label a mathematical claim). Well, yeah, they 100% get to choose that, and the journal gets to choose whether to publish their paper once they’ve made their choice. You can’t “make” the author do anything, but you can certainly set conditions for recommending acceptance of their paper.
Finally, on the specific matter that you bring up, it seems pretty clear from your description that the paper does not adhere to standard conventions about publishing in mathematics. “(x+y)^2=x^2+2xy+y^2” is not a “theorem” in any context other than a middle school algebra textbook, and calling it (or something like it) a theorem in a research paper obfuscates the content of the paper and makes life difficult and unpleasant for the readers in exactly the same way as any of the other weird stylistic issues that referees are tasked with calling out. So, in my opinion it would be completely appropriate to ask the author to fix this issue.
As for whether it would be well-received, that’s anybody’s guess.
For the final "well-received" remark, it might not be in the journal's best interest for a referee to require a certain stylistic change that the author may refuse to do. Then the poor editor has to sort it out.
@LeeMosher if the author refuses to do something to bring their paper to publishable quality, the paper should not be published. It is not in the journal’s best interest to publish papers that are not up to its standards.
Referees can be wrong, sometimes. I've had it happen that the referee's insistence on a stylistic change was just wrong, in my judgement. I explained why to the editor.
@LeeMosher of course. Referees can be wrong about more substantive things as well. In any case, if you are a referee, “referees can be wrong” is a reason to be cautious about anything that you are asking the author to do, but is not a reason to not ask the author to do things.
I think you are probably correct, but it is also a matter of style, not formal definition. I think, also, that the paper would be strengthened by more carefully separating what is supportive (lemmas) from what is fundamental (theorems).
The main difference (personal view) is whether a proved result has "legs" to prove many other things (a theorem) or is primarily just a support lemma for something that is more generally useful. If you can envision a "proposition" as being generally useful in itself, call it a theorem. Otherwise probably a lemma.
The term "proposition" is a bit more nebulous. Sometimes it is something that is the subject of exploration with no known proof or counterexample. The "Four Color Problem" was a proposition until it became the "Four Color Theorem", for example. Personally, I'd stick with "lemma" and "theorem" as described above unless presenting statements that might be provable (or not).
And, of course, a big part of a referee's job is to help an author improve a work. Some of what you say may well be subjective, but that doesn't make it invalid. The author remains the author, of course.
Just for the laugh: lemmata is the real plural of lemma. :-)
@PeterK., ok, but not "nice" to remind me I failed Latin in HS. Oh the shame.
I have never encountered anything named as a proposition which was not as rigorous as a lemma or a theorem. To me (and everyone I work with), the difference is in "importance". A lemma is mainly of interest as a stepping stone towards another result. A proposition has interest on its own, but not as much as a theorem does.
@TobiasKildetoft It is certainly fine for you (and everyone you work with) to use it in that way. However, while I failed HS Latin, I didn't fail Mathematical Logic, where "Proposition" has a well known meaning that isn't equivalent to "mini theorem". I expressed a personal view. Your mileage may differ. See wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposition.
@NajibIdrissi, the only difference between "proposition" used formally and "statement" is that a proposition is a statement that can be taken as "true" or "false". The truth (falsity) of a proposition can depend on the truth of other things. The wikipedia article gives a good explanation.
@Buffy It is not Latin, it is Greek :-)
In the wide world the term "proposition" is of course used for many things, including the usage in mathematical logic (cf. "propositional logic") mentioned above. But that doesn't make the usage of e.g. "Proposition 2.76: In a compact metric space, a sequence with exactly one partial limit converges" ambiguous in any way. Such usage is extremely common in mathematical writing. (In fact this is quoted from some notes of mine on general topology.)
@PsySp, I never tried to pass Greek, but would likely fail that too. However, I did an entomology check (yes that was a joke) on it and it said Latin, so that's all I know. Of course, the Romans were heavily influenced by the Greeks in any case.
Or see e.g. this paper, which concerns mathematical logic: https://arxiv.org/abs/1708.01828. It calls several stated mathematical results Propositions in the usual manner.
@PeteL.Clark, are you suspecting that I'm arguing here? I'm not. The usage is fine.
Well, it's an argument in a teapot, but in your answer you write that calling mathematical results Propositions is "nebulous" (and give an example that is over a hundred years old). I'm just mentioning that the practice that you advocate against is extremely standard in mathematical writing. No big deal, to be sure...
The “Four Color Problem” was a proposition until it became the “The Four Color Theorem”. Citation needed. I don’t think that’s true.
@DanRomik, what don't you think is true. The statement of it was unproven, hence not known to be true (a theorem) or false. It was, however, in the Mathematical Logic sense, a proposition: A statement admitting a truth value - in this case previously unknown. "Any planar map can be colored with not more than four colors". When I was an undergraduate it's truth value was undetermined. In a Platonic world it turned out that it was true, even then, of course, but without a proof, just a proposition - worth examining.
Coincidentally I was reviewing a book on Discrete Mathematics for an upcoming course (Rosen, Sec. 1.7) and he specifically includes as a boldfaced definition, "Less important theorems sometimes are called propositions". (Relegating "lemma" to a later paragraph.)
@Buffy I don’t think the four color theorem/conjecture was ever a proposition in the sense mathematicians use that word at all times other than when they’re talking about propositions in formal logic. But I understand now that you meant a proposition in the formal logic sense, and I agree that it was (and still is) one.
There is a double standard here: If you use all terms as objects in logic, a theorem is already a theorem before someone found a proof.
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75605 | Statement of purpose addressing expected contribution and outcomes
I am writing the statement of purpose for a PhD application (applied math, in the US) and wondering about how to address these two questions:
What are your expected outcomes from the program?
What do you expect to contribute as a student and later?
The university I am applying to expects answer for these questions in the SoP.
I am confused because at this point, I do not know which professor I will work with. And more importantly, what the professor (And I) will work on during PhD. Of course, it is possible to write a general statements such as I will conduct original research and expect to gain deeper understanding of the matter being investigated, and I will acquire skills of publishing a scientific article, etc. However, I do not think these sentences add any value to SoP.
Can someone comment on how to address these questions?
Edit:
I have a clear idea about the professors I will work with and the area I will work on. However, it is difficult to decide on a single professor because of many reasons. For instance, the said professor may not be able to accept any new student etc. Looking at the group's website, I can get ideas what the professor is working on, in general. But, one cannot say what projects will be worked on in future.
because at this point, I do not know which professor I will work with. And more importantly, what the professor (And I ) will work during PhD. You seem to have no idea what this PhD program is about. May I know why do you apply for the program?
This is not what I mean. See my updated question.
Note: I am not in the field of Mathematics. The below reflects how I would address this based on my experience elsewhere.
It sounds like you have a very clear answer to both of these.
What is your expected outcome?
You're looking to perform original research, become more familiar with the process and responsibilities of the academic Mathematics field, and contribute to the broader community. You say as much in your post; write that in your letter! Furthermore, you added later that you know which sub-field you're interested in... write that specifically! "I'm interested in studying <field>, and specifically investigating <subfield>." That makes you sound even more promising, because you're coming in with an understanding of the literature and existing research.
The fact that you haven't identified an advisor is something they are unlikely to penalize you on, as its expected that you're still working on that. You should focus on convincing them that you have done your homework with respect to understanding what academic Mathematics is.
What do you expect to contribute?
You stated that as well; you want to do original research, publish, and gain expertise in a specific subfield of math. That's likely all they're looking for. They do say "...and later"; it may be worth mentioning that you're looking for a long-term academic position, as opposed to, say, banking. That will likely reflect well on you.
Thanks for answer! As I mentioned in the post, all these things sound too general. In fact, anyone who wants to pursue PhD will do original research, will acquire research and scientific publication skills. I believe SoP is place to write specific things. Can writing general stuff hurt instead of help?
Yes. That said, it sounds like you have specific interests that are beyond just "do research"... you've identified a field where you want to focus. I would play that card as much as I could. Hopefully one of the Math people from this site can give more specific advice...
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77102 | How to find a scientific review of a theme?
I'm trying to search for a scientific review article of determined theme. That is, I'm not searching a single scientific article containing an analysis of a determined theme, I'm trying to search a scientific article containing a review of many articles about the theme and its conclusion.
What are the terms which I should include in my search (using Google)? Example: "free trade revision", or "free trade paper review"... what are the recommended terms for this search?
Extra question: What are the best sites to search about this? (scientific reviews, scientific articles, papers, books, etc..)
Note: I think my English is legible, I'm brazilian.
Google Scholar: the name of the field + review. Maybe it will be a good idea to limit it to the past few years. Also, read recent papers in the field. Reviews are commonly cited in the introduction.
In chemistry we've publications entitled like "current topics of..." or even journals like "Chemical Reviews". Thomson-Reuter's "Web of Science" many university libraries subscribe is an interdisciplinary database (STEM and social sciences) where key word-based search may be narrowed by publication type "review" instead of "article".
http://www.annualreviews.org is usually a good start, if you are seeking comprehensive reviews on well-established themes. Unlike highly specialized reviews, those reviews are well accessible to people of different fields, and put different work into context.
I think the easiest option is to use Scopus (if your University has access) and in the title, abstract, etc, fields type your keywords and in the document type field just select "Review".
You may look into meta-analysis:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta-analysis
You can search it in the Google and use "main title of your interest" +"review" in your search.
Google scholar also is an aletrnative way to get the result after searching in google main site.
The third alternative is to search in journals in your field devoted to the surveys and review papers e.g. http://www.nowpublishers.com/MAL or http://www.journals.elsevier.com/computer-science-review in computer science.
Also see the recent published textbook to find probable context of your interest.
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82437 | Is submitting two papers with identical introduction and methods considered plagiarism?
Our research (me being one of the co-authors) consists of two main sub-cases which are too long to be in a single paper. So, they were divided into two parts--Part1 and Part2. Both of these papers contain the same text in many places (theory,introduction,procedure). The authors for both the papers are also the same.
If we were to submit this to two different journals, is it plagiarism?
If both papers are so similar, why not publish as one paper with 2 experiments? Doing so would allow you to shorten the entire document by reducing the intro and methods sections. If published as you describe, you would be committing self-plagiarism.
Don't do this, the self-plagiarism could cause retraction.
If we were to submit this to two different journals, is it plagiarism?
Reusing text from another paper (even a closely related paper) without explicitly saying so would generally be considered self-plagiarism. Unless they have exceptionally permissive publishing agreements, you would be in violation of your agreements with both publishers if you didn't get explicit permission to do this. Even if the journals have the same publisher, they would probably still be unhappy, because this is a violation of scholarly norms.
If you feel your particular case is reasonable and would be considered acceptable in your field, then all you need to do is to be clear about it. Include a sentence like "For the convenience of the reader, Section 2.1 is copied verbatim from [citation to part 1]" and explain the situation to both publishers when you submit the papers. If they are OK with it (and you are honest with the reader), then everything's fine, but you certainly shouldn't submit the papers in this state without comment.
For this to work, you'll need permission from both publishers. In mathematics that would be an unusual request, and I doubt you would receive permission, but things may work differently in your field. In any case, you may come across as naive or eccentric if it doesn't work the way you expect, but at least nobody will be able to accuse you of being dishonest or manipulative.
@DavidSchwartz: Thanks, I removed the "yes" to clarify. I also added a paragraph to point out that the publishers may well not agree, but that's a different issue.
Plagiarism is the use of others' ideas or distinctive language without sufficient attribution. Your question is about the amount of allowed duplication in your own work. That should (I think) not be talked about in terms of plagiarism. The term "self-plagiarism" is sometimes used for this, but I don't like it: the two academic crimes are inherently different because the victims are different. In a case of plagiarism, the primary plagiarized party is the victim. In a case of improper duplication, the victim is, in a more diffuse way, the rest of the authors' academic community: they are, in several different ways depending on the situation, "paying twice" for the same product.
So "Is this plagiarism?" is (I think) not the right question here. (Answer: not if each paper clearly cites the other and duplicated content is pointed out.) The right question is Is the decision to make two papers out of one project with a substantial amount of identical content serving the academic community well? What aspects of this course of action are potentially problematic, and what else could we do instead?
I would begin with
Our research (me being one of the co-authors) consists of two main sub-cases which are too long to be in a single paper.
How do you know your work is too long for a single paper? At least in my part of academia [mathematics], on the one hand the length of a single paper is quite variable: many papers are published each year which are under 5 pages and over 100 pages, for instance, and relatively few journals have strict length requirements. I have heard that length requirements are more common and more severe in other fields, but I would ask whether you are specifically violating the length requirements of all the best fit journals in your field. On the other hand, the length of an academic paper is quite fungible: in my experience, most papers can be compressed by up to 25% without a reader really noticing a change, and many papers can be compressed by up to 50% without ruining the core content. That amount of compression could solve your problem. Have you tried?
Sometimes people do have feelings that "this paper is too long," but that can be quite subjective. (For me as an author, fatigue starts to set in somewhere between 30 and 40 pages. After 40, the burden of keeping the entire paper in mind as any individual changes are made starts to feel significant. My longest paper is about 50 pages and had a very energetic coauthor.) If you are not actually violating length requirements or very clear norms of your field, I think it would be better to submit a paper which feels a bit on the lengthy side and see what feedback you get. Sometimes referees and editors recommend splitting a paper in two -- if you get such a recommendation, you can be more confident that you made the right decision.
Note also that your choice of "splitting" seems not to be a very natural one: you are not splitting the paper into two parts which can each stand on their own, and because of that you are repeating a lot. This makes me think that even if you have decided to write two papers and not one, a different way of splitting might make more sense. If your paper is unavoidably too lengthy to be published as one, then that should imply that you have enough academic content for two papers. What you have done so far -- repeating several sections verbatim for most papers -- is likely to create the impression among your readers that you do not have enough academic content for both papers but are trying to stretch one paper into two anyway.
Well, I hope this gives you some things to think about. I can't really give you the answer without seeing your paper. Among other things, it depends on the proportions of everything involved. If for instance the "theory, introduction, procedure" occupies two pages, and each case occupies 20 pages,
then the amount of duplication is probably acceptable. Even in this case though a different reorganization might serve you better. In my experience, breaking something unnaturally in half and trying to publish each half separately can devalue your work: academia wants to publish "full things" rather than "half things". However, this is ultimately quite subjective, and with sufficient reorganization you could probably overcome this.
This really seems like it's more a problem of giving two people copyrights over largely the same work, so, yeah, plagiarism it is not. I agree that a better term would be useful.
In my experience, some repetition from authors in methods/procedures between publications is often permitted, even if it is technically self-plagiarized (though the original should still be cited, without question), because some techniques will simply be the same and there are only so many ways to say the same thing.
Duplication of an entire methods section is different, however, and should never happen because the work should never be exactly the same to be unique.
Having the same text in other sections, even just copying a few sentences, however, is quite bad form, and yes, I would say that is self-plagiarism. You have found a logical way to divide the results into two papers: there should be a logical shift in emphasis of the theory and background to match.
You seem to be assuming he won't disclose the duplication. Nothing in the question suggests this.
The two subcases have in common the following:
theory, introduction and procedure
Pick one paper in which to explain these in detail. I'll call that one TBE (for Thorough Background Exposition).
Then in the other paper, give a brief sketch of the theory, introduction and procedure, and refer the reader to the TBE paper.
If it helps you -- you could think of the dividing up you're going to do as modularizing.
My way of dealing with this situation would be:
in paper one: state that the problem will be solved in two parts and the second part is still in preparation and will be published as separate paper.
in paper two: in the intro and method section write a statement that the paper is the continuation of paper one, then cite the first paper.
Why even worry about whether it's technically plagiarism or not?
Simply have the introduction and the preliminaries refer to their own use in another work.
It's easiest for the preliminaries, where you could either add this at the beginning:
In this section we present same fundamental definitions and basic tools necessary for our exploration of Foo. It should be noted that these are also relevant in the context of Bar, in a line of research which the authors { are currently pursuing | have pursued in [citation here] }.
or at the end:
The observant reader may note that the definitions and tools put forward in this section would also be relevant, as-is to the study of Bar etc. etc.
For the introduction the wording can probably not be generic, and I would weave in the mention of both Foo and Bar saying that this article focuses on Foo, while the authors are pursuing parallel work on Bar. Or something like that. As in the above, if something was already published, do cite it.
For both sections you don't need to spend more than 2-3 sentences to make sure you're self-plagiarism-free.
No, it would not be. The gist of plagiarism is that you misrepresent the authorship or originality of a work. So long as there is no misrepresentation whatsoever, there is no self-plagiarism and no plagiarism. So long as the later paper properly cites the former paper, there is no misrepresentation whatsoever.
Note that avoiding plagiarism by being honest about the duplication likely won't help you. You'll still have problems with getting the journals to accept the papers. The first journal will not be happy that you plan to publish a lot of the same content through another journal. The second journal will not be happy that much of the content has already been published in another journal.
For lengthy prose that is duplicated from another paper (even one by the same author), a blanket citation to the other paper isn't sufficient; it would need to be said explicitly that the duplicated prose is a direct quote from the earlier paper.
@GregMartin Agreed. Honesty is essential to avoid plagiarism.
I'd appreciate if the downvoters would explain their downvotes. The question was whether this is plagiarism with no suggestion that the duplication wouldn't be disclosed. If you are honest about the source, it's not plagiarism.
@DSVA No, it's not "clearly self-plagiarism". Plagiarism and self-plagiarism can only exist if there's misrepresentation and nothing in the question suggests that there will be any misrepresentation. I agree that it will look pathetic and editors will not allow it, but that doesn't make is plagiarism which requires dishonesty and/or misrepresentation.
No. Plagiarism is defined as:
the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.
There are two essential elements both of which must be present:
1) it being someone elses work ... (it's not, it is the work of yourself and the co-author).
2) passing off ... again, you are not doing that either.
Plagiarism is in essence, breach of copyright, but in this case it is your work and you are free to re-use, re-pack and repeat as much and as often as you wish.
At worst, you are guilty of repetition.
Self-plagiarism is a valid and applicable concept. Discussing copyright is thoroughly inappropriate since this is very likely to be assigned to the publisher, and this is without getting to the ethics of reusing material which has already been credited.
Plagiarism and breach of copyright have almost nothing to do with each other. You can commit plagiarism without breaching copyright, for example if you claim something is a work of original authorship that you didn't author when its copyright has expired. And you can breach copyright without committing plagiarism, for example if you correctly cite another's work but take almost all of it. Plagiarism and copyright are two completely different and almost entirely unrelated concepts and understanding that is absolutely vital to know whether or not you're committing plagiarism.
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81086 | How to define a project/thesis for the Master level?
I'm doing my PhD in computer science, and as a part of the PhD program I need to co-advise at least one Master thesis and 2 small Master projects.
Of course I went to my supervisor in the first place, but he told me to find a proper topic to define a Master thesis/project that is related to my PhD and also possible to be carried out by a master student, then he will officially support me. Let's say that he is so busy all the time...
Anyway, I want to define 2-3 MS thesis/projects to see if I can attract students to any of them. But I'm not sure how complex or easy it should be!
Let's say that during my PhD I invent algorithms to solve data driven problems, should I define a thesis in which students should try to devise a new algorithm? or it is too much for them? Or just applying some already tried algorithm in some new data (plus data acquisition) would be enough as the MS level thesis/project?
Also if it is supposed to be related to my PhD, should it be the answer to one of my PhD questions?? then I should do it in the first place, not the student!
I'm a bit bewildered here!
You're certainly not the only PhD student in your program. Anyone else you could ask for help or ask how they did it?
Not much of a definitive answer, but here are some prep works you should start doing:
If you did not obtain the Master program from this institute, gather their program information and understand it first. Key information include course offered (with syllabi if possible), degree audit (to figure out what is required and what is elective). This will give you a general idea of the students' level and capability.
Most theses are submitted to the school's own libraries or at least to their committee members. Check out a handful that are related to your field for an approximated scope.
If Master's defense presentations are open to public, go to a couple and learn about them.
Download the Master's degree program handbook and, if any, a list of instructions and obligations for committee members and skim them for useful information. These documents usually detail the length and specification of the project and thesis, as well as general procedure such as meeting frequency and responsibilities of all parties, etc. Be informed about these details helps a lot on budgeting time and effort.
You mentioned you're co-supervising, and I do hope each student also has at least one faculty member in the committee. Schedule an informal meeting with the faculty chair and ask for guidance. Unlike your supervisor, they have the obligation to care.
As for topics, by the time you have done the above you should have a good idea on the length, size, and depth. But some other tips here may be useful:
Dig out other Master or PhD topics that you might have given up.
Cast a look at your work, look for possible branches that you do not have time to explore. Try not to be overly possessive about these ideas, as you may not have time to actually explore them anyway.
One way is to think about your own thesis's Introduction. Are there any particular matters for which you wish there is a piece of evidence?
Start the habit of jotting down random ideas on handheld devices or a paper note pad.
Be extremely clear and open about the ownership of the ideas and deliveries before the student starts working on it.
Ideally (and I'm speaking from biomedical), the student should be technically capable to carry out 2/3 to 3/4 of the work. Try not to make them learn everything new or they can have integration anxiety and tremendous amount of self-doubt which leads to unrelenting reliance on you or worse, withdrawal.
Do know that (and I am sorry to be blunt) this supervising task is i) not a major determinant of your PhD graduation and ii) is but a small piece of evidence on mentoring that can get you hired. So don't invest excessive amount of time in it. And to achieve so, you need to first establish a sense of non-possessive attitude (the student is working on his/her Master, not your PhD). Second, the topic needs to be able to help you move along your study, but in the same time it should not be so crucial that if it failed your study will be held up. Third, the student should be able to do a good amount of it technically, and your job is to move them along by i) encouraging them to think and act critically and independently, ii) conducting meeting and communication regularly, iii) providing feedback and reasoned suggestions, and iv) demonstrating all the above three consistently.
+1 for checking the library. When I did my MS, I wasn't getting clear guidance from my advisor on how much work was appropriate for the project. I spent an afternoon reading recent MS projects in the same area, both from my advisor and others, and quickly got a good idea for what my scope should be.
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121124 | No data for masters thesis
So I’m having my masters in Italy. My thesis is on a project with an Italian organization sponsored by the World Bank in Burundi, East Africa.
I was able to collect the baseline data from my sample. However, there are issues with the local government who has banned any international organizations working in Burundi. I foresee this as a big problem and I may not be able to collect my post intervention data. How do I conclude my thesis? Can I graduate without the complete data for my research?
This is the kind of advice your advisor is much better positioned to give than people on the internet, since your advisor presumably knows the local rules about theses and graduation, and is more familiar with your research.
Just to let you know that this question may likely be closed due to being too specifically dependent on your institute's policy.
The best people to answer you are: i) Your supervisor and your committee (do they think there are enough "meats" from the baseline data to sustain a Master level analysis? Would there be other projects from which you can carve out an aim for your thesis?) ii) The academic committee overseeing the execution of the curriculum (how do they consider disruption due to unforeseen circumstances? Do they need a revised research plan?) iii) The funding organization (Are they fine with only having the baseline data report?, etc.)
In this kind of position, as a student, it may be easy to fall into panic mode and let the flow take you. But do think deeply and clearly about it, and voice what you'd like to achieve. If you want to get the follow up data collected, then talk to your faculty who connected you with WB and see if you can partner with/contract a local agency to collect the data for you (assuming your intervention was delivered somewhat to the plan). Your team may need to seek legal advice as well, but if you do have the will to get this finished, don't give up the first time just because you're told not to.
If it's not a go, or the intervention is unfortunately cut short or terminated, consider proposing a new aim, perhaps focusing on literature review, on the potential impact on outcomes (the ones you are working on) during political instability or other disruptions, etc. That's another logical next step you can consider.
+1, especially for the suggestion to try to work with a local organization.
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64196 | When no program is available in your country and all attempts to join foreign ones failed
Here's my problem. I'm a high-school student, from Africa, I will now have completed my last year there; However, the only choice available to me, in my country, are either engineering schools or medical schools. But my interests lie elsewhere, since I want to become a theoretical physicist, and that's obviously not possible with these two options. I've looked at foreign programs, in particular, undergraduate programs. I know beforehand that getting full scholarships is extremely difficult, but I thought that it would be a good idea to at least try. According to my limited knowledge on the exact procedures that are a necessity to get into a foreign university (either the US, or the UK, I didn't look yet at other possibilities), but one should make an application before applying for a scholarship. And to do so, one has to fit certain requirements, amongst whom are a set of standarized tests, the SAT/A Levels. I've spent nearly 5 months, going to the British and US councils, asking many institutions, but none offered the possibility to take either of these tests.
I now have exactly zero idea on how to proceed, which kind of gets depressing, and I'm worried that with the advance of my age, I may not reach my goal.
(Sorry in advance if this question possibly violates Academia.SE policies, but in case it gets closed, I ask the interested persons who want to provide some help [even an infenitesimal one] to send me an email which you can find in my profile)
Hopefully you've looked at a site like this -- http://www.internationalstudent.com/study_usa/application-process/ Is going to the local engineering school and then a foreign school for graduate work in physics a possibility?
I have closed this question because undergraduate admissions is, unfortunately, out of the scope of this site. Having said that: if SAT exams are the main barrier to entry for you for admission to US universities, try looking for some reputable colleges with test-optional admissions. (You should of course explain in your application that it wasn't possible for you to take the SAT or ACT in your current location.)
Theoretical physics is quite heavy on the mathematics. You may get on the right track by studying mathematics first, and then moving into physics at a later point. In this regard, you may be interested in the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences that may have something for you: https://www.aims.edu.gh/aims-network/
SAT testing now appears to be available internationally: https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/register/international
@WolfgangBangerth I was thinking about that, my initial plan was to make a major in Mathematics and a minor in Physics, then to do physics at the graduate level. I already contacted the AIMS but I didn't have any response.
@ff524 Thank you so much! I never thought that it was possible to make an application without these tests, and when I contacted some universities they were very strict about that and didn't mention any other possibilit. So I will definitely take a deeper look at that!
@jakebeal In theory, yes. However in practice that's not quiet correct. After contacting the council, I was redirected to another institute, who also redirected me to another one, then I was asked to write my informations to an e-mail to register. To this day, I didn't receive any response.
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76180 | Commissioning artist to make a figure
I have the idea to commission a local artist to make an artistic version of a couple of figures I often use for presentations, and that I would probably use for my thesis cover. The figures does not present any numbers, but rather conveys the general idea behind the work (subject area is theoretical chemistry). The artist does not have an online portfolio, but a lot of his work is probably best described as "kind of abstract, bad for people who suffers from trypophobia".
I already know that most of the conservative seniors at my department would think it is a bad idea. Normally we go with quite bland figures and monochrome covers (there is nothing in regulations stating that we can't spice it up though). But I am interested in hearing what you would think, if you saw such a thing, a bit out of the ordinary.
I would, by the way, probably pay him out of my own pocket, as I don't think my grant includes art money. And I am perfectly fine with that.
"if you saw such a thing, a bit out of the ordinary" - I have seen all kinds of skillfully designed thesis covers, each in the author's individual style. Hence, it is difficult to say what would be "out of the ordinary".
Ordinary meaning "not artistic covers". We usually go with monochrome.
@nabla: You may want to include that in the question, maybe as a precondition for those who answer. Otherwise, answers (to a question that borders on an opinion poll, anyway) might be quite uncomparable. For instance, in my CS subfield at the universities I am most acquainted with, coloured, semi-artistic covers are the norm, and the one noteworthy aspect about your plan would be that you have not created the cover art yourself (which I might perceive as negative, albeit very insignificantly so). Evidently, this is not comparable with someone's impression who is used to monochrome covers.
Thanks @O.R.Mapper, I clarified that point in the question.
In Stockholm University I have seen a thesis cover with a hand stitched topographic map (I thinkg it was geology), and another with a painting of two giraffes (bigravity, theoretical physics). There is no rule nor expectation that you should be the creator.
It's your thesis, and so long as the work --- including the cover ---conforms to the requirements set down by your institution, then I see no problem with it. Yes, you might upset some of the more conservative of your colleagues, but if you continue in research no doubt you will in future perturb the status quo again.
The only concern I have is whether such an unconventional decoration would influence a grader. However, I suspect you are considering the final version of the thesis, after any corrections set down by your examiners, so this isn't an issue.
Naturally, you should give credit to your artist.
I see no problem when it comes to presentations (eg on the first slide to give the general idea). As long as the "corporate design" of the academic institution is still recognizable. Otherwise slide 2 or 3 would work.
Thesis cover might work as well, as long as it's within regulations (eg cover not nitpickingly specified). And as long as there isn't even a hint that you want to put style over substance. Also, conform when it comes to the spine. If the thesis is in a library as physical copy, it's the spine that counts (and should look the same way as the rest). The cover is invisible.
As for figures to actually convey data in the thesis, I'd stick to the convention. There are reasons -- beyond a departments preference -- why graphs look the way they do. Any fluff is clutter that has no place in a scientific diagram. The primary aim is to argue, not to entertain.
But yeah, go for the cover. Reminds me of Randy Pausch's ("Last Lecture") story about the color image in a article ("Are there allowed to do that?!?!").
If everything fine by the standards of your advisor, then it would be fine to include the artwork. Also consider including the artist in our acknowledgements section. It should be completely acceptable for your presentations.
Your thesis is graded for your academic content. Your figures are added to illustrate concepts. If the idea and the concepts behind the figure itself is yours then worry not for the critic of others. As long as those figures are not copyrighted or published by another author, it should be alright to include them in your thesis.
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99822 | Can I ask my adviser for a raise?
Due to the recently passed tax bill by the United States Senate, graduate students will incur more taxes on their income which is already small. This will certainly affect my academic performance and research productivity. One of the professors in the department promised his students to compensate them by supplementary scholarships or awards. Can I ask my adviser to do the same thing to me?
How did he "promise" scholarships and awards to his students?
@Mark he sent an email to his students, one of whom is my friend and informed me about it
FYI, the grad student changes are in the House bill, not the Senate bill. So this will be decided during reconciliation. Also you will get a larger standard deduction. If you have health insurance through university you may be ahead. So much depends on reconciliation right now. So lobby!
"This will certainly affect my academic performance and research productivity." How? Is your effort a function of your pay?
