texts: Is it ethical to present a second paper at a conference when the first paper and travel was funded by a separate organization?

texts:
Here is the scenario (hypothetical at the moment):

I have two papers on entirely unrelated topics, but are both presentable at the same conference. Paper 1 was funded through funding agency A, but paper 2 was not. The conference has multiple sessions covering a wide variety of topics. My funding to travel to the conference was provided by funding agency A in order to present paper 1.

Is it ethical to present paper 1 and paper 2 at this conference (given that I pay the abstract fee for paper 2 out of pocket), or am I confined to presenting results from the paper that I was funded to present?

Note: This isn't a dilemma I face now, but one a bit further down the line.


texts: How badly will bad grades impact future college and career life?

texts:
So, I'm currently an upcoming sophomore in undergrad and my grades during freshman year weren't the best. I got a F during my second semester which gave me an overall freshman GPA of 2.9

I'm not too worried about the GPA since I still have time to improve it.
However, the F on the transcript is really stressing me out. As of now, my school says I cannot retake and replace the F on the transcript.

Even if I increase my GPA to at least a 3.7 but still have 1 F on my transcript, how badly will if affect my chances of getting into a good grad school or getting internships?


texts: How do I turn down a project I'm not interested in anymore?

texts:
I'm an undergraduate student, and I recently got in touch with a postdoc at an institution different from mine - since I was quite interested in her research work. Now, after a few weeks (haven't started much work yet, I've only gone through the preliminaries I'd need to do research in that field), I don't feel as interested in the project/work, and I wonder what would be a polite way to say the same. Since I haven't been offered an official position at the lab yet, I think this is still a good time to make this call.
As an undergraduate in my early years, I think I'm still figuring out my interests, so I'm personally not as surprised at my situation - but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to inform the postdoc that I'm not interested in that particular project anymore. I hope y'all understand my situation and can help!
I'm confused because I was the one who reached out first, expressed interest and I'm not interested anymore. I hope there's an easy way out of this.


texts: How to cite future conference poster session on CV?

texts:
How would you go about listing a conference/symposium poster presentation that will happen in the future on your CV if the title or abstract haven't been decided yet?

For instance, the future conference/symposium for my case is university run so it is certain that the proposal submission will get approved for presenting. However, I have not yet collected all the data so I do not have an abstract or title prepared.

I have seen some people put,

Last name, first initial. (year, estimated month). Title of presentation. Poster session presented at [location]. (Planned)

I thought about preparing a tentative title since I know the general topic, but wanted more opinions or answers from those that had a better idea about this.

I've looked around a bit on the internet and found some information on this topic but it was primarily on invited talks rather than planned presentations.
Thank you in advance to those who answer!

*This is for the CV I will be turning in as supplemental material for Psychology PhD application.


texts: Student doesn't want to take credit for his own extraordinary paper

texts:
I am the advisor of an absolutely brilliant but unusually young student.

He has written an outstanding paper relating to this field, one which I am extremely certain will be worked upon and appreciated by many, because of the paper's influential value.

However, he has asked me to publish the paper under my own name because he wants to "expose himself to the insights of others regarding his own insight." He doesn't want to publish under his own name, because he feels that when people find out that the author of the paper is so young, they'll give him the treatment that a clown gets in a circus; praise and praise. Such praise he believes is extremely detrimental to this stage in his career.

He says, further, that he doesn't want to feel like some child prodigy, which in turn feels like being some painting on an exhibition that people admire and later walk by, and that it's likely for his peers to feel "intimidated" or be struck by some other negative thought which will come naturally.

I insisted that none of these things will happen and that he should take the credit for what he has rightfully done, but he says, "They need to know and if you publish this paper, they will know. And if I publish this paper, they will know and later forget."

I don't know what to do in this scenario.


texts: A cv with or without passport photo while applying for postdoc

texts: I am a Ph.D student from mathematics background and about to submit my thesis in a month or two. I am thinking to apply for postdoc position. Shall I send my normal cv or the one bearing my photo? Thanks for the help and suggestions.


texts: Tips on choosing a research topic with little relative background?

texts:
I know this might seem like I'm worrying about something too early, but I am a rising sophomore (undergrad) that is anxious about independent research. I am currently in a physics lab right now that I think is decently interesting. However, my current role is helping out the grad students and postdocs with their projects, whatever they need me to do.

Part of the reason that this is my job right now is because I haven't come up with an idea for my own project. I have lots of things that I think are interesting regarding this field (optics/quantum), but the physics being done is way above the level that I can understand in my current year of schooling. Although I just started here, there will come a time where the professor will approach me and ask if I want to start something on my own, and I just don't know what to do. Should I be asking people now? Trying to learn these things on my own? Or is this common in physics labs?

To put it in perspective, I am the only undergrad in the lab, so I'm not sure anyone really knows how to deal with me either.


texts: What's the reasoning behind GRE scoring scale?

texts: Is there a reason for it being 130 - 170, rather then 0 - 40? Is it to make it easier to use the value in some other calculation?


texts: Should I cite my supervisor in a thesis?

texts:
I am currently writing up a thesis and was wondering if one should cite the PhD supervisors on insights that were solely their idea?

As an example I have a sentence in the thesis that looks something like this in the outlook section at the end of the thesis:

  We noticed {cool new phenomenon}, which we suspect to be a result of {awesome effect/explanation}. The details are currently under investigation.

Now my supervisor and I discovered this phenomenon together, but she came up with the explanation without my input. One could say that "we" means "my supervisor and I" in a thesis, but then the author of the document is just me.

I was wondering what proper citation practice is on something like this?

Options:

Maybe I can put a reference to "superviorName, date, private communication"? Is that enough though
Explicitly putting their name into the formulation, e.g.

  My supervisor {supervisor name} and I noticed {cool new phenomenon}. {supervisor name} found this to be a result of {awesome effect/explanation}. The details are currently under investigation.


texts: Why are you required to pay or have a university relation to access most research journals?

texts:
High school student here...

I came here to ask this question since it seems geared more towards academia and I normally spend my time on Math.SE. Anyway...

I have a huge passion for math, I read about it and work on problems every day. At this point in time I'm even considering going into academia for math research (although it seems incredibly difficult to land professorship based on the things I've read here.) In my ongoing research, I've noticed that there are very few places to freely read mathematical papers. I tend to turn to the arXiv so this isn't so much a problem - except for the times I come across a paper with a particularly interesting abstract, only to find its host site asking for one of two things:

An association with an institution or research group
Monthly payment

So my question is do any of the academics here have any insight as to why that is? Are the authors of the papers compensated with part of the payment received by the journal?

(Sorry if this question comes across as very naive but, admittedly, I am.)


texts:
Background:

I recently wrote a paper on the algorithm A that I developed for predicting fault events in the machine. The algorithm is tested, evaluated on a machine data set.

I developed another algorithm B and the inputs to this algorithm are the outputs from A. I tested the algorithm over the same data set of the same machine that I used to test A.

I am currently in the process of writing a paper to explain the algorithm B. However, it is required the numerical results of A to be presented along with the numerical results of B for the reader to understand the complete picture.

Question:

What is the best way to present the old results in the new paper? Should we create a separate section or is it better to write in the results section? Basically, it is just the repetition of the numerical results from the old paper (results are in tabular form). Any lead points would be helpful. Will it be considered as self-plagiarism or salami slicing?

Note: I had no idea about the development of algorithm B when I worked on algorithm A. I see algorithm B definitely extends the field of research and thinking.


texts: What does it mean if a professor asks you to draft his reference letter for you?

texts:
This question is, honestly speaking, probably somewhat opinion-based, but I still want to give a shot.

A professor acceded to my invitation of writing a reference letter for me. Nevertheless, unlike the other professors who also acceded to write a reference letter for me, he asked me to draft it on my own. Originally I did not feel anything "wrong", and I just felt embarrassed to recommend myself. But yesterday a friend told me that a professor would ask you to write her reference letter for you when she does not actually think that you are "worthy" enough for her to write you one on her own.

What is the probability that such viewpoint is true? Any opinion is greatly appreciated!


texts: From whom do prospective grad students get recommendation letters?

texts:
Most top graduate programs require at least 3 recommendation letters. Do students who apply to such programs (and have a reasonable chance to get in) typically have such extensive research experience that they know three professors who can write in detail about their research? Or is it more common for such students to have some recommendation letters from faculty who can confirm that the applicant is competent (for example because they did very well in their class, won an award, ...) but with whom they have not worked much personally?

I understand it would be ideal to get all letters from faculty with whom you have worked closely on a research problem. But I wonder how commonly this actually happens, especially considering the fact that the final undergraduate year typically cannot be taken into account for applications in fall.

If it depends much on the discipline, I'm in physics.


texts:
Short version: Is it better to switch focus as a postdoc or wait until after tenure?

Details: I'm a PhD student in math (combinatorics) graduating next year. Let's suppose that I'm a strong candidate for research-oriented, tenure-track positions in math, but my long-term research program is interdisciplinary with TCS. If I have a really productive 1-2 years of postdoc in TCS, will I have a shot at being hired in a good CS department in the US?