So your income is going to be taxed harder..., and you therefore want more income so that you have to pay even more tax..? I don't see the logic.
@mathreadler: The OP wants more income so that they will have more money left over after taxes.
@jwodder but there may be other ways to do that which are not punished as harshly as with the new taxes would make.
@chessofnerd I really can't imagine how could the payment and productivity be NOT related! I mean, seriously?
@mathreadler Given that you're a mathematician, if you don't see the logic here then I think you made the wrong career choice. Either that or you have an unbelievably deficient understanding of how taxes work...
@J... If I was a mathematician it would still not matter as this we are talking about is not mathematics but economics. If you get your income from somewhere else you may earn more than in the particular place where the taxes were increased. Say you could do another job that pays more relatively speaking but which is not punished by new taxes the same way. Then you would be better off doing that instead, at least if what you care about is the amount of money you get each month.
@mathreadler Income from somewhere else is not an option. First you assert taxes paid is what matters and then what you take home matters. Are you a hot question spammer?
@Paparazzi Income from somewhere else is not an option you say? But you are not the OP and the OP does not state that... The OP doesn't either state in the question what actually is important to him, which is why I consider both those options. You seem to get mad because I point out possibilities that you don't want people on here to even think about. Are you a hot question brainwasher?
@mathreadler You answered my question.
I thunk this question is based on a false premise. I believe they removed the tuition tax change before before the senate vote.
I want to point out that the proposed tax change only affects you if getting your tuition waived by the university is a result of being employed as an RA/TA. If your tuition is waived for being a student, then it is a scholarship, and not taxable income. The solution? Departments pay your tuition for being a student and your stipend for being a TA/RA.
First, it is not quite a law yet as it still needs to go through conference and be signed by the president. Regardless, you can ask for a raise, but arguing for a raise on the basis that your personal situation has changed is not really a good strategy. Most people ask for a raise when they can make a case that they have been performing well.
Many advisors do not have spare money floating around. Stipends can be set at the department or university level. As I said in this answer graduate student tution is an odd thing. Universities may either automatically increase stipends or decrease tution. It is really too soon to know. Your best bet is to probably unionize and make sure the university begins treating students responsibly.
The issue, at least as I see it, is that advisors need to justify to funders why a PhD student is needed as opposed to a permanent RA or post doc. When PhD students are cheaper than the other alternatives, it is easy. In my field, the NIH post doc rate is about $40,000 a year. This means there is only a little gap in costs between a PhD student, after covering tuition and fees, and a post doc.
The problem is not really the change in tax code, but rather in the fact that full time researchers are being charged tuition. This is something, at least in my opinion, that needs to be addressed on a university/department level and not with the individual advisor.
OP isn't asking for a raise - they're asking to keep the same stipend and not to take a pay cut while remaining at the same level performance and responsibilities. One can argue whether this should be dealt with at the supervisor, department, or university level, but the first paragraph here simply isn't helpful.
Actually, not his personal situation has changed. The law has changed. He asks, whether this change may be compensated as done by other professors, as it seems.
I am not familiar with the American academic system. Is there currently a student union, with any kind of power? And if not, then presumably it's the same as other countries where students simply have no bargaining power?
@E.P. No, he is literally asking for a raise. He says it in the question title, and the description of wanting more money for the same work is generally what is thought of as a "raise". The fact that it is merely to maintain the same net income after tax does not make it not a raise.
@Matt You're certainly entitled to disregard any and all context. However, if your attitude towards student welfare is that something required to maintain the same net income is still a "raise", then I would warn any prospective graduate students to stay well away from taking you on as their adviser.
@E.P. Definitions of words do not change given the context. Its a raise no matter how it effects the OP's standard of living. For example, it is still called a raise if your employer increases your pay to track inflation. The word does not mean what you seem to want it to mean, and "student welfare" does not change that.
@E.P. the law changed, but not everyone will have the same marginal tax rate on the tuition so it is not easy to calculate. Further, I can assure you that a faculty member asking for a raise since their taxes went up would be laughed at.
@StrongBad I'm surprised you consider that comparison appropriate. As I'm sure you're aware, some of the potential tax increases would make graduate school entirely untenable for many people, with a disproportionate effect on students from less-privileged backgrounds. If a given supervisor's response to that change were to demand an exceptional performance increase from their students (as opposed to working with the students, the department, the university, and any relevant funders to find an appropriate solution) then my response would be an unambiguous "don't walk, run".
@E.P. I have a responsibility to both my students and my funders. In order to go to my funder and justify a raise for the student, I need to be able to make a case why it is worth it to them.
@StrongBad Indeed; a good starting point might be "this will enable the student to continue contributing to the research". The viewpoint you're presenting here sends a clear message along the lines of "this supervisor simply does not care about the student, or their welfare, beyond their usefulness to some pre-existing research programme", which I would take as an immediate prompt to start looking for a new supervisor. If you're OK with causing that impression, then I hope your research profile really is hot enough to offset the dent that that will make on your recruitment abilities.
good answer, but in USA you dont have student UNIONS?
"arguing for a raise on the basis that your personal situation has changed is not really a good strategy" Well, saying something like "If I don't get a raise, I won't have enough money to live and will probably have to quit or take another job which will hurt my research. And BTW, no other students will want to replace me either." (if demonstrably true) in a salary negotiation does sound like a good bargaining strategy.
@JiK see edit. My funders would say, so have them drop out and become an RA. They are only willing to cover tuition and fees because a grad student is cheaper than a similarly qualified RA.
Due to the recently passed tax bill by the senate, graduate students
will incur more taxes on their income which is already small.
It is not law yet.
One of the professors in the department promised his students to
compensate them by supplementary scholarships or awards.
They should not have done that. For something that affects literally every graduate student waiting for the university to figure out what they want to do before putting together some sort of patchwork solution is likely to be way more useful in the long term.
Can I ask my adviser to do the same thing to me?
You can certainly ask. But graduate student funding often comes from fixed pots of money, and lots of faculty don't just have piles of unallocated money sitting about. Further, many departments are aggressively opposed to having compensation in a department vary by advisor.
Beyond that, if you asked me, my answer would be "Lets wait and see what the university intends first."
Such a request is likely to go nowhere. Most departments have a "fixed" stipend system: people get a pre-determined stipend, although this can be augmented when needed. Usually, such "raises" are to "reward" students for bringing in outside money, or for moving from the master's phase of a program to the doctoral phase.
The better approach would be to organize with students across the university to see what can be done (perhaps lowering the amount of the tuition charge associated with the waiver?).
The people who run universities in the United States are acutely aware of this legislation, even though it isn't in final form yet. There will be a reconciliation process, in which the House and Senate bills are merged. (Kind of like making sausage!) When that happens, possibly in the next couple of weeks, you and everyone else will know what will happen to grad students' taxes. The bill still has to be signed into law by the President, and that seems very likely to happen.
Then it will be appropriate to ask what your university will do for all graduate students in your situation. Be aware that it may take some time for them to figure it out, but they probably can't leave grad students in a position of no or negative income.
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40422 | Is talking about quitting to your supervisor a point of no return?
I have been feeling miserable about my PhD degree situation for a bit of time, and I just started therapy. So far I've tried not to take drastic decisions such as quitting, because I know I am strongly influenced by my condition, but lately I can't think about anything else.
I wonder if it is possible to convert my contract in a research assistance, or what is a graceful way out so to continue deserving recommendation, or what is an adequate resign notice period, etc., but I know it would much better to finish the PhD degree, and so continue trying.
Is talking about quitting possibilities with your supervisor a point of no return?
"I have been feeling miserable about my PhD situation" You have already passed the point of no return.
Isn't feeling miserable like a part of been a PhD candidate? :D
I talked to my PhD supervisor about quitting and then didn't quit. It certainly wasn't a point of no return.
@itcouldevenbeaboat: I couldn't disagree more.
@N0ir (1) Drudging on despite feeling miserable shouldn't be necessary to make a good researcher. (2) I know the statement was made in jest, but someone suffering from depression or similar would also describe themselves as 'feeling miserable'. Part of the problem is recognising that it's more than just that and the OP seems to have done that by starting therapy, so kudos to them. Telling them it's just par for the course can be incredibly insensitive and counterproductive, as it implies they should just 'toughen up and get on with it', which is the worst you can tell someone in that situation
Point of no return from whose perspective? Yours? (Agree with other comments here, chance to change something.) The supervisors? (Depends on the supervisor and how s/he handles these situations.) BTW, your question reminded me of this presentation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MkRMp3roKQ by Hayton who reached a low point and used it. No two people experience a crisis exactly the same (and doing a PhD can have a lot of them), but perhaps its useful.
Talking with your advisor can be a point of no return. Even if it's unlikely, be prepared for the worst.
Talking about quitting with your supervisor (or someone else in your supervisory committee or department) is not a point of no return. In fact, it can be a turning point.
PhD students all go through ups and downs and part of the job of the supervisor, and others in the department and university (head of department, counsellors, etc) is to help you get through the rough patches.
If you do not talk about it and things get so bad that you actually quit, then it may be a point of no return.
Full disclosure: I quit my PhD. The first my supervisor heard of it was the day I quit. Luckily, someone else gave me another chance a few years later.
Signed in just to upvote this. Couldn't agree more.
+1 and even the process of thinking about what issues you would raise and how can be beneficial.
This is not an attack, I am genuinely curios to know: Isn't your answer a bit absolute? I mean, should one also consider the relationship between the supervisor and phd candidate? Aren't there some supervisor whom such conversation might affect all their future considerations of the student? What if the supervisor him/herself is one of the reasons that OP is finding the job exhausting? Again, I am not attacking and I myself upvoted your answer. I couldn't however, be sure if it is a general rule to consider supervisor so supportive in the times of despair.
@Pouya: Good points. Other people in the network should be consulted in that case. In any case, quitting should be the last resort.
@Pouya if the supervisor is one of the reasons, that is an even stronger case to talk about it. That is the best hope of finding a solution for it.
I talked to my supervisor about quitting my Master's thesis option not once but twice (turbulent times, I had) but I finished my Masters. I have known colleagues who had the same issue during their PhDs but they all finished with the same supervisor.
This question resonated with me, so I signed up just to answer. The short answer is that one would hope that it shouldn't be a point of no return. But, of course, it depends heavily on your supervisor’s temperament.
I was in a similar situation where I was deeply unhappy with the direction and content of my PhD research and despite my best efforts at raising these concerns I struggled to alter things. This was partly due to having two supervisors with not entirely overlapping areas of expertise. However, my main (on paper) supervisor and I met for a coffee in a neutral location, i.e. off campus and not his office, to discuss things. He was non-judgmental and supportive and, having done a PhD himself (naturally), he understood the situation. I did end up leaving the PhD programme but it was not because I couldn’t discuss things with my supervisor (I’ve since completed my PhD at a different University).
So my suggestion would be definitely do not simply quit, you should feel able to discuss issues with your supervisor. After all (at least in the UK) supervisors are expected to provide some level of pastoral care, as well as directing research. If you'd feel more comforatble suggest a neutral location. Further, I’d reiterate what Dave Clarke said in that I don’t know a single PhD student who, at one time or another, wasn’t fed up with some aspect of their PhD.
Re. your last paragraph, if you are not feeling frustrated, it is not called research. (Tongue in cheek).
Absolutely not. Even quitting may not be a point of no return, if you have a good relationship with your advisor. I know of a student, for example, who actually withdrew entirely for reasons of mental health, but was explicitly told that their return would be welcomed if their circumstances changed. What is most important is to find a way that you can be honest about your struggles and planning. If you don't feel you know how to talk safely to your advisor about this, you should start by talking with your therapist, who can help you plan an approach and figure out how to talk about it without revealing information that you wish to keep private.
I quit and returned and succeeded and look at me know. A regular on [Academia.SE].
I would assume the answer to this question depends on the area. In mathematics (where I work) or humanities your supervisor will most probably try to help you not to quit, and if you do quit welcome you back after two years. In other disciplines, where Ph.D. students consume significant resources, things are different. The supervisor might well think "If I let someone play with my 12 million dollar gadget, and he quits, then I wasted a lot of money. Better invest this into a student who actually finishes."
There are few points of no return, else we'd all be lying at the bottom of cliffs.
Are you going to GET the PhD? If so, finishing it and putting up with being miserable for a bit longer is an option you should consider. If you're convinced you're going to flunk it, talk to your supervisor, it's what he's there for. Maybe you'll be reassured that in fact you're doing OK. Maybe he'll agree you should try to succeed at something less ambitious.
If you have the choice, not too long in the future, of having a PhD or not having a PhD, which would you prefer?
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43469 | How serious should I regard the "compliments" in an email denying my application?
A school, whose PhD program I applied to, denied my application with words such as "Your record is strong, but...". I am kind of confused. Is such a reply simply a "polite" way to decline a person? Should I believe that the sentence "your record is strong" is a compliment, or it is simply a decoration?
To me, such a compliment does not seem to help because obviously, for the school, my record was not strong enough to be admitted, so speaking of "your record is strong" is almost meaningless?
Doesn't matter, you should ignore compliments as you would ignore insults.
It may be a genuine compliment. Normally, when a letter is just trying to be polite, it will say things like "We get a long of strong applications and can't accept them all." This was specifically targeted at you, so it may be that the letter writer actually thought this.
If it says something personal then it's likely to be a genuine compliment, otherwise not.
I would take it as simply a polite way to decline your application. They no doubt really do get a lot of strong applications (every decent program does), and in many cultures such as the US there is a tendency to "sugar-coat" bad news with compliments (I don't know if your application was in the US, but I believe this practice turns up elsewhere as well). You would actually probably get less praise if you got in---after all, the acceptance is compliment enough.
Many thanks! Exactly what I would like to know. Just want to check if my intuition is correct to a certain degree.
+1 for "you would probably get less praise if your application was accepted"
It is funny to note that higher-up in the academic food chain, rejects tend to get less and less sugar-coated. I have received rejections for faculty positions that more or less verbatimely read "We think your track record is not good enough for our insitution." Of course every reject implicitly says this, but it was awkward to see it spelled out like this.
@xLeitix Perhaps because the higher up you are in the academic structure, the more professional you can assume your peers are?
@Nit This is a very optimistic assumption.
Those kinds of general compliments are typical platitudes included in rejection letters, whether for an academic application or a job search.
In general, if the letter feels impersonal or looks like it might be a standard boilerplate or form letter then there is no point in trying to interpret any deeper meaning behind the contents. There is simply no way to tell from such a letter alone whether they really considered you a strong candidate or are just sugar-coating their rejection.
Only if you can tell that the letter was written for you personally or when it references some particular quality you have should you accept it for the compliment it really is.
if the letter feels impersonal or looks like it might be a standard boilerplate or form letter then there is no point in trying to interpret any deeper meaning behind the contents - exactly. +1.
What would you do about it anyway? Whether the compliment is genuine or part of a boiler plate rejection letter, so what? Aside from softening the blow of rejection, what difference does it make?
I suppose if a compliment was very specific, like, I don't know, "you are very articulate and your grammar is impeccable", that might tell you that this is NOT the area that you need to work on but rather you should concentrate on other things to improve your chances the next time around. But something like "your record is strong" is so general as to mean almost nothing.
Thanks. To me, a question is raised in its own right; no reason is needed to "justify" why a question is raised. I asked the question because of pure curiosity. So, sorry, I think it is more suitable for the present "answer" to be a comment.
@chou I'm not challenging the validity of the question. The poster asked, "how should I regard these statements?" My answer is, "ignore them because they're irrelevant." Seems to me that's a direct answer to the question. If you don't agree, that's fine. Post your own answer.
Jay, @Chou IS the original poster. You might not have noticed the subtle highlighting of her user name in this thread.
@VaibhavGarg Oops, no, didn't notice. I think the content of my comment stands, just worded incorrectly given that.
I agree @jay. It's only a minor quibble in an otherwise excellent point.
The only times I would recommend to entertain the idea of a compliment in a rejection email is if 1) The compliment is something specific to your resume or work, such as 'Your paper on X was very impressive...' (im not sure this ever happens with a rejection) and 2) You are asked to apply or automatically accepted into a different program. Of course in this situation you were rejected from the one you wanted, but the compliment is not empty-handed. I have seen this in both art/design and music. For example, applying to a specialized program for '3d animation', and being rejected to that program, but automatically considered and accepted for the 'new media design' program.
'im not sure this ever happens with a rejection' - I have done this in rejections. I don't write insincere compliments, but sometimes I do feel that certain aspects of a paper or an application are strong; expressing that strength is then sincere, and I believe that it makes the rejection more human. However, I'd be interested in hearing other people's opinion on this.
@MarkPeletier well im glad you do that, I was just assuming it can be a liability of someone being rejected and complaining
@user1938107 To what your "it" refers?
@Chou I was referring to being told a specific thing was good, but still being rejected. As I mentioned, im not sure if it happens or not, i dont have personal experience with it. That being said, I was pondering the impacts of rejection letters and how someone can follow up, either saying denied entry because of affirmative action (harvard law suits, michigan law) or apparently some schools allow appeals, http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124096471555766239 . A school might not be happy if specifics are mentioned that help too many people appeal, but i dont know how it works
When I got in the MS program I received a note from the coordinator prior the decision was posted to my account. In that note I was merely congratulated and informed that they let me know sooner in case it would be helpful to me.
On the other hand however, wherever decided to reject me sugar-coated the decision letter and it usually came when I myself was almost sure that they did not want me there.
I got the acceptance email a month before the deadline! While I thought I would not be hearing from them for at least two weeks after the deadline. Bottom line is, if they want you they let you know quickly; otherwise, it is just a formality to help people get less disappointed.
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54421 | When do I use a footnote in a thesis and when do I use parenthesis for extra information?
I have one question for my masters thesis. If I have A, which is also known as B or C, can I write:
A (also known as B or C)
(or similar) or can I use a foonote like this:
A¹
¹ Also known as B or C
Or more in general: When do I add extra information (like synonyms) between parenthesis, and when do I add them as footnote?
A thesis is no different from any other document in this respect.
This is mostly about the reader's flow. Something that is parenthesized is something you expect the reader to actively read, but you're signalling that it's secondary information. The main drawback to parentheses is that if the text in them becomes too long, the reader has to work very hard to remember the main point you're making. You're essentially talking about a lot of unimportant stuff while you have an unfinished, important sentence going. So make sure you put only short, simple things in parentheses.
If you put something in a footnote, you're signalling that the reader should skip it on first reading and they should only investigate if something is unclear, or if it's a second reading and they need all the details. The drawback to footnotes is that they are often more tantalising than they should be. While the reader should ignore them, they are too curious, and break their concentration to look up the footnote. This pulls them out of the text for something they were supposed to ignore.
On the whole, try to avoid both as much as you can. In your example, ie. this method is also known as X, parentheses should be fine and a footnote is probably overkill. However, you could also consider finishing your main point first, and moving the parenthesized statement to the end of the paragraph as a full sentence. That way the reader can finish absorbing the primary information unencumbered by details, and gloss over the aka's once the hard work is finished.
Good point about interrupting the reader's flow. Unless the parenthesized text is about 5 words or fewer I try to re-work the paragraph so that the parenthetical text is either not necessary, or comes at the end of a sentence.
One way to "force" the reader to avoid footnotes would be to put them all at the end of the thesis/chapter instead of at the bottom of each page. In my experience you get tired easily of going always at the end to read the notes and you end up ignoring them on first reading. When they are needed you are willing to go at the back and look.
@Bakuriu No, end notes are a scourge!
@curiousdannii That claim could be a new question on this site.
To a large degree, it all depends on your chosen writing style guide and, perhaps, your institution's and/or advisor's recommendations. Having said that, I would suggest using the following heuristic (rule of thumb) to determine potential use of footnotes versus text in parentheses: if information in question is short, such as "also known as B or C", it is preferred to use that text in parentheses, otherwise (for a longer text) consider one of the two alternative options, as follows.
The first alternative option is to use a footnote; however, using footnotes is discouraged by major writing style guides (i.e., by APA Style Guide) or advised to be limited, especially for explanatory, non-bibliographic notes (i.e., by MLA Style Guide). That aspect is likely to be very field-dependent, therefore, you can consider the second alternative option: simply adding explanatory sentence(s) after the text that requires such explanations or clarifications.
An expansion to the heuristic: a footnote can¹ run to more than one sentence which gives you more options for phrasing it clearly. ¹ I said can. I didn't say should. That's a debate for another time.
@ChrisH: Thank you for your comment (+1). Generally, I agree with your point. However, the same effect could be achieved by what I called in my answer "explanatory sentence(s)". The advantage of this approach (vs. footnotes) is not breaking the text's flow logically and visually. Of course, that applies only, when those sentences are closely tied to the main thoughts, in other words, "belong" there (which is quite subjective). Otherwise, your approach indeed might be a better option.
I seem to have given a lot of upvotes here (including to you), but also I've answered the question myself, hopefully giving another viewpoint which you allude to with "belong".
@ChrisH: Thank you for your upvote. I have noticed your answer and upvoted it 9 hours ago.
Looking at my PhD thesis (a little over 200 pages) I have 11 footnotes. 7 of these could be in parentheses with no rewording, the other 4 need at least a full sentence. Picking a few pages at random I often have 2-3 pieces of extra information in parentheses per page. Parenthetical commas aren't so easy to count, but I'd assume there are at least as many as parentheses. Explanatory sentences are also hard to count and too numerous, but can be a good way to inset this information. In fact you may find in proofreading (by you or someone else) that your parentheses get edited into new sentences to avoid run-on sentences.
I think there's a hierarchy:
parenthetical commas
parentheses
footnotes
in order of decreasing relevance to the main flow of the text (not decreasing importance).
It could easily be argued that I've used all these options too much but it suggests that (in my writing style at least) footnotes are a last resort. Where I have used them it's generally because I have a line of reasoning in which a point needs to be mentioned for avoidance of doubt, but to mention it inline would break the thread of the argument. That's the aim at least.
Incidentally, because I used a numeric-superscript citation style (a common one in my field, and I had the choice), counting was easier. I chose to use lower case alphabetical footnote keys reset per page (easy in LaTeX) in case I had a lot, and to avoid confusion with numbered footnotes or other uses of (e.g.) asterisks.
Good point: parenthetical commas are often a better alternative. You could even extend your hierarchy with parenthetical dashes at the top; for the situation where the parenthetical information is more important than the surrounding text.
In mathematics, footnotes aren't very common nowadays (and used to be used for providing references). The differentiation is of course a choice of personal style, but one approach is: treat footnotes like annotations (as if they are written in another voice by another person--say author's comments to the reader). Another is: never use footnotes.1
1(Personally I like footnotes2, but I use them sparingly in academic papers but semi-often in less formal things like online notes.)
2(and parentheses)
Given that people may be searching for B or C, I think using the parenthesis is better. That way a search takes them to the text, also when Google shows the context of the search result, it is more likely to be useful.
Foot notes are also hard to read where you a using a device with a small screen that has issues displaying pages. Text with parenthesis is a lot easier to reformat for different display sizes etc (reading mode on IPhone for example).
A good point, but at least a footnote will take them to the right page, and I've never found google's context to be of much use inside theses/papers.
@ChrisH, google also uses the context to help in ordering of search results.
Perhaps in such a case B and C should be in your index.
This argument also holds for scanning the text on paper: you're more likely to see the thing you're looking for if it's in the body.
I'm not sure however if readability on an iPhone should be a major design goal for a PhD thesis ...
@HagenvonEitzen, the same factors effect a blind person using a text to speech system - however agreee it should not be a major design goal, but I think footnotes should only be used where a clear case can be made that they are the BEST option.
I just browsed through my dissertation. I use quite a lot of footnotes: I count 45 in 200 pages.
Looking through them, I now find that many contain the words "strictly speaking". These are aimed at pedants such as myself who think they've spotted a mistake or inaccuracy: they explain how to deal with technicalities, why an abuse of notation is justified, etc. As explained in other answers, having these remarks in the main text would distract from the normal flow of reading, and the reader can often do quite well without them.
In your example, I'd use parentheses. I found one similar instance in my dissertation where I actually use both:
... chordal (also ambiguously* called triangulated)...
Here, I used a footnote to describe the other meaning of "triangulated", because it's not really in scope for the text, whereas it is a relevant fact that the term "triangulated" is sometimes also used.
Now if that footnote also contained parenthetical dashes, that would show mastership of all means of parenthesis :)
@HagenvonEitzen You can have footnotes inside footnotes :)
Looking through my thesis, I was able to find another use case for footnotes, which has not been mentioned so far. Sometimes I define a concept or a symbol in a way which is slightly different from some other sources. I then include a footnote which describes how the symbol is used elsewhere. This could be important if the reader is trying to compare my result with other results or to follow a chain of citations which use different terminologies.
I think that in this case, including the alternate definition in the main text would be dangerous. For example, saying "we define $X = a + b$ (other sources define $X = a + b + 1$.)"
The reader would get confused between which is my definition and which is the alternate definition. By keeping the alternate in a footnote there is a much stricter separation between these two.
That depends mainly on the citation style required by your publisher, or requested by your supervisor. Some of them are parenthetic (Smith, 2015) some are footnotes (1: Smith, 2015)
On a more particular note, generally Citations refer to the source from which you take your assertion [i.e.: "This is cool" (Smith, 2015)] whereas footnotes just expand a concept without referring to a source [i.e.: "This is cool"1 1: "The term cool varies, but we use it here in its more common meaning"]
Your example is quite vague though, so my answer aims to be general but might not fit to your case.
The question seems to me to be independent of citation. As phrased it's equally valid for footnote, parenthetical, numeric superscript, etc. citation styles.
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145472 | Rejection from a legitimate journal, with reviewers recommending me to try a Beall's list journal
Recently I received a rejection by the editor of SCI Expanded journal (which I consider to be a legitimate journal):
The reviewer's comments (just a few days after I submitted the manuscript):
Sorry, this paper lacks novelty, is not well written, and will not be considered due to overwhelming submissions to X journal (SCI Expanded journal).
Suggest to try: (gives me a URL to a journal listed in Beall's List of predatory journals).
(I have removed the names of the journals above. I have personally checked https://beallslist.net/ and confirmed that the suggested journal falls inside the Original Beall's List. The suggested journal comes with a publication fee of 1500 euros for each article.)
I am quite new to academia. Is the above considered normal practice for a reputable journal listed in the Science Citation Index (Expanded)?
Any advice of what I can do?
Update:
I found that a member of the editorial board of the SCI Expanded journal, is also in the editorial board of the Beall's list journal.
The reviewer may have a conflict of interest. Use caution. There are other legitimate journals you can try.
What @Buffy said, but also: There are some borderline cases on at least some versions of Beall's list (like MDPI and Hindawi) that engage in some bad practices but are not widely known to do so (e.g., if you only interact with them as a reader, you'll just think of them as glorified preprint services, unaware of APCs). The referee might be meaning well.
Hmmm. I wonder how influential that person was in the rejection. Perhaps it was really improper.
If the person (reviewer or editor) knew that the journal being suggested was predatory, then I consider the suggestion to be unethical behavior.
If the reviewer thinks the paper is "not well written", what reason could there be for recommending submission anywhere without first improving it?
I'm not a scholar, but would it not be reasonable to request that this journal be added to the list of predatory ones?
From your comments tot he accepted answer, it sounds like you dodged a bullet. It would be good form at this point to name the journal involved so that others can consider avoiding it too; or at the very least, report to Beall's List so that they can consider listing as a feeder journal to the predatory one.
Re "...by the editor of SCI Expanded journal (which I consider to be a legitimate journal)": Is "SCI Expanded" really the name of the journal? It is very close to the two lists Science Citation Index (SCI) and Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE). Do you mean "by the editor of an SCI Expanded journal..."?
What is an APC?
I am quite new to academia, is the above considered normal practice
No. This is abnormal and unacceptable for a reviewer or editor to suggest this.
Any advice of what I can do?
If the journal you submitted to really is legitimate, contact the editor and escalate this. Simply point out that the review you received pointed you to a predatory journal, and ask if the editor can reach out to the reviewer to see if this was a mistake.
Update: I found that a member of the editorial board of the SCIE journal, is also in the editorial board of the Beall's list journal.
This is a red flag, and the review you received is another red flag. These red flags suggest that the journal you submitted to is not reputable. I would check with online journal ratings, impact factor, etc. to make sure you are not already submitting to a very low-quality journal (even if it is not predatory).
I'm not sure about the final paragraph here, but the other advice is sound. The editor needs to know. If this reviewer was especially influential in the rejection, perhaps the result can be overturned, though another review might be needed. I'd give the editor a bit more benefit of the doubt without knowing more, though.
Unluckily, I just researched that the founding editor of the SCI journal is precisely the same guy also in the editorial board of the Beall’s list journal... I think there should be no hope for me for appealing. (I suspect the “reviewer” in my case was just the above-mentioned editor himself.) I will just try another journal. Thanks!
That seems to seal the fate of that journal. Yes, find a better alternative. Look here for updates to Beall's original list. https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/83764/with-bealls-list-gone-how-can-i-tell-if-a-journal-is-spam?rq=1 Maybe you were lucky to be rejected.
@Buffy "Maybe you were lucky to be rejected." - this made my day. Great quote.
-1 because this answer assumes that the journal listed on Beall's list is indeed predatory.
"I found that a member of the editorial board of the SCIE journal, is also in the editorial board of the Beall's list journal." This means nothing. Plenty of people have no idea they are on the board of a predatory journal, because nobody has told them.
@yoyostein "...and will not be considered due to overwhelming submissions to X journal". Of course, it is the editor who rejected your paper. How does the reviewer know about the number of submissions in journal X.
@KratosMath Good point, and I agree with you. In the rejection email though, it was explicitly listed as “reviewers’ comments”.
@AnonymousPhysicist that seems unlikely in this particular case when they are recommending that journal.
@Kat The person making the recommendation is anonymous, as far as we know.
@yoyostein in some sense, the editor is also a reviewer. But more realistically, in the editorial management systems I'm familiar with, when the editor desk rejects the system auto-generates an email which says "unfortunately we're not considering your paper" ... etc and then at the end appends the "reviewer comments", if any. Odds are the editor simply wrote their comments at the end of the email.