I'd rather be in a CS department, but many people in my area don't share that enthusiasm (or are located in Europe). I'm worried that I'll end up with papers in both general math journals and STOC/FOCS and still be unhireable. Should I wait until after tenure?

Edit: Here's why I'm asking. I have postdoc offers in both math and CS departments - I want to take the CS one, but all of my publications are in math journals, and the CS postdoc won't make me a stronger candidate for math departments.


texts: How do you become a referee for a math journal?

texts:
I am in the early stages of my career (post PhD) and I would like to referee papers to (1) get the experience and (2) be exposed to unpublished writing to learn to improve upon my own writing.
How do you become a referee? Can you register?
Edit: I'm not asking about reviewing.


texts: How to increase the reach of my bachelor thesis with little effort?

texts:
I wrote my bachelor thesis about a topic that recently deserved a lot of attention because of global media and geopolitical development (See Title below [1]). Therefore I know would like to publish it. But because I changed my research field from European Studies to Sustainable Development, I am not in the right networks anymore to get official assistance with the publication and I am not really aiming for a peer-reviewed paper either. But I still would like my finding to be "out there". Therefore reach is also my priority. If possible I would of course not be upset, if I could be financially reward-ed for each download, but that is rather a minor priority and bonus.
So far, I have found and considered platforms like StackExchange, Scribd, reddit, Academia, ResearchGate or LinkedIn. And now I would like to get some insights from practitioners or experienced academics what to do. Thanks in advance.

EDIT:
I have decided to go with GRIN now. Thanks for all people commenting and taking time. [2]

[1] "Theories of Democracy in Comparison: The Russian Case - Output-oriented Legitimacy, Defect Democracy, Political Culture, Path Dependence and Public Opinion" - Why would Russians, interested in democracy, vote for Putin, while being aware that he is not beneficial for a democratic future of the country?
[2] Theories of Democracy in Comparison: The Russian Case. Output-oriented Legitimacy, Defect Democracy, Political Culture, Path Dependence and Public Opinion, Bachelor Thesis, 2013.


texts: What are the key points in short descriptions of research experience?

texts:
When writing short descriptions of research experiences as a student (undergrad or postgrad), what are the key points that professors, potential collaborators and admission committees would like to see?

These might be very short descriptions in a space constrained academic CV, or slightly less short descriptions on an online profile or research statement. What are the key essentials (in the CV case) and the additional points (statement/website case)?


texts: What are the options for a drop out turned professional to return to academia?

texts:
I dropped out of an e-commerce program fourteen years ago (yes, it was a short-lived idea for a program). I entered the work force, but kept self-educating ever since. Around seven years ago I began a career in software development. My self-education continued, I have a great CS foundation under me, am now a respected consultant and, recently, a speaker.

I’ve long had a desire to return to formal education, but dread the thought of taking a lot of elementary classes. It feels like a waste of time and money to get a BS when I have equivalent experience (probably better considering my experiences with recent CS grads) just so that I can pursue a MSc. I do have an area of research that I’m interested in pursuing.

What are the options for a middle-aged professional looking to pursue his/her master’s? Is it possible to directly pursue one in the US? It seems possible in Australia, but from what I can tell, US schools require an undergraduate degree in order to be accepted into a master’s program. If it’s not possible, how can a BS be accelerated as much as possible? I’m certain I can test out of most courses, including a number that are outside of my field.


texts: Is there a list of virtual (future) seminars for different fields?

texts:
I just came across mathseminars.org that compiles a bunch of (mostly pure) math seminars.

Is there a similar website for other fields (e.g. Statistics, biology...etc)? Ideally, the seminars are held in the future but a list of video recordings are also welcomed.

Feel free to delete this question if this is off-topic for academia StackExchange.


texts: Is teaching experience of any value in a National Laboratory job?

texts:
I know that national laboratories prioritize research work over teaching experience.  Of course, I have some research papers published in my name, but I also have over 4 years of professional (full time) mathematics teaching experience at the university level, which includes teaching a senior level and graduate level mathematics course.

Is my teaching experience of no importance/value to the national laboratories?  Is there a way I can sell my teaching experience as an asset to a research position in a national laboratory?


texts:
I am an undergraduate student.
In about a month, there will be a conference a professor of mine suggested that I go to. The subject of the conference is part of his research field and I am interested in doing a MSc with him later on.
I was wondering whether there is a way of asking him to join me (or me to join him) while attending the conference without creating an awkward situation. What I mean to say is that I really think that being around him at the conference, sitting somewhere close to him will benefit myself in many ways (for example hear some comments during a speech, share thoughts etc.). Is there anyway I could ask him so we meet there and sit together or something? In no way, do I want him to take that in a wrong way.

I would really appreciate it if you could help me.
Thank you.


texts: Being sure of date of publication of a book

texts:
I am practicing making citations of quotes and I am currently stuck on
publication dates.

To illustrate my issue, let’s use this this book:

The front pages state the copyright date as three separate years, which I have no idea how to interpret (see image below).
I checked on Google, and I found this on Amazon stating the publication date of Aug 10, 2010.
Checking the official site of publisher, I see "© 2011".

Do I need to make assumptions when taking the date, e.g., taking the first date from copyright without being certain that it is the correct publication date? I know I can contact the publisher and ask, but that seems like (a) a lot of work and (b) it’s pretty unlikely I’ll get a reply. I want to know if there are any tips on making sure that the publication date of the book is correct.


texts: Increasing chances of getting a research internship with no experience?

texts:
I am starting an MSc in Computer Science in the autumn and I am concerned that I don't have any research experience. My interest is in Theoretical Computer Science and I am finding it hard to find any internships, as there is very little funding for undergraduates available at my university and no advertised positions in this area. I have seen an industrial position that matched my interests, but it was only advertised for Msc/PhD students.

I asked around last year and was unsuccessful but it was suggested that I self study a topic, so I don't know if I should do this again, or try to pursue an actual internship.

I think the reason I was unsuccessful was that I was too general and not specific enough about my interests. However, as an undergrad I am finding it hard to identify something that is achievable at my level and to narrow down to one area.

Therefore, would it be better to find a paper and a topic and directly approach an academic, or would I be better off using the summer to study more broadly and find a specific topic to pursue? Is there anything else I should do to increase my chances of getting an internship?


texts: Should we transition to making our conference online or postpone?

texts:
Last year we started organizing a conference in one of the European countries in September 2020. Everything was fixed and we had a number of registered people. As you all may know, due to the pandemic outbreak, many conferences in Europe were canceled. Since our conference was scheduled for September, we didn't declare it canceled and decided to wait a bit to see how the situation will be as we get close to the summer.

Now, recently we thought about having an online conference instead of a real one. But we don't want it to be a failure as we have no experience with it and we are not aware of the public opinion about an online conference.

Is it a good idea to change the conference to an online one or it is better to postpone the real conference until the end of this pandemic crisis?


texts: Am I able to change my GPA once I submit a graduate school application?

texts: I am wondering if I apply to graduate school in US in fall and lets say the due date to submit the application is December 1 and fall quarter grades are posted two weeks after that. Now I am wondering am I be able to update my GPA after positing the fall quarter grades,which is after submitting the application?


texts:
I'm a CS master student. Now I'm doing my masters thesis and the contribution of my thesis is to compare different approaches/methods of one topic (e.g. clustering of text documents). What I have done so far is look at the state of the art on the topic and read the papers. However, now I need to think of what to compare. Of course there is the obvious comparison question: which method gives the best results? But that is so obvious. My supervisor once suggested to see how those methods compare their results and see if maybe there is a better way to compare the results of the methods. It was helpful to me to think about questions like this. But still I'm so stuck and I can only think of obvious stuff. This is the first time I am doing something like that.

I'm sure some of you went through something like this, so I was wondering if you can even tell me some /basic/ stuff and questions that people address when they compare methods in computer science. My main questions to you are:

1- When I read the papers of the methods to compare, in which way I should read it? Critically? Questionable? What exactly to look for in them?

2- Is there a general scheme for comparing methods in academia?

3- As for a masters thesis, what stuff is a must-do for comparisons?

4- Any great references/papers related to comparisons that could help me?


texts: Roughly what date do NSF Postdoc Fellowship announcements occur?

texts: I can't find any information about when NSF announces the recipients of their postdoctoral fellowship awards. I'm specifically interested in the one for mathematics. I'd like to use this information to get a rough schedule for rolling applications.


texts: If I didn't learn much in my PhD program, should I do a coursework-based masters in the same field?

texts:
I am thinking of quitting my PhD program to leave with a master's degree.  I don't think I learned much in my PhD so far, and I would have gained more skills if I got a normal master's and took a bunch of classes instead of spending the past two years doing research.

Is it a good idea to quit my PhD program and then apply for a second, coursework-based master's degree in the same field?  Or is there some way I can accomplish this at my current school?


texts:
For German undergraduate and graduate math classes, does the professor or assistant write the exercise sheets?

In the United States it is typical for the professor to write them. I am curious what the situation is like in Germany.


texts: How is it in my best interest not to submit a paper to two journals simultaneously?

texts:
The two journals I am considering for my paper each demand that the paper be submitted exclusively to their journal for consideration.

What do I win if I don’t keep this rule?

If I get rejected by both, I will have found out earlier that the paper is not worthy of publication.
If I get accepted by one of the journals, this is very good. I will have found out faster which of the two journals is willing to publish me.
If I get accepted by both, this is really a dream. I should probably find a reason (excuse) to withdraw the publication from one of them.

In any case how can submitting to two journals negatively impact my reputation more than the gain by being actually accepted? (More so considering I will probably leave academia after my PhD dissertation.)

What can I lose if I don’t adhere to this rule? What sanctions, if any, can I expect?


texts: Quoting instrument prices in a scientific paper

texts:
I’m writing my first scientific paper as a PhD student and it’s a comparison of 6 different instruments that measure precipitation. The instruments differ massively in terms of cost, and their performance is inherently tied to that. The discussion seems pointless without giving the reader this knowledge. Simply saying “low cost” or “relatively high cost” doesn’t quite cut it for me.

I realise I’m entering risky territory, but how might I quote the price of these instruments in the paper? The separate companies do not actively publish this information, you must request a quote. Am I breaking the law or simply pissing off these companies if I attempt to publish this data?


texts: What happens to summer salary funds if one has more than three months' support?

texts: If someone has been successful enough with grant support that they somehow manage to accumulate more than three months' summer support per year, what happens to the remainder of the funds above the three-month threshold?


texts: Are ethnic "minorities" given preference in PhD admissions in the US?

texts:
I have a question about college education, or more specifically, admittance into college education in the US.

Since as far as I remember, I've always heard that colleges or universities in the US have a sort of special preference for admitting people that are considered "minorities". I would like to know if this is true, and if so, what it entails.

For example, I myself was born elsewhere but moved to the US at an early age, and eventually became a citizen. I don't know where this places me as far as "minority" programs go, if they exist. I imagine there'd be a sort of hierarchy such as scholarships > minority with scholarship > minority, but I really have no clue.

This interests me because I am studying in a university outside the US, and I'm considering applying for a PhD program in the US. I'm aware that schools function differently, but if someone knows of this topic for a specific school it'd help.


texts: How to get an up to date PhD title in Cloud Computing Security?

texts:
I have got a PhD scholarship in Cloud Computing Security, and its about one year am doing research and literature review in that field. However, I haven't reached any point to start with, I'm a little depressed with that. The problem is my supervisor cannot guide me and he doesn't has a very good background in that field and I can't ask for alternative or second supervisor, because the university rule doesn't allows that.

Any advice on how to choose a topic, as I required to publish two papers in high impact factor (Thomson Reuters) journals before submitting my dissertation?


texts: Send a second follow-up to inquire about interview success?

texts: I interviewed for a lecturer position a month and a half ago, and was told that the decision would be made about one month after my interview.  I was also told that I would be informed either way, but have yet to hear back.  A week ago I sent a follow up email, asking if a decision had been made, but didn't receive a response.  Is it appropriate to send another follow up, or should I just sit tight?  I have a feeling I didn't get the position, but I'd like to know for sure so that I can start planning other options.


texts: Ethics of using public and illegally obtained databases for academic purposes

texts:
I'm on my senior year of college, and my professor and I have decided on an independent study where I will analyze and develop some method(s) for screening valid data sets for the 'selection' phase of data mining, where spam bots, dead accounts, and other irrelevant data sources are omitted from machine learning analysis.

The problem i'm running into is that I really want to use a data set that is from the real world, so I could truly discover something meaningful from the data that hasn't been discovered before.

My initial thought was to use the Ashley Madison hack dump from the summer of 2015, but I wanted to consider the ethical implications of using such sensitive data. Alternatively, I was thinking I could manipulate the data before analyzing it to provide some sense of anonymity to the victims of the hack (for instance, replacing all full emails with the first and last character of the name, as well as the @ and suffix).

My question is NOT whether you think these practices are ethical, but whether there has been some professional work done in the past anyone is aware of that can serve as a model for my current work.

For example, Facebook was caught manipulating the content of its users' Facebook feeds in order to measure the emotional reaction of the content on their future posts.


texts: Is it ethical for a student to commit self-plagiarism from a non-academic source?

texts:
There has been plenty of discussion on the basic issue of students self-plagiarizing from one course to another as well as academics self-plagiarizing prior but unpublished material in a later publication, but I was thinking of something slightly different that I haven't seen discussed.

Is it plagiarism for a student to submit material that was written prior to the course start date or otherwise outside of the supervision of the instructor as long as the material was written outside the aegis of academia? Most self-plagiarism policies that I've seen, such as Harvard's, mention that the prior work must have been submitted to another course for it to constitute self-plagiarism.

If doing something like that would be ethical, would any of the following further situations be ethical?

1) Submitting prior material that was prepared for a prior class but never submitted/turned in. This could be because the student withdrew from the course before submission, the student was expelled before submission, or the student decided to start over from scratch on the assignment. For example, a student writes a paper on Mary Shelley for his Survey of British Literature course, but then decides that he really would rather do a paper on Jane Austen and writes one on her and turns it in instead. Later, the student finds himself enrolled in Introduction to Science Fiction and finds himself without a lot of time. Is it ethical for him to patch up his never submitted Mary Shelley paper (e.g. with corresponding corrections to make it meet the expectations of the new course) and turn it in?

2) Submitting prior material that was completed and submitted for a course that the student took an an unaccredited university (or a university whose accreditation is not recognized by the student's current institution as legitimate). Since an unaccredited university is, for most intents and purposes in academia, academically equivalent to no university at all (degrees and credits are not recognized, etc.), this would seem to be ethically equivalent to submitting material completed under the supervision of a private tutor.


texts: Impact of a C+ grade in a graduate course

texts:
I'm planning to apply to competitive PhD programs in theoretical physics. Unfortunately, I received a C+ grade in one relevant graduate-level course. I really don't know how I got this grade, because I think I did well in the final examination. The final exam was worth 100 % of the total grade. Now, I received 5 A's, two B+, and two B's in the 10 graduate courses that I took. Unfortunately, my undergraduate degree is unrelated to the field I intend to do a PhD in. I didn't even attend undergraduate courses in calculus. I taught myself math and physics from calculus up to algebraic topology and Quantum field theory. I have also scored high in the subject GRE test.

I would like to know if these grades would have negative impact on my PhD applications. Should I attempt to do anything about this C+ grade?


texts: Is there an open-source license that enforces citations?

texts:
I build simulations and make them open-source. Depending on the context I either license them with Apache or GPL. I publish the simulation results in paper and link to the code.
However sometimes some parts of the code are useful for others regardless of the overall original simulation.

Is there a way in the license to ask/recommend/enforce that people who use some of that code remember to cite the paper associated with it?

Is a friendly reminder in the readme the best I can do?


texts: Taylor and Francis Manuscript Status "Under Review"

texts: Does this status mean it has been sent to referees? Or is could it still be desk rejected?


texts: How to show graduate schools my strong self study background?

texts:
I'm taking some time off between my undergraduate and graduate studies. I've definitely kept up the practice of my field during this time through self-study. My question relates to how I can show this to graduate admissions next year. Let's say I've been working through some very important books/papers of my field which prepare me for research. What's a good way to show this? Simply stating this on my statement of purpose isn't sufficient as I've seen first hand people mentioning  or exaggerating the extent of their study/projects and there'd be no way to tell if what I'm doing is any different. Should I be typing up notes as I go along and uploading them somewhere? This to me seems like a tedious task which would take time away from the actual study. Or should I upload my hand-written notes? This on the other hand seems a bit unprofessional.

Edit: For clarification, I should mention that my field is theoretical physics.


texts: What to do when emails to a potential advisor are not replied?

texts:
I asked a potential advisor for possible research projects but I haven't received a reply.

What is the appropriate thing to do?

Reply with my previous mail quoted, and say something like I having heard from you... and try to arrange a personal meeting to discuss the topic.
Or simply forward my previous email hoping that somehow my email wasn't read the first time.


texts: Should I apply for financial assistance to go to conferences?

texts:
Many conferences offer some form of financial assistance, covering travel, registration, accommodation, or combinations thereof.

My university will only pay for one conference travel expenses over the course of my PhD.

While I live in a first-world country, I am not financially well-off. I can't easily afford to fly to conferences in my own country, let alone some of the more exciting international conferences.

A lot of conferences I am really interested in are of side-note to my research -- things like SciPy. Or conferences from related fields.

Is it worth me applying for financial assistance in these cases?
Or is financial assistance restricted to people from developing nations,
or to people researching the primary area of the conference,
or to people who are submitting papers to the conference?

Is the paperwork involved generally long and complex?
it is not worth the time to spend a week filling out forms, for a 1% chance of getting to go the a conference -- I could be spending that time on actual research.

Are these awards highly competitive?


texts: Should I stay in PhD program I dislike to have a shot at liberal arts teaching?

texts:
TL;DR: I'm a pure math graduate student who doesn't like research mathematics. Should I continue and get the PhD because I suspect I might like teaching at a 4-year liberal arts college?

I am currently in a pure math PhD program at a fairly good university. I just finished my second year there, and after passing qualifying exams have been awarded a Master's.