"Unluckily, I just researched that the founding editor of the SCI journal is precisely the same guy also in the editorial board of the Beall’s list journal" Sounds like the SCI journal you submitted to might need to be on that list as well. I'd suggest they review that "legit" journal for addition.
First: it's likely you mistook the decision - it's not a reviewer's comment, it's the editor's comments, and they are desk rejecting your manuscript. In this case it is decently common for the editor to suggest another journal (especially if it's published by the same publisher). I would not find it a red flag if they did - it is after all only a suggestion which you are under no obligation to follow.
You write that the editor recommended a journal on Beall's list, but remember that Beall's list is not gospel, especially since it is now defunct and not being updated. There is a real chance that the editor does not consider the journal predatory, or even that the journal isn't predatory in the first place. The editor is very unlikely to have anything to gain if you submit to a predatory journal either - the other journal might not even know your paper has been referred.
If you do not want to submit to that journal (especially since it is open access with an APC), simply ignore the editor's suggestion and submit your paper elsewhere.
I found that a member of the editorial board of the SCIE journal, is also in the editorial board of the Beall's list journal.
This doesn't mean anything. It is conceivable that a reputable academic will elect to serve on the editorial board of a "predatory" journal (inverted commas because what is predatory isn't well-defined). Or it could be that the predatory journal is simply listing the editor's name without their consent. Either way, this doesn't say anything about the SCIE journal.
Even if this editorial board member is the editor who rejected your paper, it's still possible they are be acting with completely benign intentions (if your colleague told you their paper's been rejected from X journal and you knew of journal Y which would consider it, would you suggest it?). Bear in mind that if they are editorial board members of both journal they would have a pretty good idea of the standards of the other journal, and that your paper meets those standards.
I would take the fact that the journal is indexed by the SCIE as a very strong sign that the journal is reputable (anyone who's ever tried to get a new journal into the SCIE will be able to vouch for how difficult this can be).
@MishaLavrov if you believe that, almost all open access journals are predatory.
Thanks for your detailed answer and valid points. I totally agree that the SCIE journal is reputable, that’s why I was quite shocked at the reviewer/editor recommending a Beall’s list journal with 1500 Euro APC.
@yoyostein 1500 EUR is not that high - compare e.g. Springer's average APC (https://www.springernature.com/gp/open-research/journals-books/journals), which is around 1700 EUR.
Yes, perfectly reputable journals can ask quite high fees; for more examples than @Allure's, ACM asks 1700$, Cambridge University Press often asks >$3000 (for instance for JFP). And all open access publishers are somewhat in a conflict of interests. But not all act on it.
This answer is on point. I will only add that it is common in some fields for editors to make such a suggestion; in such cases they offer to transfer the manuscript to another journal by the same publisher.
This practice is followed by a very reputable journal in my field of materials science/engineering. The second journal is new, doesn't even have an impact factor yet, but researchers appear to welcome this option, because it is affiliated to the primary, reputed journal.
The reason for adding this is that such practices are not always unethical; use your caution and check the referred journal. However, ensure that it is an actual transfer that is being proposed, not just a suggestion to resubmit (without the mechanism of carrying the submission/review history).
In the present case, I concur that you should report this reviewer to the editor.
Thanks. It is a suggestion to resubmit rather than an actual transfer. Also, after googling I realize the editor himself (likely to be also the reviewer) is also the person in the editorial board of the Beall’s list journal. Is there any higher authority that I can report to (since the person in question is suspected to be the editor)?
@yoyostein You can tell the editor-in-chief or publisher of the SCIE journal. But phrase it along the lines of "I'm concerned about ..." rather than being outright accusatory unless you are sure that other journal is a predatory one (cf Allure's answer).
I don't think it's unusual for a reviewer to suggest another journal if they are recommending rejection for the reason of "not strong enough for this journal". I try to do this myself; sometimes I receive an article to review that strongly suggests the author is not very familiar with the relative strengths of journals in the field, so this comment may be helpful.
There are other worrying signs in this case, though. It is very unusual for a review to come back so quickly (in fact it would be surprising that the submission has even reached a reviewer by this point), and the editor doesn't seem concerned about the perfunctory nature of the review. One might even start to wonder whether there really was a "reviewer". Of course the fact that the journal is on Beale's list may be a legitimate mistake or an historical artefact, but with these other factors I would be suspicious about both journals.
I wouldn't want to publish in the original journal any longer. Just resubmit to another journal of your own selection, and count yourself fortunate not to have lost more than a few days.
This wasn't an unexpectedly quick accept decision - it was an unexpectedly quick reject decision. Most likely, it was a desk rejection.
@Allure OP said these were the reviewer's comments, not the editor's., meaning that the journal is claiming that it's not a desk rejection. Of course, as I suggested above, one might be sceptical about this claim.
It actually reads like a desk rejection. No reviewer could know that the journal's receiving an overwhelming number of submissions.
@Allure that's exactly the point I'm making in my answer. If it sounds like a desk rejection but the journal is pretending it's something else, avoid them!
First, given the wording, this is the editor desk-rejecting your paper, and you are confused because you are new to all that. If the editor somehow implied the reviewer wrote that, ignore his recommendation and run away, submitting elsewhere. Otherwise, consider that if the paper is in fact as weak as the editor claims it is, you are likely to be unable to publish in any much better journal. This is hard for you to judge - we all have blind spots for our own work.
You can submit to that journal and check the review process there by yourself. If it seems suspiciously short with few or no relevant comments regarding contents of your manuscript, this journal is indeed predatory and will publish whatever crap anyone sends. Then, you can either opt to publish to get it over with, or let them know you changed your mind and that you will publish elsewhere because you were unsatisfied with their review process. Sure, you will waste some time to get the response, but you can simply keep working on other stuff while you wait for that response.
"editor desk-rejecting your paper" That is not my interpretation of the question. It is possible the editor assigned the paper to themselves to review. Or to a friend.
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203353 | How can I appeal an apparently unethical decision to take down a job posting early?
I've found a call for PhD students or data scientists at a certain university. The instructions were very clear that applications would be accepted until Oct 12th 2023, and only then they would be reviewed.
However, around Oct 8th 2023, when I was going to send my application, I've noticed that the page for the call had been removed. I've managed to search the university's website and found that there was a listing of all open positions at the university, so I got the e-mail address I needed and sent it anyway.
Needless to say, I didn't even get a reply saying that that application was received nor if I was rejected, leaving the impression that the position was already occupied even before the deadline for applicants ended.
I've been spending endless hours gathering all the documentation, writing motivational letters, convincing former supervisors to give their names as reference and I feel it's extremely unfair to do so. I'd like to do something about it. However, I also understand that someone's probably already working on the project, and even if I am a better fit, little will be actually done about it.
What would be the mature decision here? I'm unsure whether the position have been cancelled or filled. Either way, I'd like to get in touch with them and see this through without damaging any possibility of applying for another new position in the future.
Also, as a follow-up question: is it common to have things like this happen, completely out of the original time table?
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Where in the world is this?
The instructions were very clear that applications would be accepted until Oct 12th, and only then they would be reviewed. However, around Oct 8th, when I was going to send my application, I've noticed that the page for the call had been removed.
Unlike other people, I do think it is somewhat unethical to do this. Dozens of people might have been spending long hours crafting their applications.
If something changed so that the position was no longer available, the university should have posted an apology. For example, perhaps they could edit the page to put a message at the top, and disable the Apply button. If the system does not allow this, perhaps they could post messages to the relevant mailing lists, or think of some other way of doing it.
But as the person who was writing an application, there is not much you can do. It would be OK to ask why it was taken down. But make your message very concise and clear, and don't sound like you are complaining.
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You have no basis for appeal, and no basis for saying anything is unethical here. Sorry.
You haven't been treated unfairly. The position is no longer open at the moment for reasons you don't know. Yes, it might have been filled. It might have been put up in error. The money might have disappeared. Someone who was expected to leave is now staying. Lots of possibilities.
But they were wise to take down the notice if the job isn't still open. Much better than to string people along thinking that they have a chance that they really don't.
You can enquire why it was taken down, but you have no basis for making a change to the situation, so an "appeal" is not possible.
Your timeline also suggests that the notice had disappeared already when you sent your mail, giving you even less basis for any appeal.
Sorry that you are disappointed, but you need to take constructive action for your career and this isn't it. Move on.
Let me also add, just for completeness, is that the withdrawal of the announcement might be a temporary thing while they reevaluate their needs and resources. If it appears again, you can apply again. But it would be worse if you complain to them and claim they are unethical.
Moreover, if you really think they are unethical, you should surely search elsewhere. I've worked at places that are, indeed, unethical in their process and it isn't fun.
Good answer. I think the most important thing to emphasise is that the asker does not know why the posting was taken down and jumping to conclusions is a bad idea.
@Buffy, would you say it is ethically OK for the university to post no apology or explanation, and make no effort to tell people who might be in the middle of writing applications?
@toby544, what I would say is that they need to be honest with people who ask. But I'd also expect anyone with an interest who saw the ad disappear to ask. And for the others, they wouldn't likely see the apology anyway if they haven't looked again. Don't make it different or more complicated than it is. The OP saw that the ad had disappeared and there was no notice otherwise on the university's site and then, only then, made application. The OP can enquire, as I noted.
@Buffy You are not really answering my question, but I suppose it is clear that you think the answer is yes, it is ethically OK for the university to post no apology etc. I was not making things different or more complicated - you said there is "no basis for saying anything is unethical here," and I was disagreeing with that.
This is a good answer. The only thing that is missing is OP apparently put in a lot of effort to make an outstanding application. Considering that this is going to nothing, maybe it is better for OP to put in some effort to make a decent application. If it gets tossed as apparently this one was then it does not matter how much effort was put in. If OPs application is reviewed it only has to be good enough to make the first cut - any effort above that is wasted.
IANAL but you seem very confident that this is true in all jurisdictions without knowing where the university in question is located.
@emory I did put a lot of effort into it, but because they did require a lot of information from us. A personal motivation letter and letters of recommendation, which creates a bit of an uncomfortable situation, because I had to ask a couple contacts to write letters, informed them of their deadline and they did as requested. But the university decided to change the deadline without further infos...
@EricLino I will agree with you that they are jerks for even if they did not make you do this work - they strongly encouraged you to put all this effort in and it was for nothing. But there is nothing to be done. That is why I always put in a minimal application. For the most part, my applications are canned but I feel that was going to happen anyway. If they read my application and like it they can ask for more.
Your frustration is justified and reasonable.
A job advert is an invitation to apply. This is an implied social contract, where both parties assume responsibilities and have expectations.
A University expects applicants to read job specification and send well-prepared applications tailored to the specific role, formatted under certain guidelines and often including material written specifically for this role. Applicants expect that their applications will be carefully evaluated and that the process is genuine and that applicants who meet selection criteria and have appropriate skills will be invited for the interview.
If University closes the job search earlier without warning, the effort of candidates is wasted and frustration is justified.
Compare it to invitation to a wedding. You bought a suit, you wrote a speech, and suddenly you are uninvited and the festivities go ahead without you. Is it unfair?
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I understand the frustration, but these things can happen for a variety of reasons.
Anyway, be proactive, it was surely not meant against you, so you should still keep a positive attitude and you should contact them telling that you saw the opening and you were planning to apply, unfortunately you did not complete the application in time but you are interested in similar positions coming up.
Maybe you will discover that they are still consdiering applications, but they prefer to keep a low profile for the opening. Or they will tell you when to apply for the next similar position.
There is only part that you can blame yourself: applying "late". Maybe the position was open since 3 months ago, and they were tired of receiving application from all over the world, so they pulled down the opening earlier.
If the consideration of applications is done on a rolling basis and the position can be closed before the deadline, the job advert should have explicitly say so. Otherwise, it is fair to assume all applications made by deadline will be considered.
@DmitrySavostyanov I agree. But we still do not know why the opening was pulled down. Some zealant clerk in the administration? some academic overwhelmed by applications? all is possible, but nothing is helpful to OP situation.
We also do not know the actual wording of the posting (the whole posting). Just some snippets that may not be the actual words.
What would be the mature decision here?
Well, some might say it would be to assume you have no chance of being accepted + don't feel like trying to rectify the conduct of the university.
I would say you should at least ask what happened. But - obviously, the application email was insufficient to get a reply, so you should figure out where you could make a voice call; could be one of:
The intended PI.
The research group administrator.
The departmental secretariat.
The staff member in charge of Ph.D. admission/recruitment.
The department chair ??
Find the right person to call. Through this first person, find who was responsible for this recruitment process and contact that person. Then (or even on the first call) you can ask whether the posting was filled or whether the ad was removed for another reason.
Assuming it was just filled with an applicat through the ad - explain to them why this is a problem for applicants who had assumed they could submit at any time until the 12th, so that the process becomes unfair. If you were to make this call until the 12th or a little later, you could even request that additional applicants, including yourself, be considered (though it would be a bit of a long shot). at this point it's probably hopeless though, but at least you got to politely admonish them. Maybe they'll give it a bit more thought next time.
Important: In all such conversations:
Avoid raising your voice, and keep a slow and calm speaking tempo;
Avoid making strong accusations, and perhaps any accusations; prefer making suggestions or pointing out diffuse problems;
Avoid using harsh language (e.g. "I was robbed of my chance", "it is immoral to", "it cannot be tolerated" etc. - don't say that)
... not because that's what you should believe, but because you have no leverage over anybody and they might just cut off the conversation with an unknown person who's annoying them.
The only then clause is odd. I have never added that myself to any job ads I put out, never seen anybody else do it, and it makes no sense that I can see to do it.
One can evaluate applications as they come in, collect them all and do them in batches, or any suitable combination thereof, but all of that is internal admin business. Saying "We promise we will sit on them and not look at any of them until after the closing date," really serves no purpose other than giving a late applicant a reason to feel hard done by when we decide to renege on that promise.
So if they really said that and actually filled the position (rather than, say, were unable to appoint anybody because an audit suddenly revealed internal fraud and froze all hirings - and yes, I have seen that happen more than once, in different institutions!), yes, then they have been unethical as well as pretty erratic, which probably means you dodged a bullet.
(Some further details: filling up a PhD programme is not the same as appointing for tenure track. For PhD students, it makes sense to make offers as good candidates come along, whereas for a permanent position you would want to wait past the closing date before you shortlist for interview, let alone appoint. If an institution deviates from these common sense guidelines, there may be more going on, and the ten-foot pole principle applies.)
Perhaps they wanted to signal that an early application or a late application was an irrelevant signal. It is a signal in some places (early applications, send at the earliest humanly possible time, are looked at more favorably).
I agree on your verdict of "erratic", but "unethical"?!? I recommend you replace that vage bullshit term by a meaningful one, "immoral", and think again. Is it immoral to remove a job application?
For PhD students, it makes sense to make offers as good candidates come along it's very common in some parts of the world for PhD programmes to have defined annual intakes. And in this case applications are reviewed all at once, after a set deadline.
Question not clear from your post (sorry, comments not active for me yet). I don't disagree with sone of above, but there seems to be some information not provided and a perspective not discussed
You say the "ad" is taken down but you found the posting (and application link) still on the University website, correct?
IME (US, R1s mostly, including applying and hiring) - to me this sounds very common. Often there are only funds to post external ads for part of the job opening window (i.e. PhD applications we start advertising in August (informal), applications close Dec1, and the ad in Science magazine (and therefore scraped by Indeed, LinkedIn, etc) only up for October 1-31). The job ad then is now gone, but the posting is not closed (we just can't afford to pay the ad longer) perhaps this is the same for your application. If so, then if your application is in before the deadline it should still be considered as normal with no input from you. There are other scenarios, of course, depending on the exact wording but if you saw a paid ad somewhere this would be my most likely explanation.
In some jurisdictions, universities are required to post positions online for at least 24 hours, regardless if it’s filled or not. That way, they’re not facing lawsuits about internal filling without public knowledge. Sorry it has to be like this but that’s life.
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42795 | Technical editor changed author order of the paper
Recently, I attended a conference as a corresponding author of a paper with five authors. After the paper was published in the conference proceedings, I realized that the technical editor changed the authors order by grouping them according to their affiliations. Is this acceptable?
I feel a bit responsible to my coauthors (being the corresponding author) even though this publication style also affected other papers in the proceedings. But what should I do?
I think some journals (in some fields) require that authors be listed in alphabetical order.
This was not the case here. The authors were grouped according to their institutions.
Is this a field where author order is assumed to matter (e.g., applied CS)? If yes, this is completely unacceptable. If no, it is still very strange, but maybe not a big deal in the end. I can only imagine that your paper was handled by a very inexperienced technical editor who is simply not aware that the order of authors is not just a stylistic question, but actually has CV implications (in some cases, at least).
One way or another, you should get in touch with the organizers of the conference (e.g., the publication chair if they have one, the general chair if not) and let them know. Maybe it is still possible to fix this, but at least the responsible people should be aware of this issue.
Even in fields where author order is not normally used to indicate different levels of contribution or seniority (for example, theoretical CS), this is completely unacceptable!
In some sense it matters more in fields where author order doesn't matter, because in these fields all papers will be in alphabetical order unless there is some strong reason otherwise. If the authors of a math paper are listed as "Bethe, Alpher, and Gamow", readers will assume that Bethe made an extraordinary contribution to the paper so overwhelming as to override the usual conventions of the field.
Had the same issue on a highly respected publisher. They ended up publishing the paper again with the correct order.
(Copy Editor speaking.)
This is completely unacceptable and even for more than one reason:
They obviously did not ask you to proof-read the final version. If they did, you would have spotted this change I suppose. Not making final proofs is acceptable only in small local workshops and seminars where minor mistakes don't matter since the publications are not quite real publications, and also where things are usually easy to correct.
They deliberately changed the order of the authors. In fields where each position is something different, this is completely unacceptable. In fields where this is not the case and the authors are listed alphabetically, it's still pretty bad, because it raises a question why you chose this order (people won't assume it was the technical editor who changed the order).
What should you do?
Inform your co-authors. Let them know what has happened, that it wasn't your action and that you're looking into it more. The sooner you do this the better, to avoid confusion whether you're cheating them.
Raise it up. Ask both the publisher and the Program Committee chair for explanation of this action. Ask them to change it instantly -- they will probably tell you that it's impossible and they'll likely be right, but it doesn't matter. It's their mistake, not yours.
If you want, you can also speak about copyrights. The order of authors is, in my opinion, an integral part of the paper, and it means that they published something for which you did not transfer the copyrights.
I don't think you can change anything for your paper (it's probably too late), but you can certainly change something for other people publishing with the same publisher in the future. In my opinion, this is worth it.
Even if the editors cannot change the paper in the sense of replacing the faulty version with a correct version, if they want to they can certainly publish a correction somewhere. That would still be useful to the OP: he can place a link to that corrigendum on his CV / webpage and then people who care will believe him when he says he didn't do this.
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192061 | How can I tackle self-doubt while writing my first paper?
I finished my Bachelor's degree this year. I worked on some research with my advisor and after a few months, we decided that there's enough interesting research to be able to write a paper. This will be my first paper. He told me that I'll be the first author and asked me to start working on it. After the initial excitement wore off and I sat down to actually start writing the paper, I was, and continue to be, plagued with self-doubt and confusion. Following are a few aspects I find daunting about the process of paper writing:
I am suddenly unsure if my results are even correct or sophisticated enough. I feel worried that I have either made a mistake somewhere or that my results are incomplete and there's more to be done.
I am intimidated by the prospect of writing the introduction, which is usually a high-level literature overview. Although I have read multiple papers for my work, and based my project on a seminal few, I am worried I won't be able to describe the state-of-the-art in the field well enough or forget to cite an important paper that I don't know about.
My writing's not academic enough.
I did tell my advisor about this, and he assured me that he understands and asked me to share the manuscript with him. But I cannot bring myself to do it because a) it's very incomplete and b) I feel worried that he'll go through it and be disappointed in me. I know it's probably irrational but I cannot help feeling this way.
These feelings have severely hindered the progress of my paper and research. Is it normal to feel this way and how do I tackle them and get on with writing my paper?
Congrats for the opportunity!
It is normal to feel that way. Research is both challenging and rewarding. There will be always a lot of ups and downs. Don't be discouraged.
He said "Start working on it" ... so it is natural that you will have a partial manuscript to share with him, then he will reply with comments, or even re-written sections. And you continue, back-and-forth like this, the paper getting better as you go. It is OK if your first draft does not even have an intriduction.
Regarding the two reasons you don't allow yourself to give your manuscript to your advisor: a) is precisely one of the main reasons people give their manuscript to their advisors; usually there's a constant come-and-go between both to polish (and sometimes rewrite!) the manuscript until it's ready to be send to revision to other people which will also return your paper to be more polished; THIS IS PERFECTLY NORMAL; b) no advisor ever expects to receive a (almost) perfect first draft; there's hardly a chance for dissapointment specially when you've been told that your research is worth a paper-
Slightly off-topic and probably a somewhat tangential advice, but what I'm detecting here is a (quite heavy) fear of failure on yourself; this could cause serious problems for you from here on, so I suggest that (independently on what you do to push and allow yourself to write this paper) seek help for that issue on a personal level. Congratulations on your chance and best of luck with your publication.
Don't worry about your writing begin "not academic enough". Trying to copy a writing style blindly will just lead to everyone copying the same bad habits (in addition to the good ones). Write for clarity and precision (and probably conciseness, depending on the page limits used in your field). The good parts of the common academic writing styles are generally in service of one of those goals.
Terence Tao has some advice on his blog post https://terrytao.wordpress.com/advice-on-writing-papers/
Thanks everyone for the comments, they were very helpful :-) @JoshPart I think you might be right about the fear of failure. Sigh.
@Tom thanks for the link! Really useful stuff.
Let me start by pointing out that the usual way to learn how to write an academic paper is to write a really bad draft, get it critiqued by a supervisor, to rewrite it to make it slightly less bad, get it critiqued again (or even directly rewritten, if there is an imminent deadline); and to then repeat the process a couple of times. You have done Step 1 ("Write a really bad draft"), and proceeding to Step 2 ("Give your supervisor the chance to tell you what is wrong is it") is the natural next step.
To your specific points:
Worry that the results are not sophiscated/interesting/impressive enough.
You aren't really qualified to judge this. It is common to feel that since you understand your own work, whereas what other people have done is harder to comprehend, your own work must be too simple. Ignore this feeling. If your supervisor thinks the results are enough to try and publish, wait and see what the referees say.
Worry that your results are wrong.
This one is a good worry, as long as it is productive. Double-check, triple-check. Include the steps you have taken to be absolutely sure in the draft.
Worry that your results are incomplete.
It is very rare to have the ultimate answer in any one paper. If you have concrete ideas, discuss with your supervisor whether it is worthwhile pursuing them before publication. If you just have the generic feeling that there is more to be done, ignore it. It's probably right, but it doesn't matter.
Writing the introduction
There are two ways to handle writing the introduction: A. Write a sloppy one at the start, then write the paper, then completely rewrite the introduction. B. Write the introduction last.
Definitely don't try to write a good introduction early on in the process, that just causes writer's block. Moreover, the introduction is where you put your stuff into the broader context. Naturally, the introduction will be the section where it makes the most sense to have your supervisor write it (if it is a co-authored paper). So don't worry about this, and don't let the remaining worries derail or delay writing the rest of the paper.
Writing style
The one experienced that helped me develop my own writing style the most was writing a draft, and then reading the complete rewrite a coauthor of mine did to it. I could still see the thoughts I had brought to paper, but they were expressed much clearer, much more elegantly. By studying the changes I learnt a lot. So, going back to what I wrote first: Yes, your style may be bad. Your supervisor is going to expect a bad draft. You'll get better by getting feedback and learning from it, which means you have to let your supervisor read the bad stuff you have written.
Thanks so much @Arno! Lots of useful advice here.
Do not worry!! This is 100% normal. Trust your supervisor - they are an expert and they think your work is good.
Don't worry about being sophisticated. No one really wants to read sophisticated stuff anyway - given a chance to read a simple, interesting paper and a complex "sophisticated" one I know which I would prefer.
And also, don't forget that whatever you write and submit to a journal will then be looked at by the editor and a couple of peer reviewers whose job it is to a) check it's good and b) suggest ways you can make it even better.
"Academic writing" is often dull, uninspired and unreadable. Just write as clearly as you can. Your readers will thank you for it. Don't try to be "academic" with it.
You got this - don't stress - trust the process!
Thanks a lot @Flaming Ducks! This is reassuring.
Congrats for the opportunity of writing your first paper!
I did tell my advisor about this, and he assured me that he understands and asked me to share the manuscript with him.
If your supervisor gives you this opportunity, and wants to sit down with you on the manuscript, definitely take advantage of it and do it. That's what supervisors are for - they serve as mentors. As long as you don't get any input from outside, it's hard to improve. If you take the opportunity to learn from them, you will automatically improve your academic writing style - which is difficult to get into in the first place.
The fear that the state of your manuscript will reflect badly on you is therefore, in my opinion, somewhat unfounded. If your supervisor trusts you enough to write a paper, they already have a good opinion of you and will certainly not lose faith in your abilities because of an incomplete paper.
Thanks a lot @pbaer! :-)
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10448 | How do you comment on rapid improvement in a student's performance?
Sometimes, it can happen that a graduate student who is struggling on a project finally sees everything "click," and becomes far more productive. It might be due to a change in attitude, an improved work ethic, serendipitous success, or some combination of all of the above.
In writing recommendations, how do you comment on the student's rapid turnaround, without making the previous state of the work (in which the student was working, and clearly understood what needed to be done, but didn't have the results to show for it) seem like it was a weakness or liability on the part of the student. Given how real signs of weakness can cause problems for people reviewing the letters, how do you call attention to the fact that the student underwent such a startling transformation, while acknowledging the previous struggles and not harming the student's chances?
without making the previous state of the work...seem like it was a weakness or liability. — Sorry? It was a weakness and a liability! Recognizing and overcoming one's own weaknesses is a strong indicator of success. Why would you want to hide that?
I want to convey that the issue was not the fault of the student's. But I want to avoid leaving the impression that the student wasn't working hard enough, which isn't the case.
I agree with JeffE's comment -- this is an opportunity to show fantastic improvement, which looks great in a letter. If the improvement really was because of "serendipitous success," it seems that it would be difficult to sustain, unless it happens that the groundbreaking work was so monumental that it is prize-worthy (and even then, chance favors only the prepared mind).
If I'm writing a positive letter (which is almost always the case--I'll try to convince a student that I'm not the correct person if I feel I won't be able to justify a strong letter), my goal is to convince the letter-reader that I'd hire/accept the person now, and why. Something like the following might fit this case:
I have been particularly impressed by X's recent work on her project, Nuclear Powered Time Travel via a Modified Consumer Vehicle. Despite a frustrating set of circumstances that returned limited results in the early stages of the project, her hard work and persistence led to a breakthrough that she is currently preparing for submission to The Twin Paradox Journal, and will undoubtedly lead to further successful results. Specifically, she was finally able to properly shield the flux-capacitor plutonium containment compartment in her design, reducing temporal errors by 99% and leading to far greater box office returns.
If the student's previous attitude, or struggles don't put her in a particularly good light, don't include them explicitly. Again, it goes back to would I hire or accept the student now? If you believe that by not including the specifics you're not being honest, then maybe you wouldn't feel comfortable with such a positive letter anyway.
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9014 | What to do about "grade grubbers?"
An annoying aspect of working with a "strict" grading system (e.g., 90%+ = A, 85% = A-, 80% = B+, etc.) is what I call the "grade grubbing" phenomenon: the people who feel compelled to raise complaints about the grading because they didn't get the final score they want—but have no real argument in support of a higher grade. This is not about legitimate requests to reconsider because of a mistake but instead students searching for any reason why they deserve the X points they need to get a better grade. It’s exemplified by the kind of argument that begins “I know it’s wrong but . . . .”
I do not have the power to change the grading structure—that is imposed from higher up.
Are there any satisfactory methods of discouraging such behavior? I don't want to stop people with legitimate issues from asking for regrades (mistakes happen!), but I would like to avoid having to deal with the student who tries every which way to get the few points they need to move up a level.
In The Four-Hour Work Week the author specifically encourages this kind of grubbing. As educators, we should teach students that this kind of inappropriate behavior can have negative consequences (as it does in industry).
@emory: The issue is trying to reduce the problem. Obviously I can't stop it if someone is determined, but I would like to make sure that it's not a desirable alternative.
I am just a student, but what many of my teachers have done is to say that at the end of the semester, there would be a couple of extra assignments that can be worth up to 3%(or enough to bump you up a grade). This way you focus their energy in a positive learning way
I prefer to call such grading systems "stratified" rather than "strict". I can be a strict marker but still grade on a smooth scale (out of 100 rather than 4).
It's "strict" in the sense that the only free parameters are the minimum passing score and the "delta" between different grade levels. Once those are selected, the rest of the regime is fixed.
@earthling I'm curious. Can you explain 4HWW's position?
@SimonKuang In that book, he recommended that students consume 2 hours of the teacher's time (with question after question) every time the grade was lower than expected. The intent was to 'let the teacher know that there would be a price to pay for giving a low grade.' Of course, as a teacher, I would not tolerate this behavior.
@aeismail I think I am one of those grade grubbers you might be referring to; feel free to have a look at my question for a different perspective on the topic http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24017/is-it-always-worth-the-time-and-effort-to-challenge-the-mistakes-of-a-teacher
@Klik: That's not grade grubbing, since there's a problem with the actual question.
I really dislike the tone of the question. Your students are responding to the incentive system you created. That may frustrate you but it doesn't make sense to be upset with them.
Actually, I don't have control over the "incentive system"; that is prescribed by the faculty. All I have control over is what I use as the passing mark and what is the differential between grade levels. Moreover, I have no problem with students asking for regrades based on the merits. A "grade grubber" is someone who comes to me saying: "I should get points on this question even though I did it wrong because X."
If the tutors exams are set by someone else and split up into say 8 questions that are marked by persons unknown then it is completely impartial. Candidate numbers make it even better.In the olde days before internal assesment and degrees for dumb people you could go for a recount but it could backfire so you would not do this if you passed because before grade inflation a c pass was actually worth something.