Ever since I arrived in grad school, I have been fairly dissatisfied. I went to grad school because math in undergrad felt relevant, and I loved the feeling of leaping from logical lily-pad to logical lily-pad en route to proving something. In grad school, though, these feelings have become fewer and far between. I feel like things have become more mechanical and more like banging my head against a wall. For the most part, I find it very difficult to motivate myself to do my work; I never look forward to getting started in the morning. I have finished required courses and qualifying exams, but the difficulty continues as I do a reading course in preparation for work with an advisor.

Overall, I have realized that research math is not for me. I have quite enjoyed my teaching experiences, which so far consist of leading recitation sessions, tutoring, and the first week of teaching a summer course. Because of the heavy emphasis on "teaching to the test" in secondary education, among other things, I suspect I would enjoy teaching at, say, a liberal arts college more than teaching at a secondary school. However, I feel pretty inexperienced in teaching, and so I don't feel certain by any means about these feelings. This is now the only reason I would want to stay in graduate school. Is this enough reason to continue for the next 3-4 years to the PhD?

According to my advisor, I would be in graduate school another 3-3.5 years for the PhD. I would love to work at a liberal arts institution in the US, but ideally one where the research load is minimal/nonexistent. The impression I got from skimming MathJobs recently was that such positions were relatively rare compared to research-intensive positions. Do you feel like I would be very likely to find such a job if I stayed for the PhD?

Any advice is much appreciated! Thank you, everyone.


texts: Do published papers have to contain original work?

texts: Can I turn my MSc thesis into a paper and can the paper get published if it does not have original work?


texts: How does a global organization compare global degrees?

texts:
Being a US citizen and native, my view of degree progression is

Bachelors, 4 years of study
Masters, 1-2 years of study, thesis or portfolio required
Doctorate, 3-4 years of study, comprehensive exams and dissertation required

How does this compare globally? My current understanding is that European schools invert the Bachelors/Masters terms. How does a global organization's human resources department track this for comparison? How do you ensure you are comparing apples to oranges? What are the names of the systems (if they have them, possibly American, European, or another nomenclature)? I recall looking for a simple presentation of this information before, and not being able to find it, so I hope to solve this once and for all here.


texts:
So the other day I received an email from the department head stating:

Please list your highest degree.
Please list any professional development activities that you’ve done in the last 5 years.

He emphasized that it was for reviewing the department as a whole.

Now, I'm an adjunct so the same rules don't apply to me as the full time faculty, but it did help me focus a little bit. I thought about how my inbox is always full with professional development activities, but I don't think any of it could be listed in a cv.

Facebook? Really? But I do subscribe to 2 different Facebook groups in my area of expertise. I have since unsubscribed from them both.

Is reading the Wall Street Journal something that I can claim as a professional development activity? What about the myriad of other subscriptions? Discarded.

What should a person focus on in order to advance their career as a teacher? Is getting a PhD the bar that must be hurdled before anything else?

Here is my question: How should I approach my department chair and say that I would like to beef up my Curriculum Vitae, with the school's help?


texts: Research proposal for postdoc applications

texts: I am a final year PhD student in Physics applying for postdoc. Usually institutes ask for statement of research in postdoc applications. But one of them asks for a research proposal (less than two pages). I already have a four page long research statement. I was thinking of omitting my past research part (I'll not be working on my thesis related work in future). Can someone suggest me how to modify a statement of research to make that a research proposal.


texts: Email to all potential supervisors listed on application

texts:
I submitted my application for grad school with some professors as my potential supervisors. I have never contacted them prior to my submission.

Days ago I sent an email to one of them and asked him to take a look at my application and later he invited me to an interview. Interview went well but at the end he said there are some other candidates that he is interested in and he would interview them too. So I have to wait for the admission committee decisions.

In this situation, is it wise to contact other professors listed in my application and present my case to them? Some of them are working in a similar field to this professor and others have different research interests.

Please note that in my statement of purpose and CV, I mentioned my research goals which are inline with these potential supervisors' interests.


texts: Travel grants to lecture in a poor country: where to apply?

texts:
I have always wanted to lecture at a university in a poor country, something like volunteering. I am currently in Australia and I have been in touch with a colleague in Sierra Leone (West Africa) who mentioned that they need lectures for a specific topic but they cannot afford to get hire one. So I thought of helping for one semester. The problem is traveling is expensive and most likely I will be taking an unpaid leave for that period.

My question is: are there agencies that can provide travel grants or cover some expenses for lecturers willing to volunteer in poor countries? Any pointers will be highly appreciated!


texts: Is it okay to include a graduated phd student as a reference in resume/C.V?

texts: I'm trying to apply for a PhD and want to include references in my resume. Is it okay to include a PhD student, one who has gotten a degree and has worked in our lab,and is currently working in industry, as a reference?


texts: How should a new professor speak to prospective PhD Students?

texts: I am a new professor, now interviewing PhD students. I lack many of the things they expect: other PhD students to talk to, a clear narrative about my lab's work (as funding is still in flux), and an academic backstory beyond graduate school. How should I help good students to take a chance on me as an advisor?


texts: Why don't things work with comparisons in reference letters and refereeing?

texts:
This recent question How high should I rate a good student for PhD admission? is just an example of how puzzling the problem of writing reference letters is.

One knows that there is inflation in the field, so they feel they have to adapt, but it is not clear how much inflation is appropriate and when it is too much. Negative comments are often omitted, and this gives the evaluators less data.

There is an analogous problem when refereeing papers, or serving as anonymous referees for research proposals and grants. This seems to be a flaw which is implicit in the evaluation method. Apart from this voluntary inflation bias, there is also an involuntary component: if I ask you to evaluate your research field/colleague/student is, you will unconsciously feel biased towards it/him/her.

Is this perceived as a big problem? If so, why is there no attempt to obtain more reliable results? Some possible strategies, although difficult to apply, spring to my mind:

if there are enough data points for the recommender, normalize everything and "grade on a curve".
don't ask "how good X is?"; give them two paper/applicants/projects to evaluate, and ask "which one is better, X or Y?". This makes it more difficult to find good referees, because they have to be familiar with two of the persons/projects under evaluations.
force the evaluators to provide at least 3 positive and 3 negative points, the most outstanding ones. This won't affect the inflation bias, but at least it provides some more data on the negative aspects.

I have seriously considered writing a standard addendum to enclose to my letters and reports, stating that I realize how biased and unreliable these things are, I am in a difficult position giving an absolute score on a scale that is totally unknown to me and the other evaluators, and I'd really feel more comfortable with a comparison-based evaluation system. Would this be appropriate, or raise some eyebrows on the trustworthyness of my evaluations?


texts:
I'm currently about to graduate from a US university with a MS as I didn't make it to the PhD program. For whatever reasons I was rejected even after performing quite well compared to other PhD students, I don't want to speculate. I had an idea that some of these students are cheating on the homework assignments by copying codes and solutions from previous year posted solutions. The professors are probably too lazy to do anything about it because even after I reported anonymously, nothing has changed. I had made peace with that, but in this semester, I noticed that they even have access to a drive on the network where the professor keeps the exams and solutions. I struggle to study for the mid-terms when I have so much of assignments to do, and these people get a head-start by just copying the assignments one day before the deadline. First of all, they have more time to prepare for exams or do other stuff, and secondly, they also have sample exams with solutions which the professor is probably repeating.

Instead of reporting that, I asked the professor if he'd provide sample exams to everyone. He got irritated and behaved quite badly even when I had genuine questions to ask during his office hours. After the mid-term, he screwed me in the exam and I noticed others fared much better than me. I have a feeling the professor knows and may be I inconvenienced him by reporting. I spend a lot of time worrying about this. In a month I'd be out of here and I want to have nothing to do with these people again.

What should I do? Given that I have been rejected at the PhD program, if I speak to any other professor, they might think I'm making this up. And I also can't believe that nobody knows about it and they have just kept exams, assignments, etc on a shared drive. I think they're ignoring the problem to not give the school a bad reputation and might just fail me if I speak up.

I don't know right now what exactly I should do. Except that I don't want to get hurt. Even if I report to higher-ups, I don't want to take names (not that they're my friends, but I only know a handful who are involved. Not sure if the entire class is cheating). I'm more paranoid about what the professors would do and if somehow they will pin this on me. It is easier to discredit me as a "disgruntled ex-student" than take action against PhD candidates.

Is keeping quiet and hoping to get out without any issues the best option?


texts: How are graduate students funded over the summer (in US)?

texts:
I know that there are often summer courses through TAing, but those are much rarer. Many departments don't even offer summer courses.

In that case, are graduate students over summer always supported by RAships? And does an adviser have to have funding in order to support these students (in US)?

Do these standards also vary between professors at public schools and those at private schools? Especially schools that have guaranteed five-year funding?


texts: How to get enrolled into a PhD program without a reference letter from a PI with whom you have worked for 2 years?

texts:
Right after I graduated by BSc degree in Chemistry, I joined the group of a professor as a research-assistant who was willing to work with me for a few publications before I could be admitted since I only had a second-lower honours degree. Long story short, I worked there for two years, and at the end of that, I had a episode of mental breakdown where I needed to be hospitalised. With all the stigma surrounding mental health,my PI just didn't believe me, saying "I don't think your problem is that important", and  "you may take leave if you want since it is your right, but there will be consequences to this". I ended up leaving, did a Masters degree, and am now trying to look for PhD positions.