A simple statement of "If you want to earn a better grade, master the material." should suffice. Mark what is correct correct, and what is wrong wrong. If they truly believe they deserve a better grade, and their grade was wrong they can always elevate the complaint somewhere higher up the chain of command.
@Praxeolitic: Your criticism of the question seems a bit unfair to me. You say that the students are responding to the incentive system he has created, but in fact (1) some of the constraints in that system are not set by him; and (2) he is explicitly asking in his question for "any satisfactory methods of discouraging such behavior" (i.e., any change he could make to his incentive system). So you are essentially criticising the question for being asked at all.
@Ben (1) Sure, but many are set by him. (2) The question wording presumes the problem is disingenuous students. I'd have been fine with the question "How can I reduce requests for re-grades?". The question has improved since I first commented, but as asked, it still makes assumptions that pre-maturely narrow the possible answers. There are no details about why students believe there's room for negotiation since OP has assumed they're just dishonestly badgering him. For all we know, OP's tests are a few open answer questions with no indicated point values and this is an XY problem.
@Ben (1) Sure, but many are set by him. (2) The question wording presumes the problem is disingenuous students. I'd have been fine with the question "How can I reduce requests for re-grades?". The question has improved since I first commented, but as asked, it still makes assumptions that pre-maturely narrow the possible answers. There are no details about why students believe there's room for negotiation since OP has assumed they're just dishonestly badgering him. For all we know, OP's tests are a few open answer questions with no indicated point values and this is an XY problem.
@Praxeolitic: I would say that the question doesn't presume that the problem is disingenuous students; instead it confines its scope to cases where there is no real argument in support of a higher grade. Most academics have experience of this kind of thing occurring, so it is a reasonable thing to ask about.
@Praxeolitic This is in STEM for a problem driven final. And I know that the request is disingenuous because the students involved can specify precisely the number of points they want back but can’t come up with a single valid reason why they deserve it even after they’ve seen the solution. It’s a real phenomenon that is a separate subclass of the requests and others have recognized this.
I usually say that my rule for regrades is like the NFL's rule for replay challenges: there must be "indisputable visual evidence" that the original grade was incorrect. For instance, scores were added incorrectly, or a correct answer was marked wrong.
If the score was a "judgment call" (for example, I deducted two points for some error and the student thinks it only deserved one point deducted), I won't change the grade, unless I did something really egregious.
I've seen the policy "We regrade the entire assignment and your grade could go up or down" but it makes me a little uncomfortable. It suggests an element of randomness or caprice in the grading, which I don't want to promote, especially for younger or weaker students who may already feel like their grade is random. I don't think students should feel like they have to roll the dice to get a genuine error corrected.
This is more or less the standard I use. However, when I regrade a question, it's the entirety of the issue for which the request was made, not just the specific item. Questions not asked about don't get touched.
It suggests an element of randomness or caprice in the grading +1, agreed.
It suggests an element of randomness or caprice in the grading — But there is an element of randomness in grading, just as there is in football refereeing.
There definitely is randomness. That's why you might sometimes make an error, right? If it wasn't random then you'd make the same mistake when regrading, so their grade wouldn't change...
I don't use the “We'll regrade everything if we regrade anything policy” because it suggests an element of vindictiveness. If the grading process is already presented as a conflict, students may feel a policy like this will give me the option to deduct points elsewhere in order to balance out any points they have “won” from the appeal.
'"indisputable visual evidence" that the original grade was incorrect' - maybe the OP's situation is different, but I think that in many instances of "grade grubbing", the particular issue is that it is simply not clear whether the answer, and thus the original grade, is "correct" or "incorrect". All people involved in checking the answers may individually come to the conclusion that they do not see enough correct statements in the answer to evaluate it as correct, yet the "grade grubber" student keeps insisting the underlying thoughts were correct, and thus they deserve the point.
@O.R.Mapper My standard reply to such students: Your task is to provide an answer that is not only correct, but clearly correct. If I cannot determine whether your solution is correct after reasonable good-faith effort, its actual correctness is irrelevant.
@JeffE: I'd combine this with some emphasis on how all answer checking people independently found the answer to be not clear enough, but combined with that piece of information, the reply you suggested sounds worth a try on the next such occasion.
@O.R.Mapper: In very many cases, "all answer checking people" is a set of size one, in which case emphasizing "independently" is vacuous. (In particular, note JeffE's use of the singular pronoun "I". I know there are some systems where grading by committee is the norm, but there are other systems where it is not.)
@NateEldredge: Sure, I was speaking with this background in mind. If there is only one person primarily grading, I would involve some more people in this kind of cases in order to counter the likely accusations by the student that it's just my own arbitrary decision.
@JeffE I usually tell my students that their task is not only to provide a correct answer, but to demonstrate that they know how to get a correct answer. So not only should it be clearly correct, it should also be clear that they understand why it is correct.
@NateEldredge "I" doesn't mean I'm the only person involved in grading—I almost never am—but rather that as the instrctor, I am the final arbiter of grades. The rest of the course staff are acting as my proxies when they grade anything.
@JeffE The student may have an alternative approach that is equally valid and you just don't understand it. Or their approach may be easier to understand and just be longer on paper or look complex. Another problem is the limited sometimes arbitrary format. Sometimes a person doesn't feel incentivised or potentially punished for providing info that would make the answer easy to read. You effectively punish everyone thinking in another way.
@HopefullyHelpful I don't require students to solve problems in a particular way; every problem has multiple correct solutions, some of which I haven't seen before, all of which are worth full credit. But it's the student's responsibility to explain their approach so that I understand it, and so that I can be sure they understand it. If they don't feel incentivized to make their answer easy to read, then they don't get full credit, not because they think differently, but because their answer isn't easy to read.
@HopefullyHelpful If the approach is correct and properly explained, then the person grading the exam will be able to understand it. The graders are not some random people off the street but will have significant experience with the subject.
The students have a right to protest to the department if they feel they've been graded unfairly, and I tell them that. Never once had a grade overturned. This is of course predicated by a clear explanation of what's expected so I also don't get too many complaints.
or younger or weaker students who may already feel like their grade is random funny! and i agree
I've had professors say it'll "cost" a point or two to challenge the grading on anything, to try to discourage asking for tiny or unlikely corrections. I don't know that it's particularly effective, though - I never asked them for changes.
Another thing the NFL is give each team a limited number of challenges, with teams getting more if the previous ones are upheld.
"regrade whole thing, grades could go up or down" is to prevent cherry-picking small mistakes in your favor ("I got a -2, but my friend only got a -1 for the same thing", "sure, but your friend got -2 on question six. You made the same mistake but we missed it".) But if a student came in with a real issue, we'd handle just that one thing.
I never had issues like that but I've heard the following solution by a colleague: The students inspect their works in the presence of the professor of TA. If they have any complaints they have to write them down and hand them in. There is never any discussion going on, but only written complaints are accepted. All written complaints are treated carefully and there may be a next date for inspection and even a next round but this can only consider things which have been addressed in the first round. I.e. you can't "grub for a point in exercise 1" in the first round and then try to "grub for another point in exercise 2" in the second round. All complaints have to be submitted in the first round.
What I've heard is, that this dramatically reduces grade grubbing and especially makes "grade grubbers" think hard about their mistakes (which can be considered as a good side effect). As a matter of fact, it's much harder to articulate why you think that you deserve another point for some exercise if there is no clear "misgrading" if you have to do this in written form.
Edit some years later: Now I have some personal experience with this system. I did this at least six times and it works awesome. Where I am we have an official "grade grubbing date" called "Klausureinsicht" i.e. there is one date at which all students can have a look at their exams. I usually have 10 students in one room who can have a look at their exams at the same time. I answer all questions related to the content of the exam, but as soon as the grading is in question I hand out a paper and a pen and ask the student to write down their complaint. I even encourage writing complaints down. It further helps to cut off the discussion if I add that "I can't answer questions on the grading as I would have to look up how our general grading for this kind of solution/error is" (I actually have one but do not bring it to the Klausureinsicht). I collect all replies, keep them with the exams, check them and reply to the students via email on the spot or the next day. Answering the complaints is usually pretty easy. Most of the time I just write "The grading/deduction of points corresponds to our grading system." or "What you have written down does not show what you are complaining about/what you may intended to write and we can only grade what you have written." Only one time (out of several dozens) I had a student trying to continue grubbing.
Also, the fact that you can not change the grading system at your place is a big plus in my eyes, at least when it comes to grade grubbing. (One the other hand, you have to be more careful and work harder when producing the exam so that you can be pretty sure that the difficulty of the exam is ok.)
Are the responses for the regarding also written down?
I am not sure, but I think this is a good idea.
Just happened to see this discussion today (Nov '13). Requiring written (not email, not text-msg, not Facebook, not...) explanation/query of why the grade should be changed is an outstanding notion, if only because it changes the cost/benefit analysis (conscious or not) for students, and substantially deters grade changes for dubious reasons, exactly because students hate writing in complete sentences, being precise, etc. I wish I'd thought of requiring written communiques... :)
Useful answer. Also, what's the literal English translation of "Klausureinsicht"? Google translate isn't being helpful in this case.
Klausur translates to exam and Einsicht is inspection as in "inspection of files", so a literal translation would be "inspection of exams".
I have three primary methods for dealing with this behavior:
On the first day of class, I mention that I won't tolerate grade-grubbing. I say that I am firm and will treat everyone equally. What I don't say is that students are much more likely to see leniency if they showed a good effort in class, and are nice about asking me to review a grade.
I admit that I make grading mistakes (and so do the TAs), and we'll fix the problem if they occur.
I have a policy that if you ask for a re-grade, I'll look at the whole assignment and if the end grade is actually lower, that's what you'll get (I don't think I've ever lowered a grade this way).
I would like to avoid having to deal with the student who tries every which way to get the few points they need to move up a level.
You'll always have to deal with a couple. If you set the ground rules on the first day, you'll see fewer on average.
(I don't think I've ever lowered a grade this way) — I have. I also ask for all regrade requests in writing, and I announce at the start of class that I never change grades (except for arithmetic errors) while the student is standing in front of me.
@JeffE "...while the student is standing in front of me" -- good advice!
I also make it a point to announce that I don't hold court in class. The point there is that if the student makes a compelling argument for a response I don't want other students to bandwagon on it in an attempt for "free points"
In addition to #3, and JeffE's requirement that I will only handle regrade requests in writing (read: not by email), I also put a statute of limitations: I will only entertain regrade requests for one week after I return the assignment.
@BenNorris this punishes everyone with a tight shedule or other deadlines or stuff to learn for.
@HopefullyHelpful Expecting responses to regrade requests long after the work is returned punishes instructors, who also have tight schedules and multiple competing demands for their time. If your schedule is too tight to keep up with the class, you're trying to do too much. Drop something
You're effectively trying to deter or scare students away from appealing the grading of their work. Don't label them "grade grubbers", and don't insinuate you might make an effort to reduce their grade on other questions if they appeal.
@JohnB: But it's the exact opposite! If a student makes a compelling argument about an answer which you marked as wrong, convincing you to accept it, then all students must bandwagon on it, i.e. if anybody else gave the same answer they should also have their grade increased.
See these resources:
https://brownmath.com/stfa/raise.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20130705093554/http://www.rochester.edu/College/phl/gradechange.pdf
I posted the latter form on my door, and referred students to it when they came grumbling. They were furious the first couple of times, but then learned that it was a moot point to argue with me. (Although there was a case when I screwed up the final grade computation, and had to submit a few dozen grade change slips).
On a more serious side, I stopped doing the 60-70-80-90-100 cutoffs in the latest courses at all. Think about this: you are spending 70% of the test material and volume to test for a C, and then another 10% for a B, and then another 10% for an A. A much better use of your test problems is to have 1/3 of the problems address the grade of C, then another 1/3 of more complex problems to address the grade of B, and finally the most difficult 1/3 of problems address the grade of A. So in my exams, I would state something like:
There are 12 problems on this test marked at level C; you need to get 10 of them right to get the grade of C. There are 10 problems on this test marked at level B; you need to get at least 8 problems at level B or higher, and at least 15 problems total, to get the grade of B. There are 8 problems on this test marked at level A; you need to get at least 6 problems at level A, and at least 20 problems overall, to get a grade of A.
That is, out of 12+10+8 = 30 problems, you need to do two thirds, pick and choose, to get a full A, and only a third to get a C. You got 4 A problems, 4 B problems, and 8 C problems? That's a B+ in my books; you are a far shot for the required 20 problems for A, but you fulfilled the B requirements, and slightly exceeded them by having completed a bunch of A problems. The problems would be clustered, on most occasions: a given "big" problem would start with two-three C points, progress to one or two B points, and then culminate in an A point. Some A problems would be stand alone ones. So there would be 8 to 10 "big" problems and items within it. The smartest students would work on 6 problems, get everything right, and leave early. Not so bright students would attempt everything and fail at everything, and walk away with a C. I've seen all of the different ways that students approached it, which showed their learning styles and testing strategies -- pretty interesting per se.
While initially confusing (I train students to it by giving like three quizzes based on this system in the first three weeks), this system works very well in the end. Before each test, I also give students rubrics stating what they need to know at C/B/A level (C level: know the formula; B: determine which formula to use in a given simple context; A level: know where the formula breaks down, and how), so there was very little arguing about grades: either you've done the problem to my liking, or you haven't; and then you just count the completes up.
What was the duration of these tests, in which students seeking an A had to solve at least 20 problems?
I did it in both Tue-Thu 75 minute blocks, and Mon-Wed-Fri 50 minutes blocks. The tests would vary in length appropriately, of course. A short 10 minute quiz would be just one "big" problem (see update above, in the end of the -2nd paragraph), with two C items, one B item, and one A item.
@StasK that grade change request form it's just so entertaining
There are some good answers here, especially Nate's, which most closely matches my own grading policies. One item that I want to highlight that hasn't been included in other answers is the time factor. You must put a strict time limit on regrade requests. My course policies are that I will accept regrade requests up to one week after the exam/homework/lab/etc was handed back to the students.
The main reason for the time limit is to keep a student from grubbing too much at the end of the semester. When someone discovers that they have a B in the class, they often try hard to find a few extra points in the hopes of getting over that cutoff into A-grade land. I want to put most of the graded events of the semester out of bounds for such searches. If those 2 points weren't important enough for a student to request the regrade back in September, then they aren't important enough in December, now that final grades are being calculated.
I have small enough classes that I can hand out exams during class and give the students time to look at them. I tell students that if they have any regrading requests they must leave the exam paper with me when they leave that day - once it leaves the room the grade is final. This also avoids certain kinds of cheating where students change their answers and then ask for regrading. But it does give the students a fair chance to make sure I have added up their points correctly, etc.
I would add that this kind of policy can actually make the grade-grubbing process constructive. If the student goes over their exam a few days afterwards and examines carefully where each answer was marked incorrect, they might learn something about the problem or concept tested.
-1 for referring to grade appeals as grade-grubbing. It's bad enough OP does that. Other than that, an appeal deadline is certainly justifiable. However, remember that the students might be in the middle of their exam period and it is more difficult to go over previous exams when you're studying for the next one.
I know a prof who solved the problem by giving a free point to all the people who are just one point below the next grade. That way there are no students whose grade is on the boundary (e.g. nobody has 89%), so it is more difficult to get sufficient additional points for the grade above via grubbing. In effect this means the grading criterion is lowered, but since this depends on other factors as well (say, how difficult the test is), it hasn't led to administrative problems. The students are also happy with this sort of arrangement.
It also depends on how you give points. If you stick to multiple choice questions on a test, it's much harder to bargain for points.
"If you stick to multiple choice questions on a test, it's much harder to bargain for points": You are also likely to have a very bad test that doesn't do a good job of testing if students know how to apply material. I also don't like the idea of adding the "free" point, because it leads to arbitrary grading. Students shouldn't get the point just because they are on the border.
So what about people with 88%? Won't they grub to be able to land at 89% and therefore 90%? Or would people where grading mistakes happened not get the free point? This seems like a bad idea to me.
@aeismail - funny, I've often heard that of multiple choice tests (also that thay are easy), but my impression (from some training in test-making) is that it's in fact just hard to make a good one. In other words, it requires not just knowledge on the subject matter, but also knowledge on test making. It also requires more questions, so many people think it's not worth the effort. But I've seen some very good ones as well, in the sense that they are nontrivial and manage to distinguish between different levels of knowledge of the students.
@thejh - "So what about people with 88%? Won't they grub to be able to land at 89% and therefore 90%?" Well, logically yes, but psychologically/factually, no, they didn't feel entitled to do that.
@aeismail if the grading is at all subjective then there will be variance between multiple gradings. If the initial grade is near a cutoff point, then the final score will be arbitrary. Ideally the grader should keep on regrading until, he or she can confidently and non-arbitrarily place the student in one final score category or another. In practice the free point is less work and is popular with students.
@thejh: I've done something similar to this for a long time; it's worked well for me. I don't formally tell people that "if you get an 89, I'll pretend it's a 90," but I do publish a grading scale that's higher than I intend to carry out. So, if I expect my "A line" to be at 90, I'll say you need a 92 to be guaranteed an A, but that "I reserve the right to curve that scale." I've used that system for 7 years and have never had a grubber.
@aeismail: There is a lot of arbitrariness about grading, for many reasons which I won't go into. I believe it's not a bad thing to acknowledge that fact, if only marginally.
Instead of discouraging grade grubbing the traditional way (by making it harder), you could also choose to discourage it by making it less necessary. Students are much less likely to fight you over a few points if one or both of the following are true.
Have so many course points available that it would take an an entire
assignment's worth of grade grubbing to move up a letter grade in
the course. For example, if there are 1,000 points, and each exam is
100 points, then it would take on average about 10 exam points to
increase your overall grade by 1%. To move up from a course grade of
87% to 90%, the student would need to find 30 points, equivalent to
increase from a 70% to a 100% on an exam. All but the most ardent
grade grubber will have trouble finding that many.
Drop the lowest assignment(s) in certain (or all) categories. If you drop one out of 5 exams, two out of 10 quizzes, 5 out of 25 homework assignments, and so on, grade grubbers are less likely to come and try to make a deal over one low grade. They will focus more on doing better on a later assignment so that they can drop the bad assignment.
Each of these options lowers the marginal benefit of each additional point on an exam or assignment. At a point where the effort outweighs the benefit, most students will stop grubbing and only come complain when it is serious.
Alternatively, all of your assignments could be multiple choice with one correct answer and no partial credit.
Sadly, this is not an available option here. In Germany, homework is not allowed to count toward a final grade, and multiple exams are allowed only under exceptional conditions. (Yes, it's a flawed system.)
All but the most ardent grade grubber will have trouble finding that many. — Alas, the most ardent grade grubber seems to take my class every semester.
"Instead of discouraging grade grubbing the traditional way (by making it harder), you could also choose to discourage it by making it less necessary." +1 just for this. Making something more desirable and less accessible just encourages people to push harder for it rather than going the alternative, more "honest" route.
@aeismail There are universities in Germany that allow and actually do this. It depends on your Prüfungsordnung.
Disagree with item 1, because if there are many misgrading issues - and that's more likely to be frequent when there are lots of assignments and questions - this approach essentially "drowns" students in them. I like item 2, though.
I think the best approach to these types of situations is honesty. I would never refuse a request to explain why how I arrived at a student's grade but if I feel that a student is going about the process in a non-constructive way then I tell them.
If the student's approach appears unprofessional to me then it likely does to others, so this is an opportunity for professional development. Focusing on the positive I would explain how education is about much more than grades and in addition to the other good reasons to strive to become an educated person, an over emphasis on grades damages their image to the faculty who will have to provide references etc...
@JoeZ. I am not sure I totally follow your comment but the point of my answer is that you are always being evaluated subjectively on your merits. If you act unprofessionally (i.e., grade grub) then you will be evaluated poorly in the eyes of the faculty. Most faculty that I know are much more impressed by serious students who clearly want to learn than they are by a high GPA. Furthermore, good professional habits (i.e., not whining about anything) will be far more valuable in the future than just a high GPA, so any opportunity to help students develop those habits should not be wasted.
Wait, no, I misread your answer. I thought you were talking about the teacher acting unprofessional, not the student.
@JoeZ. Ha! well that would change things... I edited the answer to clarify who I was talking about.
I deleted my original comment because it seemed fussy and immature, given the actual context of the answer. Your point in general is a good one; however, in order for your lesson to truly sink in, you need to convince them that grades don't matter much, as many university students are immigrants who come from backgrounds where such stratified grading determines their life's path (e.g. the Gaokao) and they believe that the professors tell them the non-importance of grades just to feel better, and "know" not to believe them. In my experience, it's those people who grub about marks the most.
In my case, I actually experienced the opposite phenomenon in my most recent semester. A class on logic gave me a very high grade that I really felt I didn't deserve, given how much I'd actually learned from the class (not a lot). However, given that the class was rather badly taught in the first place, I decided not to push the issue.
I consider all requests for re-marking. As said many times here, mistakes do happen and I'm only human. However, when I find a student who is being unreasonable, I tend to be even stricter in my interpretations than I was the first time around.
Of course, the difference between 85% and 86% is not normally significant (either in the quality of the work or the overall impact on a student's total grade for the module) but for those who think they can push for a 1% 'bump up' in grade may well find themselves with a 1%-2% 'bump down' (85% to 84%).
Teacher reputations spread quite quickly between students and I believe the students will act more appropriately once they realize they are not in a 'no lose' situation.
In a strict grading system the difference between 85% and 86% can be significant on a student's total grade for the module, but the difference between 85% and 84% may be insignificant. So the student may well be in a "no lose" situation.
@emory It's a good point. Although the 'adjustment' could be more than 1-2%.
I had a clever teacher in high school who responded to grade grubbing (with respect to a particular exam or assignment) in an effective way. He presented the student with a wager:
"I will be glad to mark that exam over again. However, you may end up with a lower grade. I will mark the entire exam, very carefully and strictly. You do not get to cherry pick which answers are reconsidered. Therefore, you may lose marks in places where I had been generous which may more than offset any gains. It is like a bet! Do you want to take the bet and have me check the exam?"
I don't know whether the students always declined the wager, but they did in every instance that I witnessed. Those students were not in fact confident that they deserved more marks, only that they deserved more marks in some particular question or area. More importantly, they knew very well that, overall, the teacher marked fairly, with a slant toward generosity.
-1 for vindictive deterrence. The students would likely decline the wager since they believe (probably justifiably) that you will be motivated to penalize them for appealing by finding reasons to decrease their grade.
@einpoklum That teacher was one of the nicest I ever had; there was nothing vindictive about it.
Then he was an exception to the rule. I was judging merely by what you quoted - and I know of professors who are notoriously mean and use this kind of text as pure deterrent.
I am now 38yrs old and came across this site doing research for a graduate program. During high school I was not a "good" student. My grades were as bad as you could imagine and I paid strict attention to the grading methods that each teacher used. I did as little home-work as I could. Often home-work counted heavily in grading so I would need to max tests and especially semester finals (finals were usually 20% weighted in final averages). My typical finals week would require me to achieve 6-7 high "A" grades to achieve a D and pass the courses. My GPA at graduation was 1.82, I loved to listen to lectures and to read texts but I never wanted to do the mundane work of reinforcement. When I went to college I found a grading style that I was very comfortable with namely tests, essays, exams I finished my B.S. with a 3.83 GPA and did it in five semesters. Very little about my approach changed from high school to college except that I more than doubled my course load.
I had one high-school teacher that gave us a choice about how we would be graded. He was a geometry teacher and he gave you the choice of Option A: 100% based on tests or Option B: 50% tests, 30% homework, 20% quizzes. You had to choose on the first day of class and sign a contract. I chose test option, and felt a vested interest making my choice the right one for me. He had one extra credit question on every test that was related to the topic but much more difficult I finished his class with 104% grade and likely the lone A of my high school career. I never did any home work but I hung on his every word in class and spent time while I was running working through geometric proofs in my head. I would have likely done that anyway but he is still an inspiration to me now and he is among the influences that have lead me to want to teach after I retire.
If a kid can present a compelling logical and supportable premise that supports regarding you should thank them for helping to improve your curriculum or your communication process; find a way to benefit from their observations. It may be an opportunity to apply some constructivist principles or you might have to expose them to a harsh truth that they are wrong.
If
you have a strict grading policy; and
90%+ = A, 85% = A-, 80% = B+.
Then let epsilon be a margin of error such that you would be surprised if a regrade changed things by more than epsilon points. For this example, let epsilon be 1 point.
Now apply this algorithm
while (cutpoint-grade<epsilon)
regrade
Perhaps your initial grading will generate grades like
84.99
Then after applying the algorithm it might change to
85.01; or 83.99
From the grade grubbers point of view:
84.99: asking for a regrade is a no-brainer. If the regrade results in just a slight improvement, the grubber moves from B+ to A-. Even if the regrade results in a lower grade, the grubber will still most likely receive a B+.
85.01: not asking for a regrade is a no-brainer. It is unlikely the regrade will result in the 5 additional points necessary to move from A- to A, but there is a good chance the regrade will move the student to a B+.
83.99: not a no-brainer, but hopefully inertia will lead the grubber to inaction. Regrading will change the grade to somewhere in 82.99 - 84.99, -- solid B+ territory.
That algorithm causes an infinite loop if cutpoint-grade<epsilon is actually correct! How did you manage to escape this infinite loop to write this answer? ;)
@Ben grade is a random variable. cutpoint is a constant. epsilon is chosen by you. If you choose a reasonable epsilon value then the algorithm will terminate early with an upgrade for the student. Or if you are smart, you will bypass the algorithm and just upgrade.
I would hope that when you have re-grade a student paper you would settle on the grade you think is correct, and thus grade would no longer vary after each subsequent re-grading.
@Ben If after reading a student's essay you strongly believe that 89.999 and 90.001 are both appropriate grades but 89.99 is way too low and 90.01 is way too high then choose 0.001 as epsilon. Then after your first reading you decide 89.9995 is a good grade, then upgrade them to 90 b/c life is too short for meaningless distinctions. But if your first reading leads to 89.94 then don't upgrade them b/c you have apparently decided that there is a meaningful distinction.
When I was doing my bachelor degree, my department had a policy which made students more serious about asking for re-marking: when a student submit a formal request, he has to pay a small fee which will be refunded if his grade changes after being re-marked, otherwise the department will keep that money. Although I doubt that this solution can be applied everywhere, but it actually makes students to think carefully instead of blindly asking for re-mark all the time.
That policy creates a financial incentive to deny appeals on grades. -1 in my book.
One class I took had a policy where if you submitted a regrade request, and it was denied, they took five points off your grade. They only did this for people who had already gotten at least one regrade request denied, so that students who had legitimate basis for regrades weren't discouraged.
That's horrible and unfair.
So, like in the NFL, where in a coach tosses a challenge flag, and it turns out there is no evidence to backup the claim, the team is charged one time out. I approve.
TL;DR: Don't assume they're "grade-grubbers"; treat them fairly and respectfully, and consider their appeals on the merits.
You're pre-judging them - assuming that their appeals are invalid because they "didn't get the final score they want". Maybe what they want is the grade they deserve, based on their answers? Or maybe even it's the grade they deserve based on their command of the subject material, which may be poorly reflected in the grades? You've dismissed this possibility from the get-go, and en masse.
You've even adopted a derogatory nickname for them. Ha ha, very droll... not. Don't use it.
Have an orderly procedure for submitting and handling appeals (perhaps insist on appeals in writing with a guideline document for writing appeals). Don't try to penalize people or threaten penalties or negative repercussions when submitting appeals. Consider the appeals on the merits when you get them - whether it's an appeal about 10% of the grade or 1% of the grade. You do not have to be lenient in grading - but you need to be fair, consistent, and willingly consider the appellants' arguments.
Finally, if you get a lot of appeals, that's usually a sign there's something wrong either with the grading in general, or with the teaching-staff-students interaction, or with the choice of grading scheme, or all of the above.
I think you misread the question. This was not about how to deal with perceived "grade grubbers"; but how to discourage the behavior. The policy would exist to make grade-grubbing more difficult or not worth it. It does not imply that people who have concerns about their marking are grade-grubbing. It asks the question of how people acting with the intent to grade-grub can be stopped.
@JMac: Oh, I read the question just fine. OP, and you, take for granted that what you're trying to stop is "real" grade-grubbing. And I'm telling you: It isn't; or at the very least, you should assume it isn't and treat it accordingly.
There are several answers here which address students who are looking for legitimate feedback vs. grade grubbers. I'm really not sure why you're assuming otherwise. Most of the top answers are focusing on trying to establish a clear system which ensures fairness for all students. The idea behind the practice being not to discourage grade grubbing, but to make a system where some students can't take advantage, and the professors time is not wasted.
@JMac: The fact that it's not clear to you why I assume otherwise, is a problem. Your perception of student appeals as undue "advantage taking" that Professors are "wasting time" on - is a problem. In my opinion. I'll say it again: It's not grade-grubbing; students are taking advantage of what they should be able to take advantage of, i.e. the right to appeal if they believe they were misgraded; and professors' time is not wasted in handling these appeals, it is just used.
The number of appeals is also a function of the pressure a student faces. A lot of appeals can also happen if you are teaching students who face strict GPA requirements or who want to apply to things that may care about their grades. I have had students I called in for cheating take the opportunity to ask for a higher grade because of external circumstances (graduate school hopes, sick relatives whom they want to impress, etc.), separate entirely from what they have done in the class. Some students cite the idea that "it never hurts to ask," but some requests waste time with no learning gain.
@cactus_pardner: From personal experience, I have not found this to be the case. Or at least - not if an appeal needs to be made formally and specifically in writing. This discourages appeals to pity rather than to reason. Note that this way it does hurt to ask, in that one needs to invest the effort of wording the appeal, which is not trivial.
My experience is from a senior high school perspective. In the English department, it was usually essays or essay-format questions on tests that students wanted remarks because they thought they deserved a higher mark. If a student approached with this sort of request, and I as a teacher felt they were just fishing for extra marks, we would make a clean copy of the assignment, so that my comments/corrections/marks were not on the paper, and pass the paper over to the department head for re-marking, with the warning that his decision would be final and would replace the mark I had assigned--no matter if it was higher or lower. Of course our department head had the reputation of being the toughest marker in the department, and his re-marking often (but not inevitably) resulted in lower marks. Once the news got around that this was the way re-mark requests were being handled, the number of students who were just whining in case they could coax a few extra marks out of the teacher, dropped. They didn't want to take the chance that a re-mark would leave them worse off than before. The students who had a legitimate complaint still had a way to have it addressed, and of course addition errors were handled on the spot with no attempt made to discourage them.