I am now trying to look for PhD positions again, but I found out that my old prof has been speaking to other professors about me in particular. My old PI also hasn't published any of my work, and nor has he published any work since 2016. I happen to be in some city in Asia where the scientific circle is really small, so almost everyone knows one another.

Every time I get interviewed for a position, I inevitably get asked why I left my old prof. How am I supposed to explain this away?


texts: Didn't attend field-specific conferences during my PhD; how much of a disadvantage is it?

texts:
During my mechanical engineering PhD, I was not able to go to my field specific conferences and had to go to diverse conferences. Thus, I couldn't interact with researchers directly in my field of research. As an introvert, it is very difficult for me to make connections or networks during conferences and events. So, I doubt that I could have done anything by going to field specific conferences either.

On top of that, I don't have anything on my CV to speak about my leadership qualities. I have done some volunteering work and judged a poster session during my PhD. I also have done some TA. But, apart from that, I have not done any organizing stuff.

I had earlier helped my advisor to write a grant and have been a reviewer in a journal. Since writing that grant, I have not received any opportunity to write a grant as my advisor has pivoted his research interests to other field quite different from mine. So, I don't have much experience in that too.

Excluding my publication record, as a PhD student about to submit my thesis, how much of a disadvantage am I in when applying for a future academic position?


texts: Should I include all authors for in-text citation if I cite a source with three (or more) authors in a different chapter again?

texts:
According to this site, when you're using the APA reference style, if a source has 3-5 authors, all authors should be mentioned in the first in-text citation, while only the first author need to be mentioned in the subsequent citation. Does "subsequent" applies to the whole work or just the current chapter or section?

I am writing a master thesis.


texts: How should I style my German doctoral title in English documents?

texts:
I hold a Dr. rer. nat. title from the computer science institute at a German university. I am now writing a job application that I will send to a German organization, but since it has many international employees and the advertisement itself was in English, I decided to write the application in English (assuming that some of the decision makers may not speak German well).
My biggest problem in the translation is my title. In the German original, I use Dr. rumtscho in the CV header and a couple of other places. However, all translated versions I considered have drawbacks:

keep it as Dr. rumtscho. This is idiomatic in German, but I think it's totally strange in English and may make people think that I forgot to pay attention to the header when translating.
Style myself as rumstcho, PhD. While I refer to my title as "PhD" in informal conversation in English, I believe it is officially not permissible to "translate" the title.
Style myself as rumtscho, Dr. rer. nat. This looks weird both in English and in German, and for people unfamiliar with the "there is no traditional doctor title for computer scientists, so we just reuse one" attitude of German universities, they may think I come from a biology or chemistry background.

Which option is likely to be best received? Is the answer different when preparing English-language official documents to be read by Germans and by native English speakers?


texts: Remind professor of email a second time?

texts:
Disclaimer: I know there are some similar questions around. However, I don't feel like the answers there suit this situation completely. This is why I am asking.

Some backstory (not necessarily important, but maybe of interest, just to give the complete picture): A student of mine was talking about a thesis (undergrad, so a relatively informal project of 1-3 months) at an external research facility. The professor there answered her first few emails in a positive way, they started discussing timetable. Professor says, he's away for some time next year. Student makes suggestion for time to work on the project. Professor answers, says he forgot to think of some traveling he had to do during that time.
Now, student proposes another time for the project, later in the year, when the professor said he was at the institute.

Now the problem: Professor doesn't answer anymore. Student waits 2-3 weeks, sends a friendly reminder, just as recommended in a lot of the answers on here. Waits another 2-3 weeks - no answer. Student seems to be a bit insecure now, emails the secretary of the professor saying she might have missed the professor, maybe he was absent, asks when he's in office. Gets an answer, saying he is back in office at date XY, not really clear about whether the professor was absent before or not.

Now she came to me, asking whether I had any experience with this. She tells me the story I told you here and says that he feels it is rude to remind a second time but she a) might have missed the professor, he travels a lot, so there's that possibility and b) she also feels like the professor would send at least a short notice if he decided to cancel the project. On the same time there is a time problem because she has to find another thesis at some point if this one doesn't work out. However, contacting someone else might result in an awkward situation of having to cancel on of the projects in a late stage of preparation. She also really wants to work with the professor, he was no. 1 on her list.

I - sadly or luckily - have experienced no situation like this. But maybe there is a higher ranked academic (I am only a grad student myself, her tutor) or someone who had a similar experience here who can give his opinion on that. I genuinely feel bad for her and want to give her some good advice.
Thanks a lot!


texts: What does "archival quality" mean in the context of journal aims and scope?

texts:
What does "archival quality" mean in this context? Is it just a posh way of saying they only want a paper if it describes an important breakthrough?

  IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation publishes archival
  quality original papers in evolutionary computation and related areas
  including nature-inspired algorithms, population-based methods, and
  optimization where selection and variation are integral, and hybrid
  systems where these paradigms are combined. Purely theoretical papers
  are considered as are application papers that provide general insights
  into these areas of computation.

Note: I think this may be a duplicate of What does archival contribution in journals mean. However, even if it gets closed as a duplicate, it will help others searching for the information. And it would be nice to have a more extensive answer, either here or on the other question.


texts:
I am writing a scientific paper and I won't be able to go in the details of a certain topic.
I am considering to write something like: "The topic XXX is beyond the scope of this paper.".
I know that this is a common practice in research and it will not be a problem to write such a phrase.
However, since I think that it is a good idea to direct the reader towards useful literature about the XXX topic. For this reason, I was wondering how to write that in English. The alternatives I have in mind are:

A complete survey of the topic XXX is beyond the scope of this paper [1,2,3].
A complete survey of the topic XXX is beyond the scope of this paper and the reader is directed to [1,2,3] for further details.
A complete survey of the topic XXX is beyond the scope of this paper and the reader is referred to the literature for further details [1,2,3].

*where [1,2,3] are just examples of the referred literature

Unfortunately, I don't like any of them so far but I prefer 3. Could you help me with finding a solution?

Thanks.


texts: Undergrad overwhelmed by a graduate math class

texts:
I'm an undergraduate studying math and I'm taking a graduate math class for the first time this semester. I've taken the undergraduate prerequisites, but it's still very challenging, which I was expecting.

I'm starting to get overwhelmed by the content and the pace of the course. The professor is not only very famous in the field but also tends to brush off most things as 'basic' during lectures and doesn't seem to like to answer students' questions in detail. I find it intimidating to approach the professor or go to office hours because I feel like I don't even know the basics. I'm the only undergraduate in the class, but it seems like other graduate students are also finding the content quite intense.

I also don't have anyone to work with, and I find it very difficult to just randomly approach people in the class, not only because I'm introverted but mostly because I feel very embarrassed of my lack of understanding. I'm really interested in the subject and I want to give it my best. It's hard to tackle the problem set even after consulting multiple books, and I feel more discouraged and unsure of myself. I'd appreciate some advice from people with more experience.


texts: Well-acquainted professor does not respond when I share my work?

texts:
I'm a master student in statistics. I took this professor's class, in which I've done very well. I have discussed with him about my research project a few times while taking the class, although he is not my thesis supervisor. It's been 2,3 months since my last time meeting him. I shared my paper draft (written over this summer) with him recently via email since he seemed genuinely interested in my progress and even suggested I should keep him posted. I'd also like to ask him for a reference in the fall for PhD application. The draft was quite lengthy although I think the content is at least original and interesting for a researcher in my field. So my guess is that he doesn't have time to go over it and does not care enough to meet me for a discussion. There is a possibility that he might  have missed the email. There is another complication that he suggested one time if I wanted him to supervise my research but I have already chosen another professor as my supervisor at that point. So he could have felt uninterested after knowing that, although we had one more discussion after that incident.

Question:
How and when should I follow up with another email? I really want  his reference but do not want to appear like a burden (that's why I did not reach out to him for the whole summer until now). I may be able to go to his office uninvited but I'm not sure that'd be a good strategy.

Thank you!


texts: Is UK QTS a global status or is it per-subject?

texts:
I am considering taking a PGCE course to get myself QTS.
The only PGCE offered in the area, however, is Mathematics.
While I am sure I can teach Maths, I'd rather eventually teach softer subjects.
Upon attaining my QTS, will I only hold that status for teaching Maths, or for teaching in general?


texts: How good is an LoR based on a correspondence on one's paper?

texts:
I am applying for Fall 2018 for Ph.D. Programs in Physics. I came across a paper in my late sophomore year which I found extremely interesting so I wrote a mail to the author expressing my thoughts about his paper which included a slightly new interpretation of one key constant appearing in his paper. He was very glad to read my mail and responded quite enthusiastically--further suggesting that I should send my note to a Journal. I didn't send it to any Journal because I thought it was too unimportant to be separately published.

Then, coincidentally, I met with the guy when he visited my University to deliver a guest-talk, in my early final year. Since I knew he was coming, I had been playing around with the calculations and arguments related to his paper and I found a newer way to derive what he had derived in his paper using fewer axioms. So, I met with the guy and told him about my results. This time also he was very enthusiastic and glad to meet me. He again strongly suggested communicating my results to a Journal.  We then had many discussions over email regarding my new calculations and his suggestions. We recently found an even more simpler proof of the same results and I am in the process of submitting a paper on the same to a Journal. I have also been in contact with the guy regarding several versions of the draft for this paper.

Thus, I thought it would be nice if he writes me a reference letter indicating what he liked about my thinking and arguments, and how important he thinks are my results. Moreover, it would show that I like to explore papers out of my interest and work on them without any academic obligations. But when I wrote to him about it, he told me that he would write me a reference letter if I want him to but he would not be able to write anything quantitatively (to quote, "for example, you were in top 10% of my class or something like that") and thus, he doubts whether the LoR would be really helpful. I think that even a qualitative LoR will do good, thus, I am thinking of asking him to write an LoR anyway.

So, before I do that, I would like to know whether such an LoR would do any good or not? And worse, can it somehow backfire? Also, I would like the answer to consider both the scenario -- this being my fourth LoR and this being one of my three LoRs.


texts: Do conferences accept entry of those who didn't register before the deadline?

texts:
A relatively big conference will take place in my neighborhood, but I haven't noticed of it until now. I'd like to attend some lectures done by young researchers who recently made a breakthrough.

Unfortunately, the deadline of registration is over. Thus, I have this question: do conferences accept entry of those who didn't register before the deadline?


texts: Who does the pre-copy-edited version of a paper belong to?

texts:
I am aware that the copyright of the pre-peer review version of a paper belongs to the author. Does the post-peer review but pre-copy-edited version still belong to the author? I thought it may do because at this point the manuscript can still be rejected.

As I understand it, post copy-edits the manuscript belongs to the journal.


texts: Can my co-author remove my name from our paper because I am leaving my current institution

texts:
My professor and I have an accepted paper in a journal. The journal will publish it online very soon. However, I have decided to leave my current school and continue my education somewhere else. My question: is there any possibility that journal editors will remove my name if my professor asks them to do so?

Thank you


texts: What is the responsibility of a publication board in relation to ethical subject studies?

texts:
While journals are in large part the main venue for academic publishing, conferences are heavily utilized in some other venues.  It seems from the venues I have been around, there is a separation between these two types of venues in regards to ethical review for publication.
While PLOS ONE has a specific statement about this:

Researchers submitting studies involving human participants must meet
the following requirements:
Obtain prior approval for human subjects research by an institutional
review board (IRB) or equivalent ethics committee(s)
...
All submissions describing clinical research and/or research on human
subjects will be checked by journal staff to ensure that the
requirements above are met. Failure to meet requirements may be
grounds for rejection. If issues are discovered after publication, we
may issue a correction or retraction as appropriate.

Organizations like COPE, which seem to be used by many groups (including ACM) do not seem to have ethical human subject studies under their 'Ethics' category.
Is receiving IRB approval only a matter that a university should care about? If an organization includes in proceedings or issue a paper that did not have IRB approval, is it only up to the university or author to retract this, or does the organization have a responsibility to do this?


texts: Number of pages for a Cover-letter to apply to postdoc position

texts:
A friend and I are arguing about the number of pages needed for a coverletter, to apply to postdoc in electro-engineering.

Usually, the postdoc offer (what I called a job offer) says up to 3 pages.

My friend fills the 3 pages for the coverletter.

To me, he should stick to one page , presenting himself, his work and why he is the most qualified for this position like any regular jobs actually.

I feel I'm right but as I do not have much experiences applying to postdocs, I cannot validate my claim.

Any insights are more than welcomed.


texts: What to do when some students pay someone to solve their exams projects and thesis?

texts:
There are some students on my masters program in mathematics who don't even know the basics of mathematics like an example of a continuous function or similar. They pay someone else to solve the problem sheets and projects for them and somehow managed to pass exams by learning by heart only past exams. Of course I don't have a proof for any of this but I know since they have told me. The head of school thinks he is doing a good thing and that all of the students who passed exams are good students, while myself and students like me were put in a very unfair position. Would there be any sense of addressing this thing and how? For the thing to be worse, those students are female students from the rich Gulf countries and they and their husbands do not need to work(I have absolutely nothing against that, but situation might be politically and religiously complicated in case of addressing this problem. Of course, these kind of things happen in case of any other countries/religions as well, but this is the situation in my case). Just for the sake of argument, in my case, I had to work full time while studying full time. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks.

EDIT:
I am unable to comment so will answer here. The projects and problem sheets took a part in a scoring of the final grade. As they have told me they have been studying only one semester material (out of 2 semester material) and have been learning solutions from the old exam papers from the previous years and many of the questions have been repeated.
Also we just had to send the paper via email or give it in a paper form, without any reporting or discussion.

EDIT: in reply to comments, @scaaahu asked: "My point is the student does not even know the basics. How useful would the old exam papers be?" Well, it can be if you are learning without any understanding and by heart from the old exams.

EDIT: It would be impossible for the head of school not to know what is going on, he is well aware of them and the situation but still does not want to do anything about it.

EDIT: I did not mention that their English language proficiency almost does not exist and they presented papers with a great English and professional maths.


texts: How do I apologize to my teacher for cheating?

texts: In my Chemistry class, we had a quiz and I helped another student cheat by showing him the answers on my paper but the teacher caught us. I know what I did is wrong and I know I deserve punishment, but I really respect my teacher and I don't want her to think less of me for this. Obviously that's already happened and there's not much I can do, but does anyone have any advice about how I can approach her and apologize for my actions in a way that doesn't seem like I'm trying to make excuses?


texts: I cannot get funding to travel to conferences, is it normal to target journals instead and would it affect my future Computer Science career?

texts:
One of my research papers have been accepted to a very prestigious conference (top most in my field of study in Computer Science).
Since I am not a full time student, university rules do not allow for funding my travel and conference registration charges. Also, I do not earn enough to support my own travel to a different continent. Moreover, my advisor, who is also a co-author in the paper cannot travel due to personal issues.

The conference website doesn't mention about any kind of support neither have I ever seen(short career) such a support being provided.

So my questions are:

Should I rather target journals for publications since most of the reputable ones in my field are free to publish but may take anywhere between 1-2 years to get accepted. Moreover, they may require more comprehensive work and analysis which I may not always be able to commit to, resulting in my work lying unpublished.
Is it normal to just aim for journal publications ?
I am a Phd Student. I want to go in academia in future. I believe aiming for journal publication would result in less number of publications for me. Would it affect my career in future ?


texts: Writing recommendation letters for two fellowship candidates, conflict of interest?

texts:
Let's say there are two applicants to a private foundation fellowship which requires a faculty sponsorship and additional recommendation letters. Would there be a conflict of interest for a faculty to sponsor one applicant with an accompanying letter, and write a recommendation letter for the other applicant?

I thought there would be no conflict, but my fellow faculty member disagrees. What are the possible issues with this situation?


texts: I have an on-campus interview next month. Being my first time to make an on-campus interview, I have no experience on how to properly do that. I was asked to give a teaching demonstration for 30~45 minutes. The university is focused on teaching  and they have only a master program (no PhD ). I am planning to present my research work as "a teaching demonstration". Is that okay?


texts: Is professorship (assistant/associate and full) a title or a position?

texts:
Unless I am mistaken, somehow, if you have defended a PhD then you have a Doctorate degree, which means you are a "Doctor". That remains to be the case, even if you leave academia and go work in industry, or travel the world or whatever.

Does the same thing apply for professorship? In other words, is it so that once you receive professorship, you are indeed always a professor? Or is it connected to your employment as a professor?

And of course there is the middle ground, where you might have assistant or associate professorship and choose to leave academia? Do you then revert back to being a "John Smith, PhD"? Or remain to be "John Smith, Assoc Prof"?

As a follow up question: Does this vary from country to country as well, or is there a generally accepted rule of thumb?


texts: Is it a good idea to include participation in summer schools in my CV?

texts: Is it a good idea to include participation in summer schools to my CV?


texts: I have a masters degree in Physics and I have worked in Italian high school for 15 years. Now I'm 47 and I wish to have a bachelor or masters degree in Math, because I'd like to change job. How difficult might be for me to have a Phd after the degrees, considered my advanced age (even if I don't feel it)?


texts:
One of my profs in college has (after years of students asking him to do so) put forth a syllabus with all the material for the class he is teaching.

With the help of 3 students from previous years (who did most of the writing), he made a neat 90 page syllabus covering what is taught during lectures.

My year is the first year that'll benefit from this as it was finished early September 2017 (currently in October 2017). However, as is to be expected, some typos still exist, and some little mistakes in formulas do too. I read through it and compiled a Word doc containing all the typos and mistakes I could find and was wondering if it would be badly received if I sent him an email with those. He has asked his students to tell him if they found mistakes, so I know I should probably let him know about those, but I'm not sure as to whether fixing typos will be seen as arrogant or even remotely relevant, since I'm probably the only one getting triggered by them because of my OCD.