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119192 | Advice on applying for Economics graduate programs with a low GRE
I took the GRE in August and scored a 301 and took it recently again and scored a 308. My field of work is primarily in Behavioural Economics so I plan on applying to specialized and general Economics grad school programs. I have a strong profile with internships in various organizations within my field and outside it as well as several publications and a good CGPA.
My questions are:
What are my chances of getting into good/top grad school programs in the U.S/UK?
Should I consider applying to places outside of the US that don't require the score at all?
Thanks in advance!
UK no problem, as the GRE doesn't exist here.
Actually, LSE, Cambridge, Oxford require it unfortunately.
Your math score matters much more than your verbal in these programs. Might be helpful to specify if the weakness extends to your math score.
It does. 143 Q the first time, 153 the next.
143 to 153 is like a jump from 20th to 60th percentile. It's not brilliant but I believe it's not so low that your application in the US will get automatically screened out. A killing GPA or great grades in related courses will help as well.
I think this is a duplicate question. Yes, this is a weak score, particularly for a Economics. In general, if you are weak in one area, you need to find programs that care less about this. In addition to finding strong programs not requiring GrE, you can simply apply to a larger number of programs in the hope that you will “hit” on one that likes your particular packet.
The only way to know is to apply to one or more programs. If your record isn't strong in some area you may need to apply to several different programs.
But for most institutions, no single number is likely to be an absolute block. You need to make your case. Why is it that you are a good candidate? Why are low scores not reflective of your ability? What can you add to a program you are part of? Some places may block you, but for those that don't, be ready to make your case through your other materials and especially in an interview. Showcase the positive.
I wouldn't take drastic action until I explored the terrain a bit, however.
Thanks for your answer, Buffy. Close to 95% of the places I'm applying to don't have an interview round and in the process of hedging for possible low scores on the test, I managed to find a lot of places that don't require the score at all and are still pretty good. I was just disheartened by the consecutive low scoring despite my hardwork towards the test and was wondering if my chances at a gold standard program are out of reach.
Hopefully you will be evaluated by people who realize that testing isn't everything and doesn't actually tell you much about some subset of the population. But, like anyone else, the case is yours to make.
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77897 | Can I use the same PhD application for consecutive years without paying extra fees?
I am applying this year for a PhD program in US schools.
My chances to get accepted will be higher next year, but I don't want to miss the chance of getting accepted this year. should I wait for the next year, or should I apply this year and ask the university to reconsider my application for next year? The problem is with the application fees, it would be very hard to apply for 2 years, the application will cost me around $200 (including the scores of GRE, GRE Physics and TOEFL), and I am intending to apply for 10 universities.
You could ask for a fee waiver for the applications if you have financial difficulties. If you apply once this year and that application is rejected, and if you want to submit a new application next year, I think that you will have to pay the application fee twice (unless you get a waiver) as you are effectively submitting two different applications.
Don't forget to apply to Europe, it is free!
Thanks alot. I will consider europe in my applications, but i didn't want to take master's befire PhD.
This is tricky, because in the US there really is no standard/universal handling for this sort of situation. It's probably going to be different at every department you are thinking of applying to.
With that said, there are a few common outcomes, to wit:
Some programs will simply say no - you must pay in full at the time of both the original application, and re-application.
Some programs offer fee waivers with a variety of requirements. Some programs will waive fee for US citizens with demonstrated need, some programs waive fees for people who participated in certain programs (often which target helping certain groups get to and succeed in college).
Some offer waivers/reductions to countries where the relatively reasonable fee to US citizens is just an absurd expense (especially ones where $75 is 2-4+ weeks of average salary). This does not apply to every country, however.
I suppose it's technically possible that a program will allow you to pay the fee once and reapply the next year at no additional cost...but I've really never heard of that and I'd be pleasantly surprised if any program you were looking at would offer you that option.
I'd suggest you contact a few of your target programs right away and ask their graduate coordinator what your options specific to the fees are. That's really the only way I can think of to get a real answer that's certain enough to help you decide on what to do.
But barring answers from your target programs, I would absolutely suggest that you do not simply rely on them being willing to let you reapply at no extra cost or automatically not pay the fee - or even to waive the fee more than once. They are not required to do this by any external rules or laws, and being a foreign citizen or having limited finances are not protected/privileged groups under most US laws.
Get direct answers from schools you care about, and then decide for yourself if you absolutely cannot afford to apply two years in a row if it comes to that.
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63583 | Why would new teachers' grade distribution consist of more As and Fs than more experienced teachers'?
Three students came to my office hours and told me that they are straight As but for some reason are failing my class. I have 14 students who got A- and A. 11 are in 80s range, 9 got 70-77, and 9 in 50-60% range (three of those didn't turn in assignments). Is this a normal grade distribution or are some failing because I am doing something wrong? I was told that the problem could be my mid-term exam (it wasn't well-designed!!!) or that I am a difficult grader.
I was also told that this grade distribution (lots of Fs!) are common for new teachers. In other words, new teachers have lots of As and lots of Fs. Honestly, I don't understand the logic behind that. How is that possible? Or why?
Your question is unclear to me. 1. You mixed percentage grade with letter grade. 2. Did those who didn't turn in assignments get F's?. Exactly who is got F's? Those below 50%?
They grade distribution itself does not seem unreasonable, but such thing might be hard to judge without knowing the content and grading method you have used.
If you are concerned about having too many A grades and too many F grades there is a really easy cure . Keep your standard test templates but add a few really hard questions and a few really easy questions .This will make an A as hard to get as an E .I know from experience that an A is just as hard to get as an E .
My first concern would be this: are the students really straight A students in other comparable classes, or did they just say that to emphasize their complaints?
Grade distribution is pretty unimportant compared to well-thought out standards for the course. Anecdote: Last spring I had two sections of the same class with identical schedule, lectures, etc. At the end one section had a 28% passing rate, and the other 60%. We must be humble that what the students bring to the table make much more difference than anything the instructor ever does.
tl;dr: seems like perfectly acceptable distribution. Students will try anything to get a better grade, don't mind them too much.
To begin with, with N=43, especially if this is your first time teaching the class, you don't have a lot to go on. As you teach it a few more times, you'll get a feel for your overall grade distribution.
I personally average somewhere around 20-25% A, 40-50% B, 20-25% C, and 5-15% D/F/W across all my classes. But I've had some individual sections that were virtually all As and Bs, and I've had one where the D/F/W was a clear majority (!). No one in the administration complained or questioned my grading/instructional skills in that last one because they were due to extreme absences and not handing in heavily-weighted assignments, and also because I had taught it before with more "normal" (= commonly occurring, not statistically normal) distributions.
As to new teachers having lots of As and Fs, if it fits an inverted bell curve, it's a sign that your class is probably a bit too easy, the As are people that get it, and the F are those that don't, but without more difficult questions, you have no way of discriminating any other levels. But frankly, your distribution seems fine and unremarkable to me.
As the user autistic notes in the comments to your question, if you're concerned about too many As/Fs and not enough B/C/Ds, you may need to have questions or assignments that include both more difficult (to pull more Bs out of the As) and easier (to pull more C/Ds out of the Fs).
Your ultimate recourse (and resource) is if the course is something that has been taught before at your university by someone who is still there, ask them to look over how you're grading. If it seems fine to them, then you just got a class that happens to have that grade distribution. If not, then you may want to make some minor adjustments based on their recommendation.
What I wouldn't do is judge your grading with their other instructors. Besides the fact that they could just be very lazy students in your class alone, each department within a university will have its own culture of expectations, workloads, and grade assigning. Those students may have As, but in a department that doesn't demand much. You may also have students that are surprised at getting an A, if they come from one that is far more demanding.
Thanks a lot for taking the time and responding! I really appreciate it!
Ask your students why they think they are failing to understand the material.
Is the course too hard? Are they unaccustomed to your lecturing style (and should you try to change it)? Are some of the students missing important pre-requisite knowledge that you are assuming the whole class has? Are the assignments very tangential to the lecture material?
We can only guess as to the reasons. Ask the students.
Thank you so much for responses! The class is an introductory level course. I have 4 short essay assignments, a mid-term, and a final exam. The mid-term wasn't easy! I had some difficult questions and some easy ones. I have also been grading for other professors for years and never had complaints! So I am really confused! I asked them if they understand my lectures and they said yes! So I am confused!
Bear in mind that grading for another teacher is a different experience than giving the lecture and grading assignments for your own class. (You were in the lecture and know you mentioned thought processes XYZ, and they only mentioned X in their exam.) It doesn't seem the grade distribution is entirely unreasonable. If you are a difficult grader emphasize the level of detail you expect in every example and in an introductory course be sure to explain concepts in more than one way if possible. Pause often in class to assess understanding. Remember, it may just be lack of effort on their part.
Thanks a lot! You are so right because when I was grading I could tell if someone understood the material or not because I knew exactly what I explained (or spent time on) in class!
It would raise some concern that 9 out of 43 students received F's A more typical number, historically speaking, would be 5%-10%. An example would be: Georgia State University in 1920; however, the question is why did they get F's
If you have a batch of students who did not turn in the work or demonstrate that they learned the material then the grades seem justified.
Try to look at other instructors tests that you can compare to yours and have peers look at your tests.
The typical percentage of failing depends on the place and subject. Where I did my undergrad, 40% F was rather common, and 70% not unheard of.
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17811 | How to handle multiple years lost to test preparation on CV?
In 2011, I passed the Master's degree in mathematics with more than 80 percentile. I had a dream of becoming a research scholar in one of country's reputable mathematical institutes.
However, here in India, PhD candidates have to pass a test called National Eligibility Test before facing the interview board of such institutes. To prepare for the test, I disconnected myself from the outer world. Unfortunately, I failed the first three times but managed to pass the test in my fourth attempt, and subsequently joined the institute of my dream for PhD in 2013.
Because I didn't do anything other than preparing for the test, I have a hard time filling the 2-year gap in my CV. Whenever I look at it, that 2-year void pains me as most of my fellow scholars can show an uninterrupted career path on their CVs. I do understand myself that my mathematical knowledge grew in that two years, still I can't find a single demonstrable item to support my case.
Most people either clear the national test in the first or second try, and most of the rest would choose to leave the field forever, or get involved in guest lectureship in some institutes while preparing for the test. For me, however, I found it hard to make the time for anything else on top of studying, and hence I did nothing else. Now, I really wish to have such examples in my CV.
My question: have you lost many years in order to prepare for tests or exams? If so, can you suggest some examples on how to explain that lost time?
If the time is between MA and PhD, I don't think that matters much. Many people take that time off, leave academia briefly, or work during the gap. What matters more is what you do once you get a PhD.
"PhD candidates have to pass a test called National Eligibility Test before facing the interview board of such institutes. " - this is not true for many "top "schools in India. You can apply and be admitted first and then qualify for NET later. You can also just get funding from the school.
I agree with @socialsciencedoc's comment, although I think that what s/he describes is a more common phenomenon in the social sciences than in STEM fields. In the former, it's rare to be a 20-something PhD, and in the latter it most certainly isn't: not getting your PhD in math until you're 30 makes you (slightly, and certainly inessentially) older than average.
Anyway, I am not really scrutinizing gaps in candidates CVs until after their PhD (at which point I am!). Having a gap between undergrad and grad is still very common in STEM fields: e.g. many people do a couple years of high school teaching before the siren song of academia lures them back. One of my current PhD students did some high school teaching (among other things...) and will be over 30 when he gets his PhD. In his case, he acquired some skills in his "gap years" that are proving useful to him as a student and future mathematician.
Spending multiple years only studying for an exam is not something that most Western academics would be so familiar with, I'm afraid. I'm not sure how to spin that positively. So I would just not explain the gap at all. Put your energy into what you can now control: getting a PhD in a timely manner (in math, four or five years is ideal; six is still totally fine; after that it begins to look like you lack sufficient locomotion) and, of course, proving some great theorems in your thesis work. My eye would probably slide right over this gap in your CV...and I think that is exactly the way you want it.
Added: I missed this sentence reading your question the first time: " I do understand myself that my mathematical knowledge grew in that two years, still I can't find a single demonstrable item to support my case." That's great; truly. So your time was actually well spent, and I'm very glad to hear that. You don't have to further justify that that time was well spent: it got you into the great university that you now attend. So I think you have little to worry about, actually.
Only out of curiosity, have you ever heard of anything similar to Spending multiple years only studying for an exam such as National Eligibility Test mentioned by the OP before? I am asking this because I am thinking of asking a question along this line. It's a fairly common thing in Asia.
@scaaahu: No, I haven't. (Well, abstractly maybe. But not with respect to a particular person.) But I can't help but notice that I have advised the OP not to call attention to it, so perhaps this is a part of the past of some mathematicians that I know, but I just don't know about this aspect of their past.
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37791 | Can my institute use my figure and put their name on it for press releases, etc.?
I was wondering if my institute can use a figure which I made for a paper that has been published and crop it slightly and use it for press releases, etc., and instead of putting my name underneath the figure, they just put the institute's name.
Is it generally OK for them to do so, or should they give me credit?
Is the figure displayed in a context that describes your work?
Do you have a work contract that says anything about that?
@mynameis. Don't forget to state from where you are! In some countries, even if you signed-off the "copy-rights" to a work, you may have "moral-rights", such as being recognized as an author for a particular work.
Regardless of the outcome, try to make sure you've got a permanent copy. There must be something quite nice about your work, even if it's only a pretty figure, and you can mention it if you're asked about communicating your research (beyond academia) in the future.
It depends. If (1) you once signed a contract that allows the university to do so, and (2) they contacted your publisher to obtain authorization for duplicating the figure, this may be legally allowed. That depends a bit on the laws in your country, which often differ in such matters.
It is certainly bad style, though. Also, PR offices that are careful enough the think of condition (2) will typically also contact you prior to publication of the press release - especially since cropping of the figure occurred. Also: Don't attribute malice to a deed when other possibilities exist. For example, they could have asked you advisor, who said that this would be fine (whether this is OK by the advisor to do so is a different question). Also, replacing your name by the university name could have been the work of an unexperienced intern in the office, etc.
Perhaps you can contact them and ask if this is a mistake. If you want to go the easy route, you could just mention that you are concerned that the figure violates the publisher's copyright and that cropping the image may not be covered by the agreement they gave. In the same mail/call, you could offer help with this potential problem by provide them with the needed source information for a proper "image citation" and helping with obtaining authorization by the publisher (if needed). You could also express genuine concerns that potential future collaborators on research questions related to the figure could use the information of you being the source to establish contact, which would potentially be beneficial for both your career and the future reputation of the university (by strengthening the research done at your institution).
This depends a lot on your arrangement with the university, as well as the context of the figure:
As DCTLib has already pointed out in their answer, first of all, the copyright legislation this is subject to has an influence on this, both with respect to you as well as any publishers of the paper. The legal side of this may also be related to whatever may be stated in any contracts you signed.
Now, concerning the question whether this is a "good way" to do things, I am used to arrangements where the unspoken agreement exists that any graphic produced by an employee of the university during their work is free for PR people and similar to use in presentations. Your mileage may vary, though I personally always perceived that as extremely convenient, as that means I had more time for my research and less time being bothered by requests to help with public relations of the university or the department. There are people being paid for doing that PR work, and I am glad about every second they save of my time.
Things get critical if there could be a considerable benefit by mentioning your name (that you expect to be absent if only the university or department name is mentioned).
Is the figure embedded in a press release that targets an academic audience, possibly specific to your topic? In that case, it could indeed be crucial to provide direct contact info. On the other hand, if the target audience is really that specific, I would wonder why you were not asked to write the text yourself in the first place, as PR departments are not normally specialized in accurately conveying very specific information on research.
And even if this is the case, consider the goal the university is trying to achieve - is it meant as a here-and-now info (so getting in touch with you is realistic), or is it supposed to say "This is what we did in field X in 2015.", which will then be provided as a proof for the permanent activity in your field when applying for a project grant long after you personally have left that university?
On the other hand, is the press release rather for a general audience? In such a case, figures are often not expected to be understood in depth, and are rather meant to convey a general sense of awe for the "pretty colourful things that are produced at the university". Note that this includes both public settings (newspaper articles for everyone) and professional settings (funding reports that will be checked by financial people who do not have the slightest idea about the actual content of the research and who just want to see that something is being done that justifies the expenses for staff and equipment).
Lastly, it can be considered a very similar situation to how other products are attributed. Have a look into the About boxes of Microsoft Visual Studio or Google Chrome - they only say that they're by Microsoft and Google, respectively. Likewise, product description websites such as this, this, or this merely provide the company name as the only form of attribution along with the screenshots. The single developers or designers are not listed, but if there is any reason to contact them, that contact can certainly be established by contacting the indicated organization.
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80287 | What do you do when you are asked to perform an official review for a journal of a manuscript written by your supervisor?
I was just handed a paper for review (official review request by an editor of a journal) written by my current supervisor (the guy with the grant). I have not been involved in this work, and I don't feel inclined to dish out any free goodwill on behalf of him being my supervisor.
I'm well qualified to review it, and I think I would do a good job of it, but I'm worried that this constitutes a conflict of interest, and that I should decline. What is common practice around reviewing co-workers' papers?
What do you mean here by "for review"? Is this just your supervisor handing you the paper and asking you for comments, or is the part of an official peer review process? (That is, has a third party editor of a journal asked you be an anonymous peer reviewer for a paper authored by your supervisor?)
@R.M. Official review process, yes, I had a third party editor of a journal ask me to be an anonymous peer reviewer for a paper authored by my supervisor...
Frankly, this is a red flag on the journal. Several publishers I know (including e.g. APS) will regard "works in the same institution" as a conflict of interest as far as peer review goes. If I were asked to review my current supervisor's output then I would have a severely reduced opinion of that journal's peer review process - how do you know that X paper in that journal wasn't reviewed by someone inside the same group? How do you know whether they declined to 'dish out free goodwill', or whether they only said they didn't but they put a thumb on the scale anyway?
What might be even more concerning is that it's possible that they authors proposed the OP for a reviewer, knowing the dependency relation with them
If this is an informal request for internal review -- definitely go ahead. It is common practice to have close associates review work, and your thoughtful comments will gain you respect.
If this is a formal invitation from a journal -- it is a clear conflict of interest. It probably should never have been sent to you, quite honestly. This is not to say you couldn't provide an unbiased, thoughtful review, but to an outsider this would really be questionable. I suggest you take the high road, decline the invitation, and send a letter to the action editor reminding him of your close association.
It's the second option that I've encountered. I have informed the editor, but I have not heard anything back yet.
Would it be appropriate to do the review and also clearly state to the editor when submitting the review that you have a conflict of interest?
@pbond, no. The review could take some time and the editor should reject the review when they learn about the conflict. So, you have just wasted the editor's time. The editor needs to get another reviewer on board as soon as possible.
@Arnfinn You shouldn't expect to hear back from the editor. They asked you for a review, you declined due to a conflict of interest, and that's it. Perfectly fine.
@pbond It's fair to inform the editor that you're the author's graduate, you can leave the decision to them; they may decide that it's fine for you to do the review, but it's their decision, not yours.
Definitely don't do it. Write to the editor and decline. Often, journals will have some explicit guidelines on who appropriate referees are and what conflict-of-interest rules apply. Even beyond being able to give an unbiased review is a related standard, which is, "Would this give the appearance of major conflict if this were openly known?" To that end, I would suggest it is always inappropriate to referee papers by:
Your supervisor (or, the other way around, probably also former trainees)
Anyone in your department who could be voting on your tenure
Family members
Direct competitors (i.e. where there could be a possibility to compete to publish a result first, or where you know you are both applying for the same fellowship).
I think the first three are examples where there is no way to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest. The fourth has a lot more wiggle room, of course, because there can always be some competition if you are close enough to referee the paper well!
I agree - that's why I think there is more wiggle room on that part. Obviously, you could be applying for the same (broad) grant as someone you're refereeing. But there are some specific circumstances where I think it is potentially troublesome.
"Anyone who could be voting on your tenure" is a really large set, so I think that's a little bit overcautious (particularly if the reviewing is anonymous, as it usually is).
I agree on the "anyone who could be voting on your tenure," so I've edited it to make sure it only refers to your department members, not external referees. Again, the standard really is: how awful would this look if it was publicly known you were the referee? If you're refereeing your department chair... pretty bad.
In borderline cases, one can point it out to the editor as a potential conflict of interest, and let editor judge whether they think it’s too conflicting.
The problem is not so much that you couldn't be objective: probably you could. However, it is also for your protection to argue a Conflict of Interest.
Imagine you give a good review, then your judgement will be in doubt, even if justified. The review will not be considered very informative.
Imagine you give a bad one - if that comes out, you can be in a lot of trouble, being in a dependency relation to your superviser.
There are very good reasons to refuse.
I agree with other answers that you should not do the review. Here is an example of conflict of interest: http://www.sigmod2015.org/calls_papers_sigmod_research.shtml
A paper author has a conflict of interest with a PC member when and
only when one or more of the following conditions holds:
The PC member is a co-author of the paper.
The PC member has been a co-worker in the same company or university within the past two years
The PC member has been a collaborator within the past two years.
The PC member is or was the author's primary thesis advisor, no matter how long ago.
The author is or was the PC member's primary thesis advisor, no matter how long ago.
The PC member is a relative or close personal friend of the author.
Papers with incorrect or incomplete conflict of interest information
as of the submission closing time are subject to immediate rejection.
Another concern is that your supervisor can recognize your writing style in the review, and this can lead to awkward situation. This is very likely since you and him/her probably co-authored a paper before, you send him/her emails everyday. You may have a habit of language usage that you yourself don't recognize, but everyone else do.
Sometime, I do review for conferences that adopt double-blinded review, and I can correctly guess the authors. Because I read a lot of their papers in the past, and unintentionally train a classifier in my mind to recognize their writing style :).
The question not asked yet is: Do you want to review the paper?
If you don't then refuse it on behalf of conflict of interest.
If you are confident you will do good job and you want to do it, then inform the editor that one of the authors is your supervisor and that there might be conflict of interest. And let the editor to decide.
There is conflict of interest by default in these cases, because we can be biased even if we don't want to be. It's not about doing a good or bad job. Even knowing the authors can affect your review (although most often it's unavoidable not to know anyone). And I don't mean you will accept a manuscript that would otherwise go for rejection. It's small things adding up to a not so negative review or to a more positive than it deserves. In any case, as an editor you can't trust unless you are certain that the review is as objective as possible.
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12529 | Dangers of allowing students to resubmit assignments
There are two closely related questions here:
If a student submits their assignment and is unhappy with their mark, are there any dangers (which I might not be seeing) in allowing the students to do so? If I would offer for one, I would offer for all, but should I be offering it in the first place?
If resubmits are unavailable, some students ask me to 'pre-read' or 'pre-mark' their assignment. The end result is that when they submit officially, that may actually be the second submission. Clearly doing any 'pre-marking' or the like takes time and energy and, so far, very few students have taken advantage of this until right before the submission deadline (at which point I stop because I don't have THAT much time to offer them). Are there dangers in 'pre-marking' assignments?
Note: These assignments constitute either 50% or 100% of their total mark.
One of my concerns is that the student would have lower motivation to maximize the quality of their original work and just correct what was marked as a problem area - like a production worker depending on a Quality Control Inspector and not paying as much attention to the quality of their work the first time around. Are there other issues as well?
EDIT: I should add that these are business management subjects so student answers are not easily right or wrong but more about how they justify their analysis. Therefore, there is not an issue of "giving the right answer."
You should also ask about the danger involved in not allowing this, since it's pretty significant.
@BrendanLong I asked based on the assumption that pre-marking and multiple submissions of the same work is not common amongst teachers. However, I would be interested to hear the other side (of not allowing this)
The danger of not allowing retries is that you perpetuate a system where students are taught that if they fail at something, they should give up. In the real world, the most successful people are the ones who take risks, and understand that failure is just part of the learning process. At my job, failure isn't considered a problem unless I failed and didn't learn something from it.
@BrendanLong I'm not sure about this. The idea has always been you do your best. If you don't achieve all you hoped to then take the lessons learned and apply them to do better next time. We don't get several chances to be first to market. We do get several chances to succeed overall in business and students also get several assignments to pass a module. One poor assignment does not condemn them to failing that module.
Why would you want to do this?
@DanielE.Shub I would do this to allow students to improve the quality of their work. There are clearly costs and benefits (see answers below). I'm wondering about the unforeseen dangers.
I actually have a standing policy that any student can resubmit ANY assignment, all semester long. However they cannot expect a top grade from a late submission. So if a student gets a C in week two and resubmits in week 4 with a perfect answer that might move the grade from C to B, but not to A since they didn't complete the assignment on the first shot. If a student earned a B+ the resubmit is not worth it? I've had a lot of students take advantage of this offer and it allows them to improve their grade and better their understanding of the subject matter (computer science).
Should I be offering it in the first place?
Dangers:
You spend even more time on assignments, limiting your time for other endeavors.
Students might get into a "grade grubbing" mode where they simply re-submit marginally better answers in order to improve their grade.
Students do a poor job initially because they know they will have a chance to re-submit, and they might as well take their chances that you'll give them decent marks for inferior work.
Benefits:
Overall, students spend more time on the assignments, leading to better knowledge and ability to do the work.
You can provide helpful information to guide them to better answers (because you're seeing first-attempts). This level of grading also takes more time.
Students are happier because the stress of a hard deadline isn't so bad.
I think the benefits outweigh the dangers if you're willing to put in the extra time to re-grade. As I've said in other threads, I've used auto-grading homework for a some classes (probably not relevant in your case), but I've used the strategy that I'd have deadlines for all the assignments but that the week before the final I'd re-open all the assignments and tell the students they can re-do any questions they missed. I don't tell them I'm going to do this until I do it, in order to keep students from simply waiting until the end to do all the assignments.
Are there dangers in 'pre-marking' assignments
I think it's great that you're being creative with the assignments (e.g., pre-marking, resubmittals, etc.). Again, it comes down to your time -- if you have motivated students who want pre-marking and you have the time, I can't see a problem with it. It wouldn't surprise me if the best students are the ones who want pre-marked work, but then again I've had some less-capable students jump at chances like that to do better.
I had a professor that would let us resubmit our tests (one time), but for only half of the credit back. So if you got a 50 on the test initially, you could only get a 75 if you corrected it to a perfect submission. I feel that this could alleviate some of the risk with your third danger because students who do poorly on the first try are more limited by what they can get back. Additionally, the one re-submit limit helps with spending too much time grading and any grade grubbing. The problem with this class was that it was always necessary to resubmit because class average was around 30-40%.
@Gray I actually prefer that method; I wrote an answer around the same time as you commented.
It's certainly tricky! There are a number of pitfalls, I've found, that usually end up making it not worth the effort:
A lot more work for you. Grading twice may be no biggie in a class of 10, but a class size of 200 or 300 would be prohibitive.
The students will, in all likelihood, not try as hard the first time around, since they know they automatically get an extension.
Grade inflation. This may not be a big deal to some (it's a minor crusade of mine) but it can be a major issue. If the entire class is getting >90%, your superiors may be suspicious.
Similarly, the more successful kids are liable to get annoyed. What's the point of busting your hump to be an A-student if the B- and C-students can resubmit and do just as well?
That being said, there are some good work-arounds; nothing you can do about class size, but here are some ideas:
Don't tell them beforehand! This is a bit devious, and you can only do it once and not on the final, but most people will, after a hard midterm or something, appreciate that hugely. This will ensure most everyone works their butt off instead of slacking first time around.
Give them half credit for resubmitted answers. That is, if a student gets an 80%, but the resubmit is 100%, give him/her a 90%. This can be a good (enough) balance: The poorly-performing students get a sufficient boost, but not enough to threaten or annoy the high-performers. This also reduces the overall grade-inflation risk.
In the vein of pre-marking, since there's no "right answer," you can accept "drafts" and then spend some time going over some of the more and less successful avenues students chose. Everyone may end up doing something similar, but students will end up thinking more about their answers.
I think the half-credit method can work well. Like I mentioned in my other comment, I think this introduces some new dangers. The tests/assignments shouldn't be written in such a way that a student cannot reasonably expect to pass it on the first try. This could result in (at least the appearance) of lazy teaching - couldn't prepare effectively for attempt 1, so they make it up after they know exactly what to study. The other problem is that the workload for your particular class becomes higher since students have to do each test/assignment twice - something I think a lot of teachers forget.
Couldn't agree more.
I had a class where this was generalized, so that when re-grading, you lost 10% per re-grading (or day?), so you could submit a project 8 times, but by the 8th time, you can only get 20% of the points back. It worked well in that class because it was programming, so re-grading takes almost no effort, but I think it's worthwhile to allow as many re-grading attempts as you're willing to put time into. The result of this policy was that people did really well in that class, because people put in the effort to make their programs good instead of good-enough.
Since the field you're in is different from mine (mathematics), what I am about to describe may not work for you, but perhaps some variant of it could work.
I am quite fond of allowing students to make corrections to assignments (especially quizzes and exams), with the following rules:
1) Students may only resubmit an assignment once.
2) The corrected solutions must be flawless. There is no partial credit on resubmissions.
3) The students can earn back half of the points that they lost on their first submission. So if they scored a 4/10 on a problem the first time around, and if they submit a flawless corrected version, they will improve this to a 7/10. They cannot do any better, and there is nothing in between.
It has been my experience that this is a great way to get students to correct and learn from their mistakes, and I cannot find a downside to it. After all, my goal is to get the students to learn the material!
Since your assignments do not have clear-cut answers (as you describe in your edit), this might need some tweaking. You may need to replace "flawless" with "would have earned very high marks" or something to that effect. But the point remains: I think that allowing students to resubmit assignments is a valuable tool.
Occasionally, students will ask me to pregrade or review an assignment prior to submission. I am always happy to do so, but I don't give them a grade, just feedback on what is good, what is lacking, and what needs improvement. I find this is a good compromise.
Regarding the first scenario: if you give out solutions, there's obviously a problem. But if you hold off on giving out solutions, then the remaining students have to wait longer than might be reasonable.
This made me realize I skipped something important. I've edited the question accordingly.
One advantage of allowing resubmits that hasn't been pointed out is that it allows you assign more challenging material without scaring the students too much.
I think the problem lies in what expectations the students have. With a clear set of grading criteria (c.f. rubrics) you could probably avoid some or many problems. In the second case, you could say that pre-grading provides a preliminary grade which. at best, will be raised by one notch upon successful resubmission. Then, the student will get feedback and know where they are and make a decision of putting the effort it worth it. Clearly, this simple example is not thought through so I believe this case may need a serious think and discussion with peers on possible side effects. But, the point is that if you make the grading clear then there will be less complaints.
Your first case is perhaps trickier. The same idea applies, you need to apply some clear rule of what happens with a resubmission. It is possible that if your design of the criteria for case 2 is good, then as a side-effect case 1 disappears. You should also consider reducing grades for late arrivals etc.
Although this reply is not very precise, I think setting up criteria that makes the grading process clear will help. By putting in an optional pre-assessment, you make the students decide what they should do. Note that the criteria for the assignment also have to be clear so that the grades you set can be explained in terms of learning objectives.
I agree with Peter about setting up clear criteria -- whether that is, for instance, only letting students gain a certain percentage more for the assignment, or otherwise, having something you can point to if students try to go beyond the parameters will help.
Thanks for these thoughts. I actually provide a rubric but some (the weaker) students have difficulty marking their own paper.
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10857 | How to find the best journals or articles to read
When someone is just starting out, they can be overwhelmed with the number of journal articles published each month. Reading everything published seems impossible due to time constraints.
After someone has enough experience, they naturally watch for articles which are impressive, see where these are published and where the articles it cites are published but when someone is just starting out, it's not clear where to begin.
How does one go about identifying the best journals to keep up on when they have no experience reading any particular journal?
I don't follow journals at all. I follow authors and topics, and I chase citations.
@JeffE And how do you find the authors to follow? How do you find new authors?
I find new authors when they publish something in a topic I follow, or when they cite/are cited by one of the authors I follow (or I hear something at a conference/in the hallway/on the street). I find new topics when one of the authors I follow writes about/cites/is cited by something on that topic (or I hear something at a conference/in the hallway/on the street). The base case for this recursion was my advisor.
This depends on your field. In mathematics, physics, and a few related areas there is arXiv.org. From which you get rss feeds or e-mail announcements for individual research areas. This is particularly helpful because there are a huge amount a journals in mathematics and physics and you could never keep up with all of them.
The added benefit is that most of what you run across on arXiv hasn't made it to a journal yet so it is relatively new and free. Then after you find useful and interesting articles you can keep track of them and find out where they were eventually published.
Another set of tools that can be useful is a good indexing service that lets you trace backwards and forwards the references from a paper that you know is important. This lets you see not only what the important paper references but also who has referenced it and where they did so.
Because of the fact that my research field does not yet have a single journal dedicated to my field these are the tools that I use most to find new literature and see what is going on. Of course if you are still looking around for a research field to get into there are the big general topic journals in each area which are a good place to start if you want a big picture.
Ask your peers and mentors. There are plenty of low quality journals, and you would not benefit from reading from those journals especially when you are just entering the field. I currently subscribe to the table of contents of 4~6 top journals in my field via RSS or email. It took me years to identify and settle in this list. I got to appreciate those journals for their high impact in the community. Before I entered grad school, I often read random articles with cool titles that I would find via search engines, but they were not too helpful in the long run.
Also, reading one article carefully is often more valuable than skimming through five articles. You may feel that you are falling behind since there is a constant stream of "exciting" articles, but in the grand scheme of things, only a few will survive the sand of time. Alternatively to reading journals, another good way of keeping up with exciting research frontend is to go to academic conferences and talks (in person or virtually via e.g., videolectures.net).
As you wrote "It took me years to identify and settle in this list" - looking back is there any way to speed up the process so someone new does not need to wait years before making the most use of their time?
Actively maintaining this list over your entire research career is making good use of your time.
@JeffE My point was that it is very easy for someone just starting out to waste many, many hours reading articles which hold little value. After some time, it gets easier. How could someone skip (or minimize) that first painful part and get to the second part sooner?
It's not clear that "minimizing that painful part" is useful. Part of what you need to learn is how to filter that list; like anything else, you can only learn this by trying, failing, trying again, failing less, and so on.
I agree with Memming's excellent answer
that you should leverage the informed opinions of your mentors and peers
to decide what articles are of interest.
I would advise you to
attend talks/presentations at conferences or at your university.
Attending a talk requires a relatively small time investment
(20 minutes to an hour),
so you get a quick overview of a research project
without having to spend hours reading the article.
If the speaker is any good,
you should have gotten the main points from his/her talk.
During a talk, other researchers like to ask questions
or even in some cases argue with the presenter.
By hearing the types of questions that people raise in public,
and talking to people in private to see how they assess other people's work,
you understand better how other people perceive the research project.
Although each person has his/her own opinion about a research project,
nevertheless, people in a particular scientific community
tend to have opinions that fall within a particular spectrum.
By interacting with people and asking them what they think of a particular project,
you will learn how to calibrate your opinions
with the opinions of other researchers in your field.
As has been mentioned in comments to other answers, one has to slog through things. A similar process is accumulating a list of restaurants (food vendors, grocery stores) from which you prefer to get food. You can stay within a comfort zone of, say, Mexican and Thai restaurants to make sure you always get something satisfying, but then you miss out on the possible delights found in fusion restaurants.
You can go by reviews of experienced critics, but their notion of best may not be yours. The only sense in which time is "wasted" is through your own judgment. Even if you get a bad experience from reading a particular article, you need such feedback in order to develop your sense of what is best. It is not always rewarding to copy other's idea of best and hope it works for you.
There are strategies for forming a list to try, but you still have to test the list. In particular, if you know a good starting point, search by author, subject, or title to find similar articles. If you know a bad starting point, do the same kind of search, but ignore (filter out) the corresponding author or subject or title.
For a list of potential starting points, check out articles that have received awards for exposition. They can be a guide to quality. In mathematics, two such prizes are the Steele and Polya prizes; search to see what is available in your field.
Although there are brilliant and highly respectable journals and articles in basically every field of study, I think the concept of "best articles to read" is not well defined. There are, in my opinion, three important questions to answer.
Who is reading the article. This refers both to your position (a MSc student, a PhD student, a senior researcher) and your current role, or task (to prepare an overview, to write down a solid intro for your own paper, to fill the Bibliography section in your theses, to serve as a referee, to discover new breakthrough ideas). In my opinion, one can rarely read articles just "for their own fun", unless they are at a very senior level.
Answer to the first question will help you to narrow down the search space. For example, new ideas -> arXiv, classical results -> textbooks, etc.
What are you going to get from the article. "To understand it all" is probably too generic answer, and in my experience, very rarely it is really necessary to get all details from the paper. Do you want to understand the role of this paper in a big study? (maybe it is sufficient to read through Intro and Conclusion). Do you want to understand if their method / approach is better than yours? (maybe you should focus on Discussion or Comparison sections).
Answer to this question can dramatically reduce the time spent on each paper, and ultimately increase the number of papers you can explore.
Great answers so far. I'll suggest another approach similar to "snowball sampling" in social science.
Basically, you let really good/important articles (and journals) lead you to other really good/important articles (and journals).
Start with a few articles that stand out to you (or your adviser or mentor). They might be survey articles that assess the state of research and future directions, or they might be seminal articles that spawned new lines of research.
Then look at the editorial policies and editorial boards for the journals that published these papers. Are there any patterns that seem to tie these particular journals to these particular articles?
Now look at the articles that are cited in these initial papers, especially those that are described as "seminal" or "pioneering", etc. Repeat the process of looking at the journal editorial policies and editorial boards for these articles.
Also, using Google Scholar, look at the articles that cite your original set. Which journals seemed to publish the most follow-up articles, and promote debate or contrary research? Were there Special Issues of journals devote to the ideas or methods in the original set?
Rinse and repeat :-).
Through this procedure, you will usually settle on a set of 2 to 5 journals in a field (or sub-field) that are considered "important" for the type of research you are most interested in.
The advantage of this method is that you will home in on the journals that are important for your interests and focus, not just what everyone else (worldwide) might think is important.
The first thing is to identify the keywords/topics you are interested in. Then "google scholar" or "web of science" them. Find the top cited articles and identify which journals these articles were from. The other way to identify the top journals is checking the impact factors of these journals. Then find journals with higher impact factors. Go through the journals to identify the articles/topics you are interested in.
I find Google Scholar (GS) extremely useful for me. For example, if I start to learn "model checking", GS will show me this result, which shows a paper of KL McMillan with 4633 citations, and a book of EM Clark with 9438 citations. They are the first people I need to follow.
I then go to the homepages of the authors, to check which papers they published in which conference in the recent years? big names work on the main stream, and publish papers in top conferences.
Mircrosoft Academic Search (MAS) is also useful. For example, as model checking is a subfield of software engineering, I check the conference ranking in MAS, which tells me the top are ICSE, ITC, CAV... This confirms my guess, as both EM Clark and KL McMillan published > 20 papers in CAV. So this conference is first in the list I need to follow.
Google Scholar also recommends papers for you based on your published papers.
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10823 | What gets included for Continuing Professional Development?
When you are asked to list what continual professional development (CPD) you have completed in the previous 12 months, where do you draw the line on what gets included?
I would think attending a seminar on teaching skills should be included.
A new degree, diploma, certificate, etc. would certainly be included
I would think that participating on this or any other website (Academia.se) would not be included.
I would think that discussions, no matter how long or involved, would not be included.
How about reading books?
How about watching a video series specific to the position?
How about audio books?
How about reading articles?
How about research for writing articles on the subject of teaching (if you are a teacher)?
I would also think as a general rule that things done to improve a teacher's teaching or subject knowledge would count.
Seconding Damien's answer - it depends on who you are reporting to, and it depends on what they want. Ask for guidelines.
I report to a committee of peers in my department who forward my report with recommendations to the dean. I am judged in several categories. Explicit guidelines on what counts (and what does not) in each category are provided. I would earn credit somewhere for everything on your list. Each category is weighted differently, so I do not received equal credit for all activities. I have taken your list of activities and placed them into the categories for which I would receive credit, and added some of my own.
Instructional Design and Development - Activities to improve the courses that I teach and the methods by which I teach them.
Attending a seminar on teaching skills
Video or webinar series on the position
Experimentation in teaching methodology
Developing new materials that better suit the needs of the course
Teaching Performance and Feedback to Students - Activities that improve my interacting with students in and out of the classroom.
Nothing from your list fits here
Reflecting on student evaluations and using them to improve your instruction
Faithfully keeping office hours and responding to students in a timely fashion
Advising students and writing letters of recommendation for them
Scholarly Activity / Professional Development - Activities to improve my knowledge of my discipline and which improve the discipline as a whole
A new degree, diploma, or certificate
Reading books, articles, letters, reviews, etc. in your field
Conducting research in your field, even if specific to education in your field
Attending, and especially presenting at, conferences
Submitting grant requests, and especially receiving grants
Service - Activities which forward the mission and goals of the department, the institution, the profession, or the community.
Participating in Stack Exchange
Serving on committees at the department and institution level
Serving as department chair
Being active (and especially holding an officer position) in professional organizations
Educational outreach to the community
Collegiality - Activities that improve my relationship with my colleagues and improves my colleagues' abilities to perform their jobs.
Discussions with colleagues focusing on best practices
Sharing of teaching materials with colleagues
Mentoring younger colleagues
Again, the specific answer to your question is held by the authority to whom you are responsible - your supervisor, department, department chair, dean, provost, vice president, etc. Ask for guidelines. If your supervisor wants you to be productive in the desirable way, you should receive guidelines.
Very detailed and exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!
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167218 | Research team writing using different tools
I work on a research team of four people. However, different members use different tools and this makes working together more challenging. I'm wondering if there are any solutions to this problem (besides insisting everyone use one set of tools, angering at least some of the team members).
For example, two of us use Zotero and two use Endnote. Likewise, two of us use Word and two of us use LibreOffice.
The challenge is that those who use LibreOffice were sick of Word and do not want to go back. However, others are comfortable with Word and do not want to change away from something they know and works well for them. Another challenge is some use Linux and Word on Linux is less simple than Word on Windows or Mac.
It is not as simple as "LibreOffice can edit Word documents" because of the way each handles reference links.
The same problem exists with reference managers. For example, Endnote does not run on Linux.
What we end up with is someone writes 10,000 words in Word and Endnote. Then someone else edits it down to 7,000 in LibreOffice and Zotero. When the original author goes in to make some additions / edits, things get very messy and it requires significant efforts to go back and fix everything. Sometimes, when the first person re-opens the document (which was edited in LibreOffice) in Word, the in-text references will actually be missing.
Has this problem been solved (other than mandating the tools to be used)?
Is editing papers online (Office 365 / Google Docs) a workable solution (do any work with reference managers)?
Just to answer your final question: yes. Overleaf exists, and has access to BiBTeX and the like, so can be used as you desire (albeit with the added cost of having to learn LaTeX if you don't already know it.
@Sam if the Word users find learning LibreOffice too much work, what do you think is the chance they they want to learn LaTeX? My prior would be 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
And that number came from the fact that that was the number of characters I had left on that comment. My real prior is much smaller than that...
Go out into the courtyard and sort it out the good old way. Seriously, however, it sounds like you should be editing online. Dropbox has an online Word processor. The advantage is that you can edit the document on dropbox directory with your local tools, but they are available for edit online, too. So, for references or anything nontrivial, use your local tools, for everything else, use the online tool. Is that an option?
You can let people work with Markdown files and then use pandoc to convert to other formats. Markdown is simple and as a text file can be edited in MS Office applications. Manging references wouldn't be that difficult as people would just have to enter markers instead of those MS Office fields that Zotero/EndNote use: http://rreece.github.io/sw/markdown-memo/04-bibliographies.html You could leverage git to obtain robust version and change control as well, which is added benefit. If push comes to shove, you could let folk create simple MS Word document and have pandoc converting those.
@Sam I think there are more journals that won't take LaTeX than do.
I haven't done this myself, but I'm pretty sure Google Docs is compatible with adding citations using Endnote and Zotero, possibly with a plugin. In your situation, the pandoc/LaTeX/Markdown solutions are probably not worth the trouble, despite the enthusiasm of their fanbases. I'm not real impressed with the Dropbox word processor that Captain Emacs mentions.
I have worked in similar cross-platform teams. Mine in the past was more Latex on Linux with bibtex versus Microsoft Word on Windows with Zotero. In that case, we were working on multiple papers together, so our policy was that everyone went along with the tool that the first author preferred, so we all got a lot of cross-platform experience. That worked for us, but it sounds like what you labelled as "other than mandating the tools to be used".
That might not work in your situation, since your team members seem more inflexible about using tools that other people prefer. In that case, I would suggest something like this:
Everyone should use Open Document Text (ODT) format, not .DOCX format. Both LibreOffice and Microsoft Word can handle this format just fine, and I think that they can work together (though I have never actually tried this).
Although LibreOffice can edit the original version of DOCX, I understand that the current (as of 2021) version is not the open standard version, and so it could probably get messy if people tried to work on the same DOCX document with both LibreOffice and Microsoft Word.
For reference management, only one team member should edit references. Whether that team member uses Zotero or EndNote, that is for you all to decide (though I have the impression that Zotero might work better on ODT documents; I'm not sure how good EndNote's support is).
Whenever any other team member wants to add or modify a reference, they should leave a comment instead that contains the full reference; then the team member that handles references should format it later.
This might sound awkward, but it worked quite well on teams where I have done this, due to Zotero versus EndNote member preferences. It is simple and clean to say that only one person is allowed to modify references directly.
Of course, if more than one member uses exactly the same platform setup, there should be no problem if they are all allowed to modify references (e.g. Zotero on LibreOffice for Linux only).
I hope one of my above solutions (either everyone just follow the leader, or use ODT and only one reference-handling team member) works for you. In any case, be sure not to let technological tool flame wars burn an otherwise great research collaboration team!
Thanks for this. My whole goal is "be sure not to let technological tool flame wars burn an otherwise great research collaboration team!"
I would (and have) take the answer of Tripartio a step further.
Invest all of the actual formal writing of the paper in one or two people who agree to use the same tools whatever they are. Everyone else suggests updates/changes as needed, providing their comments in any suitable format. When changes are distributed to the team members they might also be provided with something like a PDF, along with an "active" document, to assure that everyone sees the same thing.
For some changes, the "editor" just needs to cut and paste. For others, they need to do more, but that needs doing in any case.
When I was part of such a team, the "editor" was also the best writer on the team as evidenced from past work. He was empowered to accept/reject suggestions and we produced a very nice product. I don't even remember what tools he used. My choice was LibreOffice.
Nice addition. Thanks Buffy!
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91494 | How do professors handle writing dissertations?
Where do you start with writing a dissertation? I know that it's not difficult if you plan for it, but where would you even start?
Please be much more precise in what you want to know.
Usually professors write their dissertations long before becoming professors ;-)
I won't say that it is easy, even with a plan. It is easier and better to handle if you have a plan, but it is still a big project that takes time and effort.
Usually you start with finding a problem to work on. But I'm not sure if that answers your question, because it is much too broad.
I suggest an adaptation of the so-called Feynman algorithm:
Take a sheet of paper and write down the topic at the top.
Think very hard.
Write down the plan of your dissertation.
discard. 5. repeat
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113993 | Using my published work on another paper
I am currently working on a new publication that uses the same control algorithms that I implemented on another experiment. The controllers are well explained in the published paper but I wish to incorporate the block diagrams and a summarized explanation of the controllers in the new paper.
My question is: can I reuse these figures? do I require permission or a citation will suffice? My reasoning for doing this is to provide the reader with a clear picture of the controllers rather than just a reference to a paper.
thank you
See this related question: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/110746/is-an-author-allowed-to-use-the-same-figure-in-different-papers-without-citation
You have two options. If what you want to do is exactly what you would do if the previous paper were by someone else, then just do that. Quote yourself as if you were another author and give appropriate references.
However, if you wish to go beyond that and you have yielded copyright to the journal that published the first paper you need their permission - as stupid as that sounds.
I expect that most reputable journals would give you permission (in writing, of course) since the work is yours.
If you retain copyright though, you can copy it freely, but still reference the original.
Well, a third option, is to just create a new diagram without reference to the old one, even if that also seems stupid. The simplest thing, though, may just be go send readers to the other paper for the diagram.
Copyright law is a minefield. Self-plagiarism is a thing.
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114652 | Writing a paper on user interface without empirical evaluation
I am writing a paper proposing an improvement in the design of a specific user interface. However, this improvement is only based on axiomatic and theoretical assumptions and I haven't made an empirical evaluation yet. The problem, however, is that I write the paper alone and not for any university or company. And I cannot implement any empirical evaluation due to lack of funding.
My question is now: does it make make sense to write such a paper without evaluation? Is something like this even published by journals? In my paper it would of course become clear that all is only a theoretical and that it would have to be examined empirically in future work.
I'm afraid that a "user interface" without users is an oxymoron. Users don't conform to axioms and certainly not to theoretical assumptions.
While you may have made an important contribution, without testing on someone other than yourself you have no basis for validity.
Even quite popular websites, which use sophisticated design elements, require tweaking as the designers learn about users. I'm afraid you will need to find some way to do at least a modest test. They may even call your "axioms" and "assumptions" into question. Who can know, until you look?
But let me add a more positive suggestion. It might be possible to get a test done at no cost to you. Some universities (I'll single out University of Maryland, but they aren't alone) have CS programs strongly focused on UI. It isn't impossible that you propose to some faculty member that he/she take your design on as a student project in which they would do the implementation and analysis and give you feedback on it. You would also get theoretical feedback, of course. I can't guarantee that anyone would be interested in this, but it might be possible if you make the attempt. I suspect it would be possible as an undergraduate project, but have no way to actually predict.
you're right, of course. Without evaluation ux makes no sense. I think I already knew that and was just looking for an excuse here. Thanks for the tips. In case someone has a similar problem: Now I have also found a possibility for free evaluation. On the page www.surveycircle.com this is possible. You increases the chances for more users by participating in other studies/evaluations...
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117068 | Is it normal that an advisor does not read the final version of the PhD proposal of his student before submission?
Recently, I submitted my PhD proposal. In my opinion, something really strange happened to me and that was: my adviser did not read the final version of proposal at all before submission!
I started to write my PhD proposal approximately 3 months ago and the written document went back and forth between me and my advisor for four times but despite I spent a whole day to correct his final suggestions before submission he did not read it at all.
I could certainly say he did not read it because we use a system to upload or store files which could track users, who view the the files or even download it, and this system shows that he did not view or download the last version at all and this last version is not available anywhere so the possibility of accessing it somewhere else is zero!
It looks really strange to me because I'm supposedly his first PhD student ever because he is a new faculty in our department which came to our university just 1 year before I got admission and I think if more experienced professors don't care really about their student's proposals that could be justified probably that they're old or they don't care at all (Don't be picky on me I'm not saying all experienced professors behave this way, I'm just saying some of them!) but I'm his (my advisor!) first PhD student and I thought it would be handled better than this way.
Is it a sign that maybe he is angry with me or something is wrong? Because, the day after I sent him the last version he responded back to me that I will read it tomorrow but he didn't read it even until now that I'm writing this. I'm just feeling really strange because doing a PhD is kinda like the most important event in my life but... I don't know... any idea or suggestion?
Were his final suggestions mostly minor (compared to the earlier ones)? A day of revisions sounds to me like mostly minor matters.
I can imagine that the last suggestions were very precise so he just exercised confidence in your capability to do what you both agreed to be done. PhD is the most important event in YOUR academic life - therefore, he's confident you done what was agreed. I wouldn't see this as something strange or not normal.
So, you want to say I take it as a positive way?! I'm sorry but I'm an extremely negative guy which reacts to every piece of behavior of people negatively and think about it even weeks to find why they behaved me that way? I'm not telling anything to anybody and it's just inside me.
I see it as positive indication that he's confident in your capabilities, motivation and the thesis.
But he never said that clearly to me what he thinks about me. Sometimes just one word to say: "It's fine to submit it" is enough to understand at least you are in a correct direction but he is not that kind of guys... The funny thing is that I asked him after sending the proposal to the graduate coordinator in our department, to just say it is submitted and he responded back just with an OK!
@Dawn not really minor! I mean he describes himself as a picky professor and even his last suggestions were so challenging...
In my experience this is normal. If it is good or bad is another matter.
@Asdf So, you think it's bad or good?
It strikes me as bad, but nothing good comes from dwelling on that. Just accept it as the way it is. At least, if it is normal, you do not have to think that you have been treated worse than the average PhD student.
@Asdf A little bit confusing, you are saying it is normal or it could be normal? I am a little bit concern because of this part of your comment: "if it is normal" what do you mean by "if"?
I mean, that if you think of it as normal, then perhaps you would be less concerned about it. It is normal. Like the others have said, your advisor trusts you to make the corrections that he suggested.
My advisor did not read my thesis, nor that of their previous student. The previous student was upset about this, but since I knew it had already happened before and everything went fine I adjusted my expectations and did not worry about that particular aspect of my thesis defence.
@Asdf I can understand your situation but mine is worst cause I'm the first PhD student of my adviser so basically I don't have anything to compare with.
Well, if I would pingpong a proposal between me and a PhD student four times, and I feel like my last remarks were mainly fine tuning, then I would not mind accepting whatever the PhD student makes out of it.
This is a very personal answer, but since we can not read the mind of your supervisor, this still might help.
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11560 | How acceptable are self-citations?
How acceptable are self-citations? I noticed that my advisor cites his own work quite much, even when the cited articles are not directly related, e.g. type of analysed data is different. Actually, I did not notice this myself - it was pointed out by a reviewer (I authored my first paper with him just now). Looking at his citation records, I found out that he has papers with about 15 citations, of which about ~10 are typically from himself. Our field existed before my grandmother was born, so I'm a little alerted.. This puts the offer to do a PhD with himself to a new light.
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10029 | E-books and e-publishing
What options are there, and how do they compare against each other, for digitally publishing (for example, a series of short stories)?
In addition to the issue of format management (producing whatever electronic file formats are appropriate) any information about distribution would also be welcomed.
I am a teacher in a graduate-level literature program and am looking for solutions I can pass on to my students, so this is not just for my own use.
The question as stated seems way to vague. There is one particular question in the middle, but if this is it, it should be extended and clarified what you are after. I think you should reformulate are narrow down your question to get reasonable answers.
I actually like the idea behind this question, and I think that it could be relevant with re-working. That being said, as is, it's too vague to have a definitive answer. Feel free to reformulate to be more specific and request consideration for re-opening.
I've tried to make the question more specific. Anyone want to re-open it (besides me)?
If this question is, "How do I publish an e-book?" it may be appropriate for http://writers.stackexchange.com/.
Thank you. The revision is great. Thanks for the writers link FAQ too. Seems like a great site like this one.
The good news is that once you've got a text in one eBook format, it is relatively painless to publish it in additional formats (PDF being the notable exception, though it is generally easy to get a document into PDF format--you can do a decent job with a converter such as Calibre--see below--but translating the format properly is sometimes tricky).
At the very least, you should publish in PDF format. While not a particularly good format for reading on portable devices, it is a universal format that can be read on any any modern eReader, and, of course, on a PC screen.
I would also suggest formatting the book in the open EPUB format, and in a Kindle format (either .MOBI, AZW, or .KF8). I would then link to all of the formats on your web page, possibly with instructions on how to get the volume onto a particular device. You could also consider self-publishing the volume to the Kindle store, but bear in mind that there may be restrictions, and I believe you will be forced to charge for the volume. The iTunes Store is another possibility, but comes with its own restrictions and formatting / conversion guidelines.
You should definiltely download the fine E-Book manager, Calibre, which can convert between formats and is free.
In the end, there isn't one true standard for eBook formats yet, but it is not difficult having a few different formats on your web page.
Calibre is great (but not perfect) for converting between ebook formats.
I would suggest using iBook Author (free).
Drawbacks
The drawback is that e-books created with this software are only
viewable as PDF or on an iPad.
As someone who has used InDesign for
page layout projects, I find the layout capabilities are limited.
As @Chris Gregg points out, this application is only available for Mac running Lion or higher.
Advantage
The advantage is that this format allows teachers to add chapter/unit review quizzes, embedding of 3D objects, image galleries,presentations, & even html.
Feel free to contact me if you need more information about this.
Another drawback is that the software requires OS X on a Mac.
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10547 | University Teaching Certifications for Different Countries
A while back I asked this question which was about teaching certifications. As I dig into the subject more, it seems teaching certifications are quite rare for university teachers in many countries.
The UK has the PGCHE (post graduate certificate in higher education) - optional
Canada has the UTC (university teaching certificate) - optional
I'm unaware of the US having anything required or anything optional for university teachers
In Switzerland I don't see any information on university teaching certificates
I'm curious about European countries, especially Switzerland, and what teaching qualifications are accepted or required for university teaching.
Is anyone familiar with this topic in that geographic region?
In Canada education is under provincial jurisdiction. The UTC seems to only be offered in Ontario, and I know of no equivalency for the Quebec.
@DamienIgoe I see this and this in Australia...but I'm curious to know if anyone really cares about them.
Traditionally, the formal teaching requirement at universities in continental Europe is the so called Habilitation. It's a formal exam which requires submitting a thesis and defending it in a colloquium much like the PhD, but (supposedly) on a higher level. Usually it also includes a teaching-related element. The habilitation used to be a requirement for being appointed as a professor, but in recent times also other criteria, which represent a comparable achievement to a habilitation, are being used. In Germany, having passed the habilitation allows you to use the title "Privatdozent" (even before being appointed as professor), with the same teaching entitlements as an ordinary professor.
However, also other personnel may teach at the university. Even fresh graduates from one study program may find themselves in front of a class of students who could be just a year or two behind them. However, that will always be under the supervision of a professor, or on the formal commission of the department dean.
In addition, there are recent efforts to offer a more formal teaching education for university staff, including certificates for those who take part in the programs. I'm mostly familiar with the situation in Germany, for example this or this (in German), but I imagine similar efforts exist in neighboring countries. At the moment, these certificates are however not a requirement for university teaching, and I even doubt that they will become so in the near future. Yet, in some announcements for professor positions it seems to be included as a desirable applicant qualification.
After reading the Habilitation page I see it is for supervising PhD students (and for gaining full professorships). It is clearly quite an investment (almost a decade after a PhD). I'm wondering if there is something more teaching-oriented, that is for those wishing simply to teach, not necessarily those wishing to supervised PhD students. Something similar to the qualifications I've listed in the question. Are you aware of anything like that?
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2320 | Should I worry about a referee who recommended rejection being offended if my paper is accepted?
After submitting a paper for review, I received a letter from the editors containing a negative report and informing me that their (editors') decision was to reject the paper. Although the paper was about six months with the referee, it was clear from the report that she did not read it, just had a quick look and wrote a report, full of typos, mistakes and speculations about what the referee thought was in the paper (as she didn't read it).
I wrote a letter to the editor saying that I agree with their decision to reject the paper and would not dispute it. But I also expressed my opinion of the report, because I think it might help to increase quality of the review process. I had no intention to get the paper reconsidered, and even started to prepare a slightly revised version to submit it to another journal. However, they have responded that they would give it to another reviewer.
Now this situation is quite uncomfortable for me: I imagine how the referee will feel if the paper gets accepted and appears in this journal. On the other hand, the referee should be well aware of the (poor) quality of her work, so maybe she will not care.
The question is: should I care?
Do you really mean to write that you agree with the decision to reject? If so, why did you submit the paper?
David, my vision is as follows. The journal has its rules and its procedure, which should be followed. The rules say that the decision of the journal is final and cannot be disputed. So I think I don't have a choice but to agree with the decision.
Breaking rules, even for a good reason, is wrong, because this would mean that there are no rules. And having no rules means having a mess.