Thanks !


texts: Tips required ::: How to engage facebook group memebers to gather data for text anlaytics task

texts:
I am working in NLP (Text Analytics) domain. I am asked to perform some text analytics tasks (tasks such as Sentiment Analysis, QA using NLP? ) on a Facebook group.
I am not sure how to engage group members in some discussion so that I can get some relevant text data for analysis.
I am asked to have some ideas or QA which can be applied to capture patients' sentiments/ opinion and feelings and then apply some NLP?
Any ideas? Suggestions?


texts: What sentence is suitable for thanking a professor?

texts: I am looking for a PhD position. Sometimes professors give me information about their projects via emails. How can I thank them for their explanation in a polite way, show my interest and impress them?


texts: NSF proposals: What exactly is wanted in the Intellectual Merit and Broader Impact sections?

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I have been looking all over for more information on what exactly should go in the Intellectual Merit and Broader Impact sections of NSF proposals. So far I have found two decent explanations, one by the University of Arizona and another by the Director of Research, The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University.

The first says that Intellectual Merit is about original contributions the research proposed will make, while the second claims a similar thing. However, for Broader Impact it seems they are a little different. Unfortunately though i feel neither goes as in depth on the explanation of both as I would have liked. So I am still having difficulty understanding what they are asking for.

If someone could give me a more concise explanation of each section, that would be greatly appreciated.

If that is too much trouble a couple of simpler questions to answer for me are:

Is the Intellectual Merit section only about the goals of the current research or also future research that may come as a result of the current research?
Is the Broader Impact section supposed to be about impact in the scientific community, society, or both?


texts: Was there ever a case where one has to prove access to materials cited?

texts:
One can obtain reference materials from various sources. If not of open access, it could be either bought from a publisher or downloaded with an institutional license or even borrowed from a colleague.

Just out of curiosity, was there ever a situation where authors must prove their access to the articles cited in their paper to the editor/publisher/reviewer?

I agree that some of the references need not necessarily require licenced access for the sake of referencing such as pointing to datasets. However, my concern is about original research articles from which you cite a piece of information in your paper.


texts: Do grad schools let you know whether you get a place and funding at the same time?

texts: I know that there are often two processes after a PhD interview: the school will decide whether (1) you get a place; (2) whether you get funding. From your experience, did you hear back from your potential supervisors first whether you get a place or did you get to know both at the same time? It's been almost three weeks since my interview and I haven't heard anything from the school (I applied for a UK university and the school of Arts and Humanities, and the funding body is the university, which offers scholarships for several schools and departments). The chair of the interview did say to me that the first process will be quick and the second will take 4-8 weeks. Does this mean I won't be offered a place?


texts: Is there a way to get a complete name bibliography from Scopus? How can I set my scrape, in that case?

texts: I need a complete name bibliography from a search but I'm only allowed to have the surname and then the names'initals. Is there a way to get them?


texts:
I was an F1-student in the US but because of some issues, my visa was revoked and I have to leave in my 3rd year of my PhD (at a top 5 school). I have done good work so far and my advisor is quite pleased with me. We tried all ways of getting the visa issue fixed but it seems impossible. My entry to the US seems impossible for at least another 10 years. My advisor said he could help me out in any way he could and I do want to finish.

There are no facilities in my home country so that's ruled out. I was considering transferring to some University in Canada with relevant interests so my advisor could fly in every few months to co-advise [he agreed to such a plan]. Thinking more generally though,  at this point, what are my options?


texts: How are Best Student Paper awards evaluated at engineering conferences?

texts: Do Best Paper and Best Student Paper awards follow the same evaluation criteria at engineering conferences? If not, how do they differ besides the requirement for Best Student Paper to be authored by a student?


texts: What does an industry recruiter want to know my Ph.D. GPA for?

texts:
What are the potential motives for an industry recruiter to want to know your PhD GPA?

Does this imply the position is more of an office drone position than a pure research position?


texts: Are non-first authors less likely to be invited for peer review?

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In fields where the order of authors matters (e.g., health and medical fields), does the order of authors of published papers generally affect how editors choose peer reviewers for new submissions?
Can someone who has never first-authored a paper, but is listed as a non-first author in many papers (with several other authors), be invited for peer review?
Is there any relevant published data?


texts: Grading term papers and reports written by non-native speakers

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I'm teaching an advanced undergraduate computer science course that requires a 5-7 page term paper worth about 20% of the student's grade.

The class has several international students, and some of them do not have a strong command of the English language. Clearly, these students are at a disadvantage when it comes to this assignment.

To complicate matters, the course is part of the university's "integrated writing" curriculum, so, according to university policy, the quality of the writing must be evaluated as part of the grading process.

I'm trying to devise a fair scheme where non-native English speakers are not graded as stringently as native English speakers, yet not have the grading be so lenient for non-natives that it becomes unfair in the other direction.

I've already decided that some criteria can be graded on equal footing (such as overall paper organization, and the quality of the overall research), while others (such as word selection and sentence structure) can be looked at on more of a two-tier scale.

I'm wondering if anyone here as dealt with this dilemma before and, if so, how they might have approached this problem.


texts: Is there such thing as too many follow-up emails to a professor?

texts:
I worked with my professor on a project for two months at the beginning of this year. After a while, I finished writing up the paper and sent it to him to check. He didn't reply. I've sent 5 follow-up emails within the span of 3 months after that with no reply. I am afraid to send another follow up email (the last one was a month ago) because I don't know whether he wants to continue with this project anymore.
Should I just give up? or start sending more follow-ups but at a higher frequency?


texts:
This semester, due to an increase of students enrolled, I was assigned to teach an introductory course. The course had been previously taught by two lecturers, who taught a different half of the course. The two do not know well the other half, so they developed the teaching material independently. This semester two lecturers were added and each of us teach the whole course.

It turns out that the slides for the second part are very superficial and contain some serious mistakes and omissions, and so do the tutorials. Mind that the errors are on basic definitions upon which the rest of the material is developed. Also the textbook is horrible because it is aimed at business students and is very wordy with many examples but little clear explanation and definitions.

I spoke to the lecturer in charge of the first part, who is also course coordinator, and we agreed that it was too late to change the slides and we would do something for the next year. However, the other lecturer must have been informed of my complaints and turned nasty to me, even though I have been careful not to criticise the person but only the material. Therefore, I really do not feel like helping them with comments and suggestions. Mind that it is not an ego problem here, I don't give a damn about proving my colleagues wrong, I only want to do my job and move on.

In any case, I have now to teach five weeks of material containing mistakes. Should I follow the material and teach wrong things or should I warn the students of the mistakes on the slides and teach the right stuff?

Personally I would prefer the second option (for ethical and selfdignity reasons) but that may create problems in the exam when students have to answer questions on the wrong defintions. Also, the students may be confused and the reputation of the course would be damaged. Lastly, I do not want to talk to the head of department now because it is too late and we all know what happens to whistleblowers.


texts: Appeal on overpunishment for exceeding word count was denied – how to proceed?

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I made an academic appeal over the marking of an essay, which was 13 words over the word limit.  The mark on the word-count section was unexpected, but was not consistent with the formal university word-limit marking rubric. (I cannot change the essay anymore.) Unexpectedly, my appeal was denied.

How should I further advance the appeal?
Here is what I considered so far:

Rely on independent student advocate, found by internal university contact. The issue with this is that I don’t know whether they play their role effectively. My first appeal was already denied. And before marking academic appeal, I did request for independent student advocate to be involved and witness debate of academic appeals process.
Approach an ombudsman and independent student advocate to invite them observe the entire process of complaints to the university registrar (invitation goes before arrival of formal approach, so there are witnesses to breakdowns in procedures)? This seems workable solution, and is an option I believe I can trust.
Consult the family lawyer to engage in challenges and observe the review process to make sure no more maladministration.
Perhaps a combination of 2 and 3? This may be too aggressive, but seems to have a higher chance of success than 2 or 3.

Is my thinking sound? Is there a better way I haven’t thought of?

Details on word count inconsistency are as follows......
a/ There are 5 gradated sections for word count limits.  There is no hard public published specification on when you transition from one gradated section to another.  There is no published specification that suggests that if 5 (or 10 or 15)% over word limit then you lose marks.  The marking rubric is vague and does not specify what percentage over word limits, transition you from one gradated marking section to the next one down.
It is at the marker's discretion

b/ My essay had a word limit of 2500 words.  My submitted essay had a word count of 2513 words, or 13 words (0.5 %) over the word limit. From my understanding based on experience from submitting previous essays within this department and university system, it should have gotten in the top section (because it was within the previous experience of applied margin of errors before mark degradation), or one down from the top gradated section.  The mark I got for the word count section was the 2nd section from the bottom.

c/ I did email the instructor (before essay deadline) for guidance on when word count limits transition from one formal marking section to another, eg 5% or 10% etc.  The instructor never replied to this query.

d/ the word limits was only for the main body of the essay only -where the substantive argument is.  Word count does not include title, references, bibliography, footnotes.

e/ the essay word count was not changed after first formal deadline.  It was the same word count at the time of submission of first formal deadline, as it was at the time of academic appeals denial.

Would you like any other details?


texts: Ask for reference letter for applying graduate school, professor agreed, but no more follow up

texts: I am currently preparing for the graduate school application. I was asking for reference letter from one of my Math professor who knows me well. I took classes with him for twice, went to his office hour frequently, and we were talking to each other for many different things other than the class/grades. He was very caring and helpful all the time. I asked him if he will be willing to write me a ref letter for graduate school programs, and after nearly 2 weeks, I got an reply said yes, he will be very willing to. But he reminded me that he is a very slow people and I will need to remind him at least two weeks before the deadline. After that, I sent him about some supplementary materials such as my CV/personal statements to help him write the ref letter and ask if he will need more information from me, I have been waited for more than two weeks, and I repeatedly sent reminder emails for three times, but I still got not reply from him. I went to his office, but because of the pandemic thing, he was not there. I am so nervous and concerned and not sure what sure I do next? I was calling the Math department secretary to ask her to send an email to remind him to check the email, but I also did not get any feedback from him yet. Does anyone have any suggestion for me??? I will be really appreciate for that! Also, if I got reply from him, should I politely ask him to give me his phone number in case I might not be able to contact him through email again. I am not sure if this is polite but if he cannot reponde me in time in particular when the deadline gets closer, that will be very awful :(


texts: PhD Dissertation Introduction: What to call section on thesis structure/overview?

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I'm currently working on the introduction section of my PhD dissertation (subject is physical oceanography; mostly ocean modelling), and I'm not sure what to title the subsection describing the structure of the rest of the document.  So far, Chapter 1, the Introduction, contains the following:

Three opening paragraphs
Section: Background (i.e., Lit review/motivation)
Section: Research Cruise (brief description of research cruise and project my work is associated with)

I want to add another section describing the order of chapters and a bit on how they fit together, but I'm at a loss for what to call this section and haven't seen any good examples.  "Structure"? "Overview"? "Outline"? Something else?  Is there a particular title that conveys the point "This is a description of my dissertation structure so you don't get lost", but with a bit more subtlety than "Thesis Outline"?

Thanks in advance.


texts: Authorship allocation - is it common to grant equal credit to two last authors?

texts: I am working on a project in which I have a direct supervisor in addition to the head professor of the lab. The direct supervisor only agrees to being written first or last on the article we are writing. Needless to say, my professor won't agree to be anywhere but last. He also feels that I deserve to be written in the first place. Is it possible to write both of them in the last place as co-last authors?


texts: Can I mention the weak points of the department I am applying for in my cover letter?

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I am applying for a faculty position in a small department, which is not very active in research but there is a strategic research. Comparing my previous papers and grants, I can project that I will have a significant contribution to the department to become research active.

Is it appropriate to provide a statistical projection that how the department figures will be changed by hiring me? I mean isn't it impolite to highlight the weak points of the department to justify why they should hire me?


texts: Is it permissible to use somebody else's words (without quotations) to describe a concept once their work is cited?

texts: Quite often one comes across a really succinct and precise explanation of a concept. I'm wondering if it is permissible to use this explanation verbatim, if the source work is cited in your paper (next to the explanation)? What's in question here is at most 3 sentences.


texts:
This is the first week of fall semester in our university. It is still very hot and I understand everyone has right to wear what he/she wants to wear. But I my class one female student is wear too much revealing/short cloths. I found male students turning their neck to see her again and again.

What is the best way to handle such situation without hurting someone's feeling, and without creating controversy?

Can professor dictate dress code for class room?


texts:
It happened the third time to me and I start wondering what is going on? I have submitted two papers since May last year (11 months) and didn't get any answer. I wrote to the editors and they answered to me the following:

One of them said that it was very hard to find a referee for the paper and finally they succeeded to find a person willing to referee the paper.

Yesterday the other editor told me that the two referees where the paper was sent "eventually didn't write a report. We are now trying to get a report from a third referee".

In the last two years I noticed a very long delay in receiving reports for my papers. It also happened to a reasonable journal, JA, to receive a favourable report  after some corrections are done. After I sent the corrections back I didn't receive anything back for six months. When I wrote to the editor, he wrote to me that the referee refused to answer emails and then he sent the paper to another referee, starting practically from scratch the reviewing process. The paper was finally rejected after 9 months.

Please help me concerning the following matters. Although I never commented on referee/editor's decisions it seems that something has changed. The community does not want to referee my papers anymore. Once I got a first rejection on the reason that the table of contents is not symmetric.

My question is the following:

Is anything I can do with respect to this matter? What should I write to those editors. I have asked clearly when should I receive report on my paper and didn't get any clear answer.

Finally it is my work and cannot be just deleted as some people/referee like, but these delays somehow have ruined the scores for my ongoing research grant.

Maybe I should add that most of the journals I am talking about are well established journals in the field, some of them being in the top (first quarter) of the AI/ISI ranking etc.


texts: The position that I have applied is being advertised again. Should I be worried?

texts:
I am interviewing within a couple of days for a position. As far as I know, that position has been rejected by at least one candidate before me.

I know why the position was declined in the past, this aspect of the job was discussed with me.
However, I just realized that the College has started to advertise the position again on the usual academic job boards.

Should I be worried about this? Is this something that was mandated by the people leading the search or something that HR Departments do on their own?
If anyone with insights on this process could give some perspective that'd be great.


texts: Is it possible to ask for reviewing the corrected Galley proof in Taylor & Francis journal

texts:
I recently received the Galley proof from the journal. I sent my correction, but there are more than 50. All of them are minor. Part of them are caused in the copy-editing process, and the editor changed some words incorrectly. Part of them are caused by my own mistake on factual information, like missing a word in a citation, or giving wrong page number for a reference.

The publisher mentioned they would not expect to receive more than 30 corrections. I was wondering whether they would correct everything I mentioned (given these corrections do not change the content)? Is it possible to ask to review the corrected proof before they send it for publication? (Just to check they correct everything right, rather than suggesting new correction).

I am very nervous now, so any comment and suggestion would be great!


texts: Dataset of grad admission acceptance rate based on undergrad school

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I am looking for datasets that would list the acceptance rates of graduate school applicants based on their undergrad schools. I.e. X % of students from undergraduate school Y applying to graduate school Z are admitted. Ideally, the dataset should also indicate the number of applicants.

I am mostly interested in graduate schools based in the United States, and computer science departments.


texts: After receiving an offer and a deadline of 2 weeks, when to start negotiation? According to some opinions, that one round of negotiation is fine. So is it advisable to start negotiating in the first days or wait until last days, with the hope that other offer may arrive?


texts: How to deal with students asking very incremental questions?

texts:
I'm a TA/grader for an online course in introductory programming. We have students ask us questions related to homework/labs/etc. on Piazza where we can have quick back-and-forth with questions and answers.

However, some students ask questions that are either require very basic logic, or are one of the first parts of the course. Also, some students ask for what we think of their code after every little change.

I (at least) try to ask them back questions that will lead them logically and to think critically about the material, and to come up with a solution themselves. However, this leads to not much success.

My question is how to best respond to students who ask us these questions.


texts: I communicate a conjecture and a colleague/professor proves it; are we both authors?

texts:
Context: I have a (IMO, very interesting, and rather significant) mathematical conjecture. I communicated this conjecture to a professor at my university; he is a respected expert in the topic. He says he has not seen something like my conjecture before, that it is very interesting, and that he would like to share it with his close colleagues. I tell him yes, and that I have some related conjectures.

Now I'm shifting nervously on my couch wondering what will happen.

In the past, even single theorems on this topic (partitions) have been published in journals as high-roller as the Annals. My question: In the event that my conjecture is proven true (by my professor, or one of his colleagues which he sent the result to) and is sent to a journal, even if I did not majorly assist in the proof (I am a first-year undergrad student, I can only do so much!) is it reasonable to request I be listed as an author, since the conjecture is mine and I am the one who shared it?


texts:
I am confused about how course buyouts work in the United States and about how the incentives play out for professors and the university. I will use a constructed example to frame my confusion. Please let me know if my example is unrealistic.

  Say that a university pays an assistant professor $100,000 for his teaching during the academic year. He has received an external grant of $500,000 of which $150,000 goes to the university as overhead. The professor wants to lessen his teaching load, and he can do so by paying the university a part of his salary, also known as "buying-out". His university charges 20% of his full-year salary for each course he buys out. So he has to pay the university $20,000 to avoid teaching that one course. The university then hires a non-tenure track faculty or a graduate student to teach this course for $10,000.

Just to review: The university has received $150,000 from overhead, paid $100,000 as a salary, received $20,000 for a course buyout, and then paid $10,000 for someone else to teach the course. So the university has received $60,000 from this transaction. Doesn't this transaction greatly benefit the university. Ostensibly it also benefits the professor who gets to do research in the time saved from teaching, but if this research has the potential to bring in more grant dollars and hence more overhead to the university, isn't the ultimate benefit still to the university?

Is this how the process sometimes works? If so, do universities encourage professors to use course-buyouts as a way to do more research, in a way similar to how researchers are encouraged to apply to grants?

tl;dr: Course-buyouts can give junior professors more time to do research which is necessary for their professional advancement, but it seems that at the end of the course-buyout process, it is mostly administrators and the university that is advantaged, almost as if the researcher is giving the university money so that he or she can do the research which will bring yet again more money into the university.