If you told me that you agree with the decision to reject a paper, I would take that to mean that, if you were in the referee's place, you would have recommended rejection. Abiding by a decision and agreeing with a decision are two very different things.
Why is this even a question? You paper gets accepted. Period. There are cases where 1 of 3 referees rejects your paper, but it's still accepted. The happiness should be YOURS for the acceptance and NOT REMORSE for the referee who rejected it but will see it in the journal/proceedings!!
Yes, David, these things are different. "Abide" would be a better word than "agree". My use of English words is not perfect, I agree :)
Wait. Was there only a single referee on the paper?
Artem, yes, there was only a single referee, which was a surprise for me as well because this journal has rank around 20-25 in my field.
I'm curious, which journal was this? A single referee strikes me as odd.
You should not worry, unless of course your paper is rejected a second time :)
I'm curious, how do you know she is a she?
Referees understand (or at least they should understand) that their role is to advise the editor and that the editor has discretion to make a decision based on more than just this one piece of advice.
No, you should not worry. Referees offer opinions. The actual decision to accept or reject a paper rests with the editor. The referee may very well be offended by the editor's decision to ignore her opinion, but that's certainly not your problem.
Oftentimes, the referee will not find out the editor's final decision unless she checks up on the status of your paper herself. Furthermore, the editor could have initially chosen to ask for many referees, and there is often disagreement, so it is commonplace that some referee recommendations are not followed.
Moreover, and perhaps most importantly, don't worry about a referee getting offended that your paper got in. You could have just as easily gotten offended that your own paper got rejected. We all have to learn to live with not always getting what we want, referees included.
In this case there was one referee and the initial decision was to reject the paper. Thanks for your reply anyway.
My point was partially that the referee might not have known she was alone and might not have known about the decision. More importantly, she shouldn't be surprised that your opinion of your paper was different from hers. If the editor decided to ask for another review, he must have found your reply at least somewhat persuasive. So, yes, don't worry about it.
The second paragraph is the most important point from this. We all are adults here.
Most journals solicit half a dozen referees hoping that two or three will respond. (I'd be worried about a journal that only uses one referee.) In any case, referees do not usually know how many or who the other referees are, so the person in your case may assume that the vote was 2:1 against them.
In either case, the editor has absolute discretion. They've been known to override even majority negative reports and go with the .... (drumroll please).... minority report.
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15596 | Retrieving the references in a publication automatically
This is probably not 100% on-topic here, but this site is closer to appropriate than others. Let me give it a try: I have collected about 50 publications relevant for a project of mine. For these publications, I have all the important information like author, title, journal, etc, but most importantly, I have the DOI for each paper.
I was asking myself, is it possible to retrieve the DOI of the references given in each publication through a web-service, an open database or any other service?
Background is that I would like to create a graph showing the connections between the selected publications. One semi-automatic approach which comes to my mind is to use Web of Science, go through the stack of my publications and copy the DOI of the listed references.
Any better ideas?
I believe the approach you suggest (using WoS) is the one used by the CiteSpace project
@Fuhrmanator This is indeed what I had in mind. It took me a while to find out how the tool works, but it seems it's more or less exactly what I was looking for, except that I don't have to write a single line of code by myself.
Both Scopus and Web of Knowledge contain all the information that you need and have APIs that can be used to automate access:
http://info.sciencedirect.com/scopus/scopus-in-detail/tools/api
http://wokinfo.com/products_tools/products/related/webservices/
I have never used them personally, but I hope this kind of information can be accessed using them. Each site indexes articles with their own unique key, so you can use those instead of DOIs if you only need them as unique keys.
Neither of them is free; you can probably access them through your university's subscription though. Be sure to check the usage limits.
This may also answer my previous question: http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3078/web-service-to-fetch-article-citations ! Thanks
It's backwards from your proposed approach, but you could also use Google Scholar. It (apparently) has no API yet. Thus, someone created a python module to parse its output. http://www.icir.org/christian/scholar.html
Google Scholar only gives you the articles that cite the given article. So you can build the links that are to the article, rather than from it.
Edit Google Scholar Citation Visualisation Tool seems to be based on this approach. However, the bookmarklet doesn't seem to work (for me in Chrome) when I browse Google Scholar as shown in the video on that page.
Especially the Google Visualization Tool looks promising. Unfortunately, I'm not able to get it working under Chrome, OSX Mavericks. The toolbar appears, but clicking the buttons has no effect :-(
@halirutan I think the Google Scholar page changed and it broke the bookmarklet code. If you enable the console in the developer tools of Chrome, you'll see the error. Such are the risks of hacking JavaScript that decodes web pages coming from a Google service...
google scholar blocks you after some point. basically its not a free api.
Slightly adapting my answer to this earlier, very similar question:
It seems that crossref.org is beginning to roll out providing a list of citations (the works that a given work cites):
https://www.crossref.org/blog/distributing-references-via-crossref/
[See the aptly named section "OMG! OMG! OMG! Does this mean I can get references from api.crossref.org?"]
Using the example doi from the above link (doi:10.7554/eLife.10288), you could obtain the list of citations in that work at: https://api.crossref.org/v1/works/10.7554/eLife.10288.xml
Alternatively, with content negotiation, you could just use:
curl -L -H "Accept: application/vnd.crossref.unixsd+xml" \
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10288 > data.xml
The citations are listed in the <citation_list> element. The list of 'doi's can be extracted with the following XPath query:
//citation_list/citation/doi/text()
Warning: The citation data is, according to the link above, only available in the XML, not the JSON, representation. Also, the service is not available for all works, yet.
Toy python implementation
import requests
from lxml import html
def list_references(doi):
"""List an article's references, as raw DOIs.
The input also has to be just the DOI (without doi: etc.)
"""
headers = {'Accept' : 'application/vnd.crossref.unixsd+xml' }
r = requests.get("https://data.crossref.org/" + doi,
headers=headers)
tree = html.fromstring(r.content)
return tree.xpath('//citation_list/citation/doi/text()')
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49065 | Publishing an idea that came up on a conference?
Some weeks ago I went to a conference with some of the leading minds in my field of research. One of the speakers (professor A) mentioned a problem that bothered him and that was unsolved up to that point. After the talk (when most had already left the room to get coffee) professor B mentioned a possible algorithm to A to solve these kind of problems (myself and some others followed the discussion with interest).
Out of interest in the topic and motivated by the prospect of a novel algorithm, I spent some time working on this question myself - combined the suggestion of professor B with some of my own ideas and indeed found an algorithm that solves the problem. I can even proof convergence, error bounds, etc. The suggestion of professor B was enough for a working algorithm, but I think that convergence and correctness proofs are only possible with the addition of my ideas.
The question is how to proceed now. If I had thought of the initial idea myself it would be obvious that I should write it up and get it published. As it stands I obviously have to get in touch with professor B (and professor A?) though.
Is it too presumptuous to propose a collaborative paper to professor B? Should I also contact professor A? I can assume that he at least also worked on the same problem these past few weeks...
I could just mention them in the acknowledgment part of the paper - but that would still feel like I stole their idea.
I could just write them, what my ideas are on the topic - but I would feel more comfortable doing so if they already communicated a will to collaborate with me. As it stands they don't even know I worked on the issue...
On the other hand if I write something along the line of "I have found something. If you are willing to collaborate I will share it with you." it feels somewhat like extortion...
Is there some etiquette how to handle this situation or is it just "first come first serve", and I should see that I get the results published? (OK, the latter is definitely rude - but still...)
You are "currently a masters student", therefore in your email to Prof B you could say, "Sorry as I am currently a master student I do not know the eradicate on how to handle this.."
@ian "eradicate" --> "etiquette"
I agree with much of what's in the answers posted so far, but want to highlight one point that came out in the discussion: The details of the right way to proceed might depend partly on how substantial Professor B's verbal contribution to your solution is. If you're not sure how much credit B deserves, then you should consult with someone in the field. Some of the suggestions suggest ways to use Professor B as that person, but you might also want to consult with one or more professors in your department.
Do you have an advisor? I would think the first person to ask would be her/him...
You should definitely get in touch with Prof B, but don't propose a collaboration immediately (that would indeed be a little bit presumptuous).
Thank him for his idea during the conference, and tell him some outline of your results (you may want to share the paper if you feel comfortable). And then end the email with something like "given that the origin of the idea was initially yours, I was wondering how you felt about a possible co-authorship? If you feel that this is not possible, would you mind if I put forward your name in the acknowledgments section?"
That way you leave the choice up to him, and he can have an easy way out if he doesn't feel like being a co-author for any reason.
(EDIT: Regarding Prof A, it might be good etiquette to get in touch with him to make sure he's not working on the same stuff, but I don't think it's strictly necessary)
One possible issue with this approach: Prof B could feel insulted that you seriously considered the possibility of not listing him as a coauthor. Based on the way the question described it, I would think B is a shoe-in for coauthorship (unless he declines). A reasonable person would overlook such feelings, I think, but of course not all academics (or all people) are reasonable.
@DavidZ Good comment. I think you mean "shoo-in" (http://grammarist.com/spelling/shoo-in/).
@EthanBolker I'm not sure I've ever seen it spelled that way, but yes, that is what I meant.
If I read "If you are willing to collaborate I will share it with you." in an email from a PhD student I'd internally LOL and ignore that line! :)
Actually it sounds like you've done enough independent work for a paper already.
I think the main thing is to be honest and open with them.
An obvious question is do you want to publish alone? (There are a lot of benefits to having "Professor Hot Shot" as a co-author but in some cases they are exaggerated).
Presumably you would appreciate their views on it though, and certainly it seems best to give them a relaxed way of claiming co-authorship.
I suggest-
Write a quick rough draft, with credit to Professor B for proposing the algorithm. ("We show [blah] for an algorithm proposed by Professor B"). If you really made substantive changes to the algorithm, you could say "a variation of an algorithm proposed by Professor B".
In acknowledgements mention the the problem was posed by Professor A. Also acknowledge the conversation afterwards (and other participants, if there were).
Send the draft cc'd to both profs, (and also your PhD supervisor / someone trust worthy, if you don't trust profs A+B). Mention you were interested in the problem and listened to their discussions (even though you didn't actively participate, right?). You did some work, and showed [blah]. Mention that a rough draft is attached, and you'd appreciate any of their comments. Ask explicitly whether they feel sufficient credit is given to their ideas. Say very that you'd be happy to change the credits, or even write a joint paper.
If you want them to be a co-author, I think it's fine to say that!
+1 Honest and open is absolutely the way to go: whether they end up as co-authors or not is much less important than making sure there are clear lines of communication.
Inviting "Professor Hot Shot" to be a coauthor is highly unethical if they have not contributed enough to the work to warrant coauthorship. I wouldn't classify "Hot Shot suggested maybe X would be a good starting point, and that's how I got started" as sufficient for coauthorship. That's worth an acknowledgement, either in its own section or in the introduction, nothing more.
@zibadawatimmy That really depends on what X actually proposed: a half-baked idea would not merit co-authorship, but a complete outline of a solution missing only straightforward details might.
@JeffE True. The OP wasn't entirely clear. He didn't state how much X proposed and laid out. Just that there was some discussion that he was following closely. A lengthy discussion may, indeed, have included a significant hashing out of the solution, rather than just an off-hand comment that some approach may work.
@zibadawa timmy - agreed that hot shots shouldn't be invited to be coauthor if they haven't contributed much (regardless of any advantages, which, as I mentioned are often exaggerated anyway). However, in this case it doesn't seem clear cut, and I think in such circumstances the OP's preferences can come into play. Generally it seems an ambiguous situation, and my answer certainly wasnt intentionally advocating inviting a co-author who has done no work.
It is a good idea to involve A and B as authors if warranted, especially as your pickup of the ideas was a kind a "kibitzing". While some people will be generous to a young scientists, some of these big shots are still quite ambitious. So, if B really contributed essentials (which it appears to be the case), suggesting authorship from the outset seems the right thing to do. The contribution of A is a "conjecture" which should be properly attributed to A. Not sure whether this warrants an authorship, but clearly an attribution stronger than an acknowledgement.
The other answers are excellent but I also want to draw attention to some points.
Although a lot of starting PhD students think that the more authors on a paper the less work people will think they did. I came to realize that this is not true, no one really cares how many authors are on the paper, the first author is usually perceived as the one who did the majority of the work and/or paper writing, the last one is usually the supervisor. That's about it..
That being said, there is no harm of having more authors, involving professor B and professor A is not just the right thing to do etiquette-wise (particularly professor B), but it will also have a positive impact on your publication.
As they are more experienced in that area, their contributions to the paper will probably make it more likely to be accepted at a decent conference.
The more authors from different institutions the more exposure the paper gets. The paper will appear in the publications list of all co-authors, giving it a higher chance to be cited and this will reflect positively on your academic profile.
So bottom line, I suggest you contact them (individually) and tell them that you worked on that solution, and ask them if they are interested in co-authoring a paper out of that work.
So, this is definitely a sticky area and hard to advise seeing as I don't know the personality of either professor. However, the fact of the matter is that you did take the extra step to formalize and create a working solution. Seeing as we don't know the extent of Professor B's contribution, it is hard to tell how far the ethics of intellectual property will kick in.
That being said, technically, you could go right ahead with your paper as long as you are sure to give proper contribution during your motivation section i.e ("With the discussion and ideas of Dr. B, such and so became a tangible idea" or something).
However, I am going to assume that Professor B (And Prof. A) have a good reputation in the research community and have lots of papers/citations under their belts and it could be very helpful for you to send a friendly e-mail saying something along the lines of "I wanted to thank you again for conference presentation and wanted to follow up on the discussion afterwards. I have pursued the topics further and found XYZ solution and would like to know if you would like to collaborate with me on a paper." In doing so, you will most likely have a good name attached to your paper(and all the help that comes with it) and still maintain first name.
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190543 | Is there a rationale for working in academia in developing countries?
Most people try to work in the academia of rich and developed countries. I suspect that the rationale for not working in developing countries includes factors such as low-quality healthcare, weak transportation, corruption in the system, etc. I wonder if there is any rationale for working in developing countries.
Is there a rationale for working in academia in South Asia (excluding India)?
A few clarifications have been edited into the post; other comments and answers-in-comments have been moved to chat. We can only move comments to chat once, so future answers-in-comments and other chatter is likely to be deleted; please see this FAQ for more details.
Is your question "I am a citizen of a country of South Asia, does it make sense to start a carrier in academia there, as opposed to a carrier in something else there?", "I am a citizen of a country of South Asia, does it make sense to start a carrier in academia there, as opposed to a carrier in academia somewhere else?", or "I work in academia in some country X, does it make sense to pursue my carrier in a country in South Asia?"?
Most people try to work in the academia of rich and developed countries. I do not think this is true. Most people do something else. Even among people that consider working or already do work in academia, I bet most do not try to go abroad but rather stay in their home countries.
I usually work where I want to live, and I can think of many reasons why I would want to live at some place that is not related to its development status..
I am seeing some of answers and comments in this page that are borderline to xenophobia and to "my country rocks" or "your country sucks" comments, even the question itself as presented. Be careful about your tone, people.
Related.
Lots of prejudice being shown in this question. You would expect more from an academic SE.
"low-quality healthcare, weak transportation, corruption in the system" this is how i'd describe the US ...
At some point you have to do something that puts food on the table. You can't sit around forever. If all the job applications are being denied (and the job market is significantly more competitive in developed countries), then you must eventually accept an offer that you do have.
Put another way, would you rather:
Be unemployed while writing job application after job application, or
Be a professor in a developing country?
PS: this doesn't mean that every professor in a developing country would rather work in a developed country. There are many possible reasons to want to avoid working in so-called developed countries, e.g. here is an article in Nature interviewing several early-career researchers on why they don't want to work in the US. The reason above is just the most pragmatic of them.
There are many other developed countries beside the US. The fact that one does not want to work in the land of the free does not mean they want to work in a developing country.
Further to @VladimirFГероямслава's point, only one of those researchers in the Nature article (Umar Ahmad) is currently working in a country that's not in the OECD — and he's landed a position in Canada and is waiting for a visa so he can move there.
Yes, from a quick glance at the nature article, I don't see reasons not to work in developed countries, just not to work in the US.
"At some point you have to do something that puts food on the table." Being an academic anywhere is not an efficient way to do that.
@AnonymousPhysicist: Well, it's more efficient than doing nothing. And it's usually easier to do actual research while doing that, as opposed to most ways of putting food on the table (as well as perhaps being unemployed).
@tomasz depends on what you mean by "efficient" I suppose. Academics everywhere are not starving to death, so it's kind of moot, unless "efficient" means "minimum wasted expense" in which case being a farmer is the most efficient way of putting food on the table.
Efficient in putting food on the table (as in, the amount of money you get over time). Being a farmer is not doing nothing.
@tomasz in that case academics earn more than enough money to put food on the table (hence they are not starving to death anywhere in the world), so it's moot.
I've spent 11 years in the US doing my Bachelors, masters, PhD and postdoc in Math, and currently I am a Professor in Malaysia (which I think counts as South Asian).
I had a lot of personal reasons for going back (I am a Malaysian citizen, I have family in Malaysia etc) but leaving those aside:
It is easier to get grants and promotions. The requirements for getting grants and promotions in a country like Malaysia is lower. In countries like Malaysia the government has decent funding for grants, but less people are competing for them. I have applied to three grants in the Malaysian version of the NSF and one grant in the Chinese NSF (my university is a branch campus of a Chinese university located in Malaysia, so I am eligible for both) and have had a 100% success rate so far. I think if I were in America my success rate for the NSF grants would be much much lower. I was also able to achieve a full professorship much more easily than I would have in the US.
Easier to obtain leadership/professional opportunities. For example, I got the opportunity to be an editor for the top math journal in Malaysia, which has been a cool experience. Earlier this year I got to give a plenary talk at the annual meeting of the Malaysian Math Society. Again, there is less competition for roles like this in a country like Malaysia.
These countries can be fantastic places to live. Malaysia is one of the best places in the world for nature tourism, our beaches are phenomenal, our culture is fascinating and our food is exceptional. A lot of countries in the South Asia region can be similarly appealing.
It is easier to make a difference. I think I was good enough to land a tenure-track position in the US - but I think for any job I could get, the next best person they could hire would be almost as good as me, since the job market in the US is so competitive. Whereas here in Malaysia I think there is a bigger difference between myself and the next best person my university could hire. So in that sense I am making a bigger difference with my life. It makes me happy that my department is making it so a Malaysian doesn't have to travel thousands of miles away to get a good math education, and I feel my department is giving opportunities to students who would not have had them otherwise.
Thanks for great sharing! I'm Malaysian too =)
Academia is not a monolithic entity. In some fields, it is almost impossible to do relevant research without proper equipment and enough people capable of working with said equipment. In others, all one needs is to poach enough talent and assemble them under one roof, and when a government is really, really interested in advancing their technology, they may offer very cushy conditions. Some people make their choices based on that alone: maybe the research potential would suffer a bit from the stifled competition and fewer top notch researchers in the immediate vicinity, but this may well be a difference between scrambling with the job security and finances and possibly being rich, as in not even upper-middle class rich. Diverting resources specifically towards economic and technological growth and sparing no expense there while the rest of the country remains poor for a while is a well-established role model by now, especially in Southeast Asia.
Of course, personal factors play a big role in that. Family ties, background, even climatic preferences are all relevant. But the main thing developing countries lack is well-established intellectual traditions in modern fields of research, which is an obstacle one can overcome. It is a bit similar to organizing a movie night where nigh everyone's attendance is conditional on enough of their friends going as well.
Simply put, developing countries are often willing to put relatively more resources in science and tech than developed ones. They would buy top-notch equipment, let people work in their old collaborations, offer great funding, all as long as the researchers bring in knowledge, and train new people to make these high-tech facilities work. And there are people eager to learn, work, and improve their communities, too.
+1 for stressing how various the fields are. In some fields you need multi-billion dollar equipment and a nuclear reactor to power it, in other fields all you need is a cheap laptop and an internet connection.
Re "impossible to do relevant research without proper equipment": Yes, it might require a mass spectrometer with high operating costs.
If you believe:
Education is good
It is good for people to have equal opportunities
People in developing countries have fewer opportunities to get education
Then you would conclude that working as an educator in a developing country is a good thing to do.
On many occasions I have considered doing it myself. However, malaria and similar are bad, so I do not.
Not all developing countries have malaria.
There exists simple medication you can take to prevent malaria. If that is such a deal breaker for you. It is a totally preventable disease.
@NeilMeyer. "Totally" is less than accurate.
Malaria map, by nation state (grey probably means absence of data).
@gerrit it says "malaria and similar."
Perhaps it is wise to consider rewriting the last sentence. Disregarding developing countries because they have "malaria and similar" (whatever "similar" is supposed to mean) is not only starting off from a false premise, but painting a rather poor picture of the knowledge of developing countries certain academics have...
Why would malaria keep you from moving to a place but not turbeculosis? On what basis are you choosing preventable diseases from keeping you from migrating? Seems rather odd.
@Pedro In my case, the developing countries I personally would consider working in do have malaria or dengue. That is readily verifiable. Those diseases are not present where I live now. You might prefer some other developing countries.
@NeilMeyer I didn't say that I would move to a place that had tuberculosis but not malaria. Malaria prevention is not reliable and can have nasty side effects.
Most of the types of activities you would do in academia in South Asia are the same types of activities you would do in academia in wealthy Western countries, so there is a substantial overlap in the rationale. Points of difference are that the money is less and the quality of the universities is lower, but you would still be doing teaching and research. Consequently, the rationale would be to get all the good things you get from doing teaching and research, while living in South Asia.
There is nothing wrong with indian unis
@NeilMeyer, Only 45% of India's graduate jobseekers are employable, says study
Other scenarios:
After doing grad schools in the First World, someone from a
developing country may just wish to return home to rejoin their
family / friends, and live within their home culture
Some developing countries (e.g. China) actively compete for their citizens who have done PhD in the First World and can offer very attractive compensation packages for those are willing to repatriate: the repatriates may actually enjoy a higher standard of living / community prestige than what they would get if they remained in the developed country
An international student with a PhD may be technically well-trained but may not be comfortable in conducting research / instruction full-time in English or French (or whatever language the PhD has been done in)
Scenarios #1 and #3 only apply to international students, but #2 can also apply to those born in the developed country. See Darren Ong's answer.
Poorer working conditions (associated with developing countries) mean there's less competition, so it's easier to stand out. Some people, like Caesar, would rather be first in a village than second in Rome.
Besides, developed countries are attractive to people of any profession, not only academics, yet developing countries have their own share of IT specialists, engineers, etc. Most of the reasons that can make e.g. a web designer work in South Asia (higher social prestige, lower cost of living, personal preferences) would also apply to a university professor.
On what basis other than 1st world prejudices are you making the claim that working conditions are poor in India?
(I'm adding a second answer because it's fundamentally different from the one I wrote above, and also because I know quite a few people who've chosen to base themselves in developing countries.)
Some of the most common reasons for not working in developed countries:
Personal reasons. This is very common. If your family/friends/partner are in a particular country, then it's a powerful reason to work in that country.
Financial reasons. Sure you earn less by working in a developing country, but you also spend less. See the Big Mac index as a highly simplified example. If you work in Switzerland, you pay $7.30 on average for a Big Mac. If you work in India, you pay $1.62. That means that unless your salary in Switzerland is 4x your salary in India, it's actually cheaper to work in India. (To some extent. It depends on what else you want to do, e.g. if you want to take holidays outside of India then the discrepancy can matter more.)
Financial reasons #2. An extension of the above. Many developed countries charge high income tax. Check the table. For example, if you work in Austria, your highest tax rate is 55%. If you work in Bangladesh, your highest tax rate is 25%.
Ideological reasons. As linked in my first answer, some people simply will not work in certain countries, regardless of whether those countries are "developed" or not. The reasons given are varied, but ultimately if one does not feel comfortable about X country, it's a very strong reason not to work in that country. Another example.
Ideological reasons #2. I have a friend who cited racism as a reason to work in Kenya - they say they don't experience racism there.
Cultural reasons. If e.g. you are Hindu, then Diwali is one of your most important holidays. However, in many developed countries, Diwali is not a public holiday, so you might not be able to celebrate it. You might even be forced to work on that day. Same goes for other cultural events like Chinese New Year.
Cultural reasons #2. In certain countries, it's rather common to socialize by going to the pub, drink alcohol, and watch the World Cup. If you're from a culture/religion that doesn't drink alcohol and/or care about football (or, even worse, don't know the rules of football), then it'll be awkward.
Political reasons. It's significantly harder to get a job in a country which you don't already have the right to work in, especially if that country is also tightening immigration rules (example). By the way, some people will interpret such tightening as "I don't want you", and therefore ask "why should I work in a country that doesn't want me?". See ideological reasons above.
Organizing available knowledge trasferrable to the coming generations with clear discrimination of usefulness is essential in developing countries. Native knowledge, black and white, are often hidden for ages, while the new generations crave for anything labelled "modern" or the "latest" from the "developed" countries. This disturbs the pace in learning as a people generating imbalance in "status" and appearance.
2023-01-09-08:59IST@kolumnin
India has a incredible tech scene. It has massive industries that you as a person from South East Asia can be a part of. All the international tech giants are all open to Indians.
It has low cost of living so it does not take an incredibly high salary to live well.
It is not a country without problems but as long as your finances are in good standing you can have a good life there.
I really want to visit India at least once in my life. It certainly is on my bucket list.
Indians do not give there country enough credit. It has some real problems with poverty that is certainly a big problem, but as long as you earn enough you certainly can.live extremely well there. It has an intoxicating culture and I would consider it a life affirming event if I could ever visit India.
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11720 | How to design an open book exam?
I am a visiting faculty, professor in B-schools. How does one go about in designing or compiling an open book exam, ensuring that it's not tough and neither too easy. At the same time someone who has not read the book will not be able to answer the question. What at the pointers or measures that should be taken care? Isn't designing an open book exam difficult compared to traditional exam?
As a student, I've always find questions on open book exams more difficult to solve than the ones on closed book exams, and certainly more interesting. What is the mass of the Sun is just an incredibly boring and quite useless question.
It might be helpful to specify what kind of subject... for example, in engineering, physics or mathematics, an exam consisting of problems will almost always work as an open-book exam; in the humanities, one can't do that.
Not a full-fledged answer, thus this comment: a question is a good fit for an open-book exam if (and only if) the answer cannot be read/found in the book, but only derived from the theory contained in the book, or the information on lecture notes etc
To quote one of my undergrad professors on why he gave in-class closed-book exams: "If I gave you an open-book exam, the answers would not be in the book. If I gave you an unlimited time exam, you would never finish. And if I gave you a take-home exam, you would forget where you live."
@posdef: Strike the word "open-book" from your comment.
For fun, one of the questions in your exam could be one where the answer is in the book. When I was a student, I wouldn't bring books for an open book exam, because I knew that the teacher wouldn't ask questions where the answer could easily be found in the book. One teacher I had gave an open-book exam question where we had to fill in a table where the entries were in the book. Since I didn't bring a book, I had to derive all the entries in the table. (This taught me a lesson in humility which I have never forgotten.)
When designing an assessment, it is helpful to look at something like Bloom's Taxonomy. Since you mention B-school, I assume you are assessing a management or finance module. I always thought finance modules in particular should be open-book because of the extensive use of formulas and, as pointed out by F'x and others, simply testing if the student can remember some information is not really the most interesting (for teachers or students).
Sticking with Bloom's Taxonomy, remembering is the lowest form of assessment. If the students do not have to worry about getting the formulas right, then you can start something more complex. For example, have them make recommendations or create a plan for whatever the subject is. For example, if you are assessing leadership, give them a scenario with enough background knowledge and ask them to recommend (with justification of course) a particular leadership style for the situation. Remembering the standard leadership styles is not what is most important. What is important is that they can see a situation, assess the more important elements of that situation with respect to leadership, evaluate the pros and cons of each option, and decide which would be the best of all the choices to be used, which may include creating their own leadership style.
Basically, for open book tests, move further up towards evaluation and creating and away from rote memorization.
Open book exams are actually very easy to design (at least I think so, and I favor them in my own teaching): just design it the same way you would design regular exercises. The goal is to evaluate the students’ understanding and skills, i.e. how they analyze and solve problems, rather than the facts they have memorized. To do so, I usually design exams as problems rather than series of trivia questions.
Open book questions should be able to evaluate student understanding. Should be able to test the ability of the student to think and come up with innovative solutions. It cannot be completely open ended. there should be a sufficient number of constraints within the question to enable convergence and a positive solution.
It is more difficult to set a question paper for an open book exam than a closed book one.
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43708 | How to write CPD for an academic?
I was thinking that Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is for people who has routine job, and with CPD they renew their professional skills. Normally, by attending some courses, workshops, and practical programs. However, for an academic, we do this everyday through teaching and research.
I an assistant professor of applied physics mainly focused on research. In an application, I was asked to write about my CPD in one page. I have no idea what should I write. Aren't my teaching and research CPD? What should I write about my activities in academia in one page?
Any idea what should be the outlines of a CPD statement for an academic?
Who is asking you for this statement? What kind of application is it? I would think of listing conferences you've attended, and things like that.
In addition to @strongbad's mention of training courses for teaching, so much of your job involves (or will involve in the future) skills not taught in your academic learning. Have you been on any courses about managing people in your team? Have you been on courses to improve your public speaking? Have you been on courses about negotiation tactics? If you have an annual review of some sort, I'd suggest you discuss what CPD you could be doing.
In general, CPD is for activities where you are being taught. So while we learn in while teaching and doing research, they generally do not qualify as CPD. In the UK, new faculty need to complete a Post Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE). This is a taught course on teaching at the university level. A common form of CPD in my field are one day workshops on good clinical practice and courses on workshops on working with special populations (e.g., children and people with hearing loss). In addition to these practical CPD type things, conferences sometimes have special session CPD workshops which provide tutorial introduction to a field you may not normally stay on top of.
In Applied Physics I could imagine course/workshops either virtual or real on things like laser or radiation safety or proper use of large equipment (e.g., telescopes and particle accelerators). Obviously, they will depend on what you research is, but they might not be things you think of as CPD.
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9104 | Is it more difficult for teetotalers to develop academic contacts?
I see a number of answers in this site where building contacts over a glass of beer is encouraged. Moreover the cream of academia belongs to the Western world, where beer culture is common. Unfortunately though, I am a rigid teetotaler and I do not know about the ins-and-outs of the preferences of drinking friends of mine. I confess I'd make a terrible company at a public house. But I hasten to add that in general, I am amiable and move around quite well with people within my limitations.
Does my being a teetotaler put me at a grave disadvantage when it comes to establishing intelligent academic contacts?
Are you comfortable going to a bar/pub and not drinking?
@DanielE.Shub Yes I am
Better suited to [workplace.SE] - nothing here specific to academia
Hello, my name is Jeff, and I am an academic. ("Hi, Jeff!")
No drink is no problem, but you should definitely work to improve the "I'd make a terrible company at a public house" part.
@EnergyNumbers I started a meta discussion on this. I think it is still on topic here.
No. What really helps in building academic contacts is not beer, wine or any other alcohol, but the ability to generate informal discussions in relaxed settings. Fortunately, there are many ways to achieve that goal that do not require the intake of alcohol!
Even without going very far from drinking, sharing a nice lunch or dinner in an appropriate setting is one good way to establish contacts.
Even at the bar you can always just ask for a soda - and it won't bother anyone!
@AndyW I don't think that's totally true. If I was to meet somebody and they ordered a soda, I wouldn't order a beer. If they ordered a beer, I'd definitely join in, and feel it being a lot more casual.
Less formal than an organized lunch is grabbing a coffee (I realize not an option if you're LDS), soda, juice, or just going for a walk. The idea is to get everyone relaxed and out of the office. Beer is a common way to do it, but certainly not the only one.
As another data point: Suresh and I have a colleague who carries a frisbee with him everywhere. A friendly game of Ultimate (or even just Catch) can work just as well as a few rounds of drinks.
@JeffE I wish Ultimate were more popular this side of the pond
@F'x: Foosball / table football / babyfoot works, too.
Based on my experience, I will say that unfortunately the answer is yes. i.e. it puts you at a subtle disadvantage because you are different from the rest. Note I am saying 'subtle' because no one will readily admit treating you differently.
Alcohol serves a social purpose and is often used to create instant connection between two people. Its part of the cultural landscape. It is easy and acceptable.
Just let your ideas speak for themselves and then it will not matter if you drink or not drink alcohol for those who are serious about working with you.
In my case, I try to socialise in the morning because coffee is the only option then!
I admire your guts.
I recognise what you say, but from personal experience, the subtle disadvantage is less if you are already from a different culture. I've found that I get much less questions about my "odd" behaviours when I'm abroad then when I'm in my home country.
I had suggested the beer night idea, and you're right that this would be uncomfortable for teetotallers. As it turns out, we do have people in our group who don't drink: they usually order juice or something else, and no one really notices.
I have heard of gatherings (typically in more business settings) where there's some posturing about the kinds of whisky/beer/wine one drinks: that's not at all what I had in mind.
I am not drinking alcohol and it does not prohibit social interactions in academia: just order an orange juice and nobody will think bad of you.
That said, socializing requires to find a common base for discussion. Being different in common aspects (e.g. drinking alcohol and commenting on how good or bad the beer is, speaking English with a strong accent, etc...) generally does not matter if you are prolific in other aspects shared with others (e.g. international politics, latest results in your field, latest gossip in the field, etc...). Once established a base of common interest, differences even make a good discussion topic, as researchers are generally open minded people interested in learning new topics.
At the last conference I attended, the social event was at a pub and the conference dinner at a restaurant with an open bar. I had orange juice and self-assigned the mission to take pictures of the event, which in itself helped to start various discussions.
Perhaps. But only if you are uncomfortable about meeting in a bar/pub and ordering juice while others are ordering alcoholic drinks. Few people will notice (or care enough to ask why) you aren't drinking alcohol. A simple "No thanks, I prefer juice", or something similar, is usually well accepted.
Of course, if you were also uncomfortable with being in a bar, that might limit your net-working with academic contacts, if only slightly. It depends on the individuals and the culture in your situation.
The only academic teetotaller that I know of is Raj Koothrappali (which probably tells something about my circles). Have you ever tried non-alcoholic beer? You can find quite good, actually (my wife is pregnant now, so we have the fridge stuffed with it), although an average bar may not carry it.
Generally, I believe you are way overthinking the drinking culture. Do your socialization in the morning over coffee, or around the lunch time; excuse yourself at night by saying that you are a strictly morning person.
Also, by being/converting to a morning person, you can hit a very good stratum of physically active academicians who jog in the morning. I generally hate running, but whenever I go to conferences, I know that I will generally be overeating throughout the day, oversitting the calories at the talks, so I just have to run. Find other people who do run, too, and socialize with them.
This seems like a bit of an extreme approach to me (being much more of an evening person myself). What's wrong with just socialising with people in the evening without drinking?
He's definitely not a teetotaller. Actually, a major plot device in the show is Raj being able to speak to women only after he drinks alcohol.
+1 for alcohol-free beer. Alcohol free stuff is big in Sweden, so I tried my fair share when I had the car with me.
Alcohol is generally forbidden in Islam and I do not think OP's problem is very rare (though people may not articulate it explicitly).
@Bravo, if dietary restrictions, such as fasting, are brought up upfront in a social setting, I would not expect people to have problems with that, and respect the religious constraints. However, the question of "What is your religion, and how closely you follow your book?" is an extremely awkward one, so the responsibility of bringing their restrictions up lies with the people that have these restrictions. I, for one thing, have seafood allergies that I mention as soon as any dinner plans are being formed.
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11405 | How are instructors compensated for teaching a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)?
This question prompted me to wonder what compensation comes with teaching a MOOC. Most of these seem to be sponsored by universities, but my university doesn't offer them and neither did my PhD institution so I have no first-hand experience on the instructor-side.
Obviously, most participants do not pay for them (some do, I guess, but I have no idea how many and they're obviously paying much less than university tuition). So, it seems unlikely that teaching such courses pays for the instructors time.
Thus, I ask: does teaching these come with compensation of any kind? Salary/bonus? Teaching load reduction? Release from service? Teaching assistants for the courses? I'm interested in compensation either from one's university or from the MOOC provider (Coursera, Udacity, edX, etc.).
Every department is different.
@JeffE Ah, the answer to all questions in academia. Sigh.
FYI MOOC budget dataset
As @JeffE said, every department is different. There is remarkably little information available on the compensation offered to the instructors teaching the courses. A quick search revealed this article which states that this professor at Duke University doesn't receive any compensation for teaching MOOCs, including no reduction in teaching load, or any teaching assistants. See also this scathing article which states that professors teaching MOOCs are grossly underpaid--no hard numbers anywhere though.
It's a matter of contract (or agreement) between the teacher and her employer. Options include:
no compensation, no appreciation for the job you do
encouragement in the form of teaching load reduction, or financial compensation
It could also happen that the online course provider would directly pay the teacher for her time, but that odds not happen (as far as I know) in the current model of MOOC, where the course provider deals directly with institutions rather than individual teachers.
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111779 | How to recruit PhD students when industry pays so much more?
I'll be starting as a tenure-track professor in a few months where I'll be doing research on software developer tools. I have seen that it is extremely difficult to recruit good PhD students in this topic area (even at elite schools), since most of them are heavily recruited by industry. Understandably, it is hard to say no to 120k+ USD salary straight out of undergrad.
How should I go about attracting talented grad students in a topic area that has to compete with such high-paying companies? I do have funding for these students but it isn't anything like industry.
Please read my similar question here: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/103171/fear-of-missing-out-how-to-maintain-a-good-attitude-towards-research-in-academi
Are you sure you are competing against industry and not other schools or research groups? I ask because there seem to be plenty of grad students pursuing PhD programs in top 50 schools (esp in CS).
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I love the amount of indignation attached to this simple, true observation and related, relevant question. I wonder at the ratio below of fields to which this challenge applies vs fields to which it does not... also, I am curious, @Austin Henley, why didn't you take the 120k?
@Industrademic Freedom! I wanted to work on what I wanted and to explore projects that interested me. I knew that the industry jobs would still be there if I ever changed my mind. I like to think of academia as leading a startup where I have funding for ~5 years, and I don't have to be concerned about short term returns on investment.
We agree on this, and it may be the core of a useful answer. I considered not going to grad school, and again considered quitting with my masters degree. Freedom to pursue my own interests kept me in both times. Getting the grad student is only one step: you must keep them. Freedom, and the love of it, seem like the most likely argument that spans both decisions...
You can maybe improve your situation by actively creating research topics that are relevant to the industry or collaborations with companies. Those do not need to be software companies, just to show that your field can be applied in real life.
The person who wants to go into industry is a different sort of person than one who wants a PhD. That isn't a universal, as some people want to do one to enable or enhance the other, but it is pretty generally true. You are likely a pretty good example yourself, so look at how you differ from those among your peers who chose as you did or otherwise.
Therefore, think of the possible pool of candidates as bifurcated and try to appeal to those characteristics that are more likely to appeal to those in the desired half (well, less than half, probably).
Future professors are likely more interested in ideas and personal growth and less interested in money. Both may want to do something to improve the world, of course, but in different ways. The potential PhD is more interested in deeper issues and longer term results than the general public. Future professors, especially, are obsessed with ideas and their development.
Another positive aspect of the professorate and the desire for a PhD is the ability, in the large, to control your own schedule. You work all the time, of course, but you get to decide when to work and (mostly) what to work on.
The people you probably are not going to attract are those with heavy life responsibilities already, and who really need that paycheck. On a more positive note, they are also more likely to want to do something now, rather than to work toward more distant goals.
If you actually have access to some of the people you want to attract, then introduce them to interesting parts of your research and those of colleagues. Take them to an advanced class that you teach in some esoteric subject - maybe even one for which you are the premier source in the world. That is very cool. If you have research labs and advise advanced students, take them to a lab and ask them to contribute - ideas if nothing else. Introduce them to your advisees and assistants. Show them how wonderful it is to work with other smart people on important problems.
When you speak to groups, emphasize the excitement of developing new ideas and how a new PhD is, at that moment, the world's foremost authority on some (perhaps small) thing.
Finally, convince them that they will never be bored and that if they work with you, you will never waste their time. Then live up to that promise yourself, of course.
This is a nice answer (upvoted). I do have one objection- in the third paragraph, you seem to be equating PhD candidates with future professors. This is a false equivalence, and it may be prevalent, but it is still wrong. One doesn't do a PhD to become a professor, neither is one entitled to go down that path because of a PhD. Many PhD holders will go on to do research but not become professors.
@user153812 That may be country-dependent, but I would say the career path PhD - Professor is the rule in Europe or, if you want, that a PhD is useless outside academia.
@user153812, you are correct, of course. I focused on that since my guess is that the OP is also focused there. See my second sentence, also. Lots of google-folk hold doctorates, of course. Ditto other big companies with serious research departments, IBM, Oracle, etc etc
I think some might also need a little help or a little nudge. Perhaps asking undergrads if a graduate degree is something they desire and if so, become an unofficial advisor on the things one should do to get into grad school. If their desire is sincere they should only need a little guidance to help navigate the waters and will be less tempted by industry.
I kind of disagree with the sentiment of "Well just give up on the pay, try to focus on the other parts." Your incentives are probably selecting for the worst candidates (those who couldn't get the $120k+ salaries). I'm skeptical that there exist that many people who are so attached to the perks of acedemia, that they would take what, a $50,000/year hit? Possibly more?
@Miguel- Interesting. What about jobs at national labs, R&D at corporations etc?
@Miguel No, it’s not “the rule” by any objective measure. Most PhDs don’t become professors, by a large margin (nor is a PhD useless outside of academia, even if you just count it as a qualification rather than the — rather unique — experience gained).
@KonradRudolph I would like to see those objective measures. In Spain it is certainly a common, if not objective, belief.
@user153812 The size of national research center is not comparable to Universities, but, sure, I include those into the general term academia. R&D at private corporations is exceptional in Spain, to say the least.
@Miguel I seriously doubt that: the numbers simply don’t add up. Anyway, in the UK 56% of PhDs leave academia. Of the remaining 44%, only a small fraction completes the tenure track. I couldn’t find any more detailed numbers but a back of the envelope calculation suggests that less than 10% of PhD graduates end up as professors.
@Miguel How many people graduate with a CS PhD in a typical year? How many new tenure track faculty members are hired in a typical year? In the US, the former number is often fives times the later number. Those numbers need to be the same for all PhD students to become professors.
@Stella Biderman The very concept of tenure track is radically different in Spain from the UK-US perspective. The point is that an abismal majority of PhD students in Spain aim to stay at academia. So, in the context of the OP, any encouragement to pursue a PhD because it will be useful outside academia, would be misleading in Spain (and I guess that in most of continental Europe, with varying degrees of certainty).
@Miguel “Most PhDs want to go into academia” is a very different statement from the one you started with. It might be the case that in the US most PhDs want to go into academia, but in practice less than 10% actually do.
@Stella Biderman It is, almost literally, by tollendo tollens :)
@Miguel Modus tollendo tollens says that P->Q and NOT Q together imply NOT P. It has nothing to do with wether or not “most PhDs want to go into academia” and “most PhDs do go into academia” are the same statement. Those two statements are very obviously different, and no amount of Latin obfuscation will change that. In any event, you don’t have any implication that you’ve demonstrated.
To never be bored is difficult to promise. ;) Also PhD studies usually contain some mandatory pretty boring stuff. But you can promise that he will be learning such cool things he has only dreamed about during BSc & MSc. Stuff which you almost never get time to learn in any private company.
@Miguel Whether something is a “common belief” is unfortunately very different from whether the path PhD→Professor is “the rule”. (Consider this article, though it's focused on the humanities and if you have better stats for other fields I'd like to know.)
@StellaBiderman not all countries have same tenure track system.
@ShreevatsaR Again, a UK-US based study. My point is that the OP should be tagged for context.
@Miguel Do you think that the statistics are different in Europe?
@ShreevatsaR I am completely sure. To begin with, the structure of tenure is radically different.
While there are people who would only go into industry and never Academia, and persons who for which the reverse is true - most capable researchers would not pursue PhDs if they were not paid any salary/stipend to support themselves while doing so, and a great number of them would prefer academia over industry if the pay wasn't so low and the stable employment prospects so slim. So, -1.
"The person who wants to go into industry is a different sort of person than one who wants a PhD". I know you are generalizing, but I don't accept this axiom. Instead, you can generalize people as falling along a spectrum, where only the extrema could be easily classified as Camp PhD or Camp Industry. For the majority of people, the decision is difficult and marred by uncertainty. If you model people as a spectrum, it is easy to see how lucrative industry salaries can push people over the edge.
@ScottLawson, true enough, but my answer remains the same. Pitch your appeal to those most aligned already just to avoid wasting time and effort. The question wasn't about "why this happens", it was about attracting candidates. So, yes, high salaries are attractive, but not everyone is primarily motivated by money. In fact, one reason industry salaries are so high is that the academic life (and research in general) has its own attractions and so money is used to woo the best graduates into industry.
An individual's intrinsic desire to do a PhD is not infinite. When there is a pay discrepancy between industry and academia, you are going to lose people who would have otherwise been stellar PhD students. The larger the pay discrepancy, the more people you will lose. If the discrepancy is small, then sure, you can claim a "person who wants to go into industry is a different sort of person than one who wants a PhD" but I posit that your generalization breaks down when the pay discrepancy is sufficiently high. In your answer, you seem to gloss over the importance of this.
@Miguel BTW I never followed up after asking my question, and if you have any statistics, I'd like to know, but from the references I could find (collected here) it appears that in Spain, of many thousand science PhDs surveyed, about 37% were working in universities. Just thought you may like to know.
Remember that a PhD is intended to be a training position, not a job. Unfortunately, too many supervisors see PhD students as workers rather than as trainees in education. To get excellent PhD students, you need to convince undergrads that they personally will benefit from the training you will provide (rather than just that they will have the 'opportunity' to do lots of work for you). You cannot compete on money, and it is unlikely you can compete on non-monetary benefits either (what university offers free food, free transport, free gym, high-quality office space...?). But perhaps you can compete on the training you can offer.
In your context, this either means:
Find bright students who are not computer scientists and offer to train them to be computer scientists. For example, take on a talented biologist, sociologist or physicist who is motivated to learn your field.
Design a cutting edge project that will push the limits of the field. Such a project will put the student in a position to apply for competitive faculty positions, a higher level entry to a company or to start their own company perhaps.
Of course, this all depends on the amount of effort you are willing to put in yourself. If you just want an assistant or someone who wont get in the way whilst you work on your own things, then you will need to accept a lower standard of student.
To add to this... My personal recommendation would be to grab engineers and mathematicians since they already have a lot of the relevant skills
On the contrary, in most cases - being a PhD candidate is very much a job, in which you carry out work, there are goals (although they're flexible), there's a salary (even if it's not called that), you're required to show up and contribute to group or PI efforts et cetera. True, there's more of a training aspect to it than many positions outside academia, but it does not lose its character as employment. This issue is the focus of intense collective-action and labor-law battles in several countries in recent decades; see this story for example.
@einpoklum is right, but I know no position in industry where you can get even near the amount of time to specialize your knowledge as you can when a PhD student.
@mathreadler: That's true; but I would compare the junior, pre-PhD researcher to his/her senior colleague, the post-PhD researcher. They are similar to each other much like any junior or apprentice craftsman and his/her senior.
In what aspects are they similar? All crafts publish papers? All crafts apply for grants?
I am in the process of getting postdoc job in bioengineering field. Industry jobs are definitely an option here, so I have to consider why exactly I want to work in academia. I can share few reasons, hopefully it will help you understand the process from PhD student's perspective.
Why PhDs in engineering are willing to work for 5ish years at about 50% of industry wage rate?
Lucrative project that will get them a faculty position. You can't get a "University Professor" title and your own lab in industry (vanity+independence)
Good project that will build diverse skillset. In the industry job you will be pigeonholed into limited skillset. In academia you can learn hardware, software, wetware (molecular bio) all on the same project. Some people like that flexibility of learning
Interesting project. My postdoc project will be either unique and advanced method (2x-10x current popular method) or another unique bio/translational project. Even if I don't make it in academia and quit, I will be able to say "I worked on this craaazy project" at parties. In software industry you are either prohibited from talking about work or work on some silly boring stuff like new billing system.
You can potentially negotiate more independence. In academia work is abundant and good people are rare, hence good student will be able to ask for more independent project.
Big name university that will potentially land you higher-paying industry job. Imagine working as software postdoc at Stanford versus NoName Uni. In Palo Alto the density of people is incredible, hence more potential to land very good software job (Google), especially if you as as PI know right people.
Some medium-skilled people would probably appreciate laziness of academic job and lack of competition. I am not sure if that is good or bad for you.
#3 is possible in the industry too. A bright fresh out of undergrad doesn't have to work on a billing system if they don't want to, they could work on a self-driving car instead.
@DmitryGrigoryev I see your point. I don't have enough knowledge of industry, but can imagine that "working on self-driving car" will mean to some extent writing billing system for the self-driving car company. My point is more stem from my experience with academia, compared to industry jobs that I've seen
@DmitryGrigoryev as someone who works on self-driving cars, i can assure you it is not as flashy as it sounds. 99% of it is good old software engineering and compatibility wrangling, like any other decently-sized industry project.
@taylorswift And as someone who stayed in a research lab for some time I can assure you that it's not as flashy either. Unless you have students or assistants to do the ground work for you, you'll spend a lot of time preparing experiments, collecting data and writing reviews of existing work. Have you ever tried to repair your own car? Test instrumentation task is just as tedious and dirty, plus the parts you have to install don't quite fit.
A true investigator is moved by knowledge and curiosity.
This is what you ought to focus on. Unfortunately there are too many PhD candidates facing research as a job, under the wings of professors who see themselves as some kind of entrepreneurs running a start-up venture.
Consider yourself blessed as in your field you are more likely to attract those who are interested in learning and investigation, the true PhD-seekers. Now, if you're truly invested in your field of research surely you can attract other hungry brains to your cause. Never try to buy a student, for you will sell yourself in the process.
UPDATE:
A note to all commenters emphasising on the fact that a PhD student needs money to survive -- this question is not about not paying salaries, nor does it imply that the OP is offering a meagre salary. I assume his students are perfectly able to pay for their bills and grab a beer.
It directly discusses the quality of students seeking for the highest possible salaries.
are you a professor, PhD student, PhD grad in academia, or PhD grad in industry?
@aaaaaa PhD grad in academia, yet perhaps since tomorrow a professor.
Congrats! I still dont think you can sell science to people finishing college, it is a bit too late
@aaaaaa Perhaps. I bought it then, and did I pay for it...
"PhD candidates facing research as a job, under the wings of professors..." or maybe trying to pay the bills. dunno. as an idea.
there are also people who are "true investigators" AND need money. Please don't disregard that not everyone in academia is a single 21 years old. Also, everything is a factor when choosing path in life. Following this logic, working for jerk face Nobel laureate should be considered privileged not abuse
@aaaaaa I understand OP's question is about those seeking the highest salary, and not about an absence of it. If that Nobel prizer can offer enough enlightenment ( status being irrelevant), many obsessed minds might think putting up with some jerkiness is a cursory price
I'm very moved by knowledge and curiosity. I am also moved by the need to pay the bills and put some money aside or support my family. I am also moved by the state of barely making ends meet in fixed-term contracts on soft-money funding.
@einpoklum I suggest you seek a better institution, but I assume the OP here pays his students enough. OP seems worried about "not paying the top possible salary = not getting top students" which is surely not true. I hereby state why I believe this is so.
@Scientist: 1. The point of this question is that, typically, research institutions are not the "better institutions" you suggest. 2. At the "better institution", they are probably not doing the research I'm interested in doing.
@einpoklum sorry if misinterpreted, but I never suggested any specific institution is the best. I recommended you changed to a better place because your last phrase sounded like you're not currently being paid enough (e.g. barely making ends meet). Most PhDs I've met were paid more than just enough although not the highest salaries in the category.
@Scientist: I finished my Ph.D. in 2012... but I was very involved in graduate union activities during that time and for a while later, so I'm still fired up about it :-)
Other answers are somehow good, but I think they might miss a practical approach. I try to elaborate a bit.
In most cases, your question has a simple answer: hiring PhD students from overseas, specially third-world countries.
Why? Because most of them have visa limitations and they can't think of a job for the moment. Their options are limited and they have to be good to survive. This gives the professors a vantage point to easily take advantage of.
Please don't get me wrong. I am not saying that this a common practice and the only reason for hiring foreign PhD student and I hope nobody gets offended. But as a resident of a third-world country who has seen that many of his highly talented friends are so eager to get an overseas PhD, even from a low-rank university, I think I have some valid points here.
Actually plenty of students even from nice-to-live countries wouldn't mind coming to US to for a PhD. The key is to make the PhD offer visible to such students.
@DmitryGrigoryev yes, and note that the term overseas in my answer has a broader meaning than the US only.
To extend the previous answers, which have already given good points:
Grant your students full Open Source rights, offer similar license rights for the data they collect and produce. That is what kept me a while in science. If they have a well distributed software product in the end, this is good for the CV and gives more job opportunities as well.
A collaborative project with international partners in attractive countries where your students can stay for a few month will be an attractive plus as well.
Promote the freedom and life experience in science. That is the only advance over well paid industry jobs. If you trust your students you can also offer more freedom in form of regular home office opportunities.
Definitely a good idea, so +1, but remember universities sometimes have their own restrictions on open-sourcing/free-licensing research findings and try to commercialize and patent things.
@einpoklum This pressure is a bit known to me. If the university prohibits free licensing, the responsible chair leader could only fight with limits to change those politics. The topic creator seems to be US citizen and at least the bigger university names are known to be also suporitve of free licensing. MIT might be the biggest name in the field of informatics world wide. And MIT shares. If private unis dont allow, they simply have to pay more. Or live with the fact that the named problem of the topic creator will even further increase. Not enough phds.
This question is a bit like asking "How can I get a brand new car for $5,000 when they all sell for $20,000?" You can't, unless you get lucky with some special situation with unique circumstances. The market has decided that the sort of qualifications you want are worth far more than the sort of money you're willing to pay. There's nothing you can realistically do to change that.
This simple premise implies that you must do one of the following:
Pay more
Let the students work very part time (thus paying more per hour)
Settle for less qualified students
Obviously one is not an option for PhD students because you couldn't offer a meaningfully higher stipend. Second might actually be feasible if you can arrange for some sort of industry partnership where the bulk of the student's work is actual work for a company (perhaps one that develops the tools you research) and the PhD related duties become a secondary priority. But it's probably hard to get away with this in practice.
Third option is the more sensible one. Either you have to reduce your research goals, or take in bright but unqualified students and train them. Of course, at some point after being trained, the student will realize that they now are qualified and could quit anytime for a much better job. So you have to be very nice to your students and make sure their frustration does not exceed their intellectual satisfaction.
I did say the first option is not realistic, because PhD stipends don't really vary that much and are often outside your control, and even if you could somehow arrange to pay even double the usual salary to your students, it would probably trigger riots on campus when other students hear about it. But you do have more flexibility with postdoc. If you really need to hire the sort of person that could get six figure salaries in the industry, the obvious answer is to hire such a person as a postdoc, and compensate competitively.
Also, I think the "$120k+ straight out of undergrad" is a myth. Computer science pays well, but not that well. Undergrads will easily work for half that, even the median salary (for experienced workers) is far below it. The only grain of truth in it might be the Bay Area, but cost of living is also very high there.
As i wrote in my answer, there are some unique qualities in academic job that can help with salary difference
120k out of undergrad is not a myth. Top CS students with in-demand skillsets from top schools presently command that, and more.
Yes, but very few people are top CS students. 120k is an exceptional case and while of course not "mythical" should not be paraded around as even close to standard.
The standard offer for fresh-minted bright (but not exceptional) CS undergrads for SWE positions ranges, today, between 100 and 120 in Seattle, WA.
More standard than academics like to admit. ;) Spend some time on Glassdoor. 50th percentile of salary for software engineering jobs, readily obtainable, I'd argue, for someone in the top 20% of a top 50 CS program in Philly is 132k. In Houston is 192k, and of course in SFO is 224k. Even in Dayton, OH it's 96k. It's shocking.
This is completely and demonstrably wrong. Many people do go for a PhD (despite getting offers at companies), so it is definitely possible. Many of my students have received offers from top companies (such as Google) and decided to go for a PhD anyway, so it's also simply untrue that you can only get the less-qualified people.
-1 for the implicit assumption that all value can be measured in money ...
There's a large and growing pool of potential postgrad students who have all the characteristics described in Buffy's answer but who are "unqualified" academically: self-taught industry professionals for whom getting an undergrad degree would be an absurd waste of time and money.
@xLeitix then OP's answer is to make sure OP's program is as good or (preferably) better than xLeitix's program. It is easier to conceptualize than to implement. If OP can make OP's program better than xLeitix's program than all those student who would have otherwise enrolled in xLeitix's program will enroll in OP's program.
@Industrademic: It's true that Glassdoor makes salary data available, but the data they have is very different from the numbers that you implied were sourced there.
@BenVoigt Let me help you with that: 1-put Philadelphia in the location box, 2- top dropdown to 'salaries', 4- 'software engineer' in the search box, 5- press 'search' button, 6-press the 'salary range' button to see the histogram of salaries for your search, 7-drag it halfway. Value: still 132k.
@Industrademic: Got this: https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/philadelphia-software-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,12_IM676_KO13,30.htm Mean in Philadelphia is $91k, median is significantly lower than that. For software engineers with experience, not straight out of school. In Houston: mean is $90k, median is lower. https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/houston-software-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,7_IM394_KO8,25.htm Again, that includes those with experience and is not reflective of entry-level positions. Don't see anything supporting your numbers.
@BenVoigt, it depends on how you slice the data. If you saw nothing, you did not follow my instructions. That's fine.
@Industrademic: Your "drag it halfway" step is very unclear. It's not even clear which page on Glassdoor you are using, there are many similar search forms (hence the reason I provided actual links to data). But if you mean to put the cursor halfway between the two extremes, that is not what 50th percentile means. And I still believe you are mixing in data for those with 30 and 40 years experience and trying to claim that new graduates earn the same.
My long term goal is to lecture for software engineering, but since it's a practical skill, I am gaining practical experience in the industry (having been a QA, engineer, team lead, contractor), so that I can teach based on real world experience, rather than just having had read the texts before my students.
As a team lead, one of the things I learnt was what motivates people, including myself.
People have their own definition of success, whether they know it or not, and you'll never motivate someone whose motivation is cash to put in the enormous amount of effort required for a PhD where the reward is sating curiosity and building some new knowledge for the future.
@jamesqf's comment:
One option is to recruit people who have already spent some time in industry, have enough money, and are now interested in more challenging work than they might find in industry.
is pretty on the money. The best way to attracting talented grad students in a topic area isn't to compete with high-paying companies with pay, but with more interesting, rewarding work.
Disclaimer, this is my first answer the site and my experience of academia is a BA in Philosophy and Computing for 11 years ago, but hopefully my massively rambling subjective answer is of some use!
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12029 | Under what circumstances would a lecturer 'bump up' a student to pass?
When would someone marking papers (lecturer, etc.) bump a student from just below pass up to the pass line? Do teachers consider things like attendance?
Regardless of the consideration (attendance, participation, etc.) for giving a student a better grade than they deserve, what is the justification?
I usually set my lines for passing after I see the final exams.
One of the things I like about teaching is that while we draw fine lines at numbers such as 65.0 and 89.5, teachers also get the final word on putting grades into the system, and the ability to look at a student's performance holistically to include non-tangible paper marks such as attendance (in class and office hours), intrinsic motivation, and future goals justifies "bumping" grades for particular students.
I don't do it often, but if a student is on the line and showed me high motivation but didn't quite get to the higher grade, I will consider bumping up the grade (but I won't do it because of grade-grubbing). Sometimes, it comes down to when I'm entering the final grade into the system, and I think, "You know, that 89.3% for Alice really should be an A-." I don't lose sleep over it, and it really is relatively rare.
This is exactly how I handle the issue.
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