texts: How would I cite multiple authors from an online forum?

texts:
How would I cite two authors from this online forum (http://www.thenation.com/article/one-thing-do-about-food-forum)?
The forum is edited by Alice Waters and my quotes come from Wendell Berry and Peter Singer.
In my paper, I include the in-text citation (example below)

Singer mentions that "Etc etc etc" (qtd. in Waters, ed.)

Originally, the citation in my bibliography was ...

"One Thing to Do About Food: A Forum." The Nation. Ed. Alice Waters. N.p., 11 Sept. 2006. Web. 01 Oct. 2014.

but is that actually correct? Do I have to instead reference them like ...

Singer, P. "One Thing to Do About Food: A Forum." The Nation. Ed. Alice Waters. N.p., 11 Sept. 2006. Web. 01 Oct. 2014.
Berry, W. "One Thing to Do About Food: A Forum." The Nation. Ed. Alice Waters. N.p., 11 Sept. 2006. Web. 01 Oct. 2014.

I'm not too sure how I would go about in this so any help would be appreciated. Thanks!


texts: Contact professors regarding a not registered invention idea

texts:
I have received my MSc degree and I want to apply for Ph.D. programs.

I have an idea for an invention (this idea came from my master’s thesis), but it is not completely related to my field – I will need help from people of other fields to design this application.
The idea is new and it is not registered yet.

Since I am graduated, I don’t have any access to the university.
How should I approach a professor to team with me for this work? Is it possible?
If yes could you please give me a piece of advice or sample emails?

BWY, I'd like to study in a foreign country as well, e.g., in the USA.


texts: What is a good method to assign topics to students?

texts:
I will be conducting a course with 10 students and will provide about 12 topics. Each student shall work on one topic. I will meet with the students and present the topics to them.

What is a good method to assign the topics to the students?

I would like to give them the option to choose their own topic, but I foresee problems when some topics are very wanted and others are not...


texts:
I am a Bioinformatics PhD student at a US university. I left the university (stopped enrolling after informing my advisor) in Aug 2014 since I was not making much headway with my research for a long time, and felt that I needed to see the "outside world" for a bit. So I took up a temporary position at another local university to do some other research. My advisor at that point though was wanting me to complete my degree and asked that I continue my PhD research while being away. I agreed to it out of fear that he may not allow me to leave otherwise.

However in the last 1yr my research progress has not been much. I recently got called to the head of the department's office where I was informed that I had been put on "notice" for this bad performance (he did not use the word "probation"). He also said that I risk being kicked out of the program.

I have been called again to meet the department head and my advisor to figure out what to do next. Judging by the tone of the last meeting though, I expect that some pretty harsh punitive steps are in the offing.

I am not that motivated to complete my PhD. I have passed my PhD proposal and have done some work after that and I think what I have could possibly lead to a PhD, but would still need quite a bit of work. I am OK with discontinuing my PhD rather than face the humiliation of being kicked out.

I was wanting to know what actions (removal from PhD, academic probation or anything else) could come my way and how I could handle it. Who could I approach for help/support at the university or outside? I feel that I am being treated way too harshly, and should be at least allowed a dignified way out of the program (voluntarily dropping out).

On a related note, is it even possible to put a student on notice when they are not at the university?

Addendum 1: I just want to add that I have been in the PhD program for 7 years now (including the gap year), and have completed all the requirements as required by the department except PhD Dissertation Defense. My PhD proposal was cleared way back in in 2012. So I think I was expected to have defended the thesis in 2013 or 2014 at the most.

Addendum 2: While as of today I am not that motivated to finish, but I would like to leave the door open on my PhD if possible. Ideally, I would like to revisit this issue in another year and take a call on it (whether to resume or quit).


texts: If I get a bachelors degree without a high school diploma, will I be able to study masters or PHD?

texts:
I dropped out when I finished grade 11, and started my career as a software developer. I've had a very good experience and working now as a senior software developer.
So, I saw a program in one of the recognized universities in the UK that offers a possibility of admissions to Computer Science bachelor's degrees without high school diploma if there's relevant work experience. So I'm thinking about applying because I actually would like to study more and more and possibly work in a university as a teacher at some point!

So my question, if I got accepted and got my bachelor's degree, will I will be able to apply for a master's degree and then Ph.D., etc? or at some point universities will ask for the high school diploma certificate if I apply to a master's degree or a Ph.D.?

Also, what about getting a job as a teacher in a university after Ph.D.? will that high school thing be a blocker and I'll need to get a high school diploma certificate at some point?


texts: Is there a "place" to deposit and, or publish reports produced in grad school?

texts:
I am looking for some kind of repository where I can "publish" my reports from grad school.

I'd like to do this because it would be great if I could link those works with my ORCID and make them available to the public and to (hopefully) improve my online appearance.


texts: I am trying to write an introduction to a grant proposal (not for actual research, but because it is part of an assignment that was given to me as an organic chemistry student). I am trying to reference a paper multiple times, and I was wondering whether or not I am supposed to use the same superscript number that corresponds to the reference I am citing every time I cite the reference in my paper. Do I use the same superscript (or different superscripts) every time I cite the reference, or do I only need to include a citation once?


texts: Do universities hire graduates from lesser universities

texts:
Recently, someone analyzed computer science professors at top universities and found that over half of the professors at the top 51 universities graduated from a top 10 university. Others have also brought this up. From my personal observations, most schools do hire graduates from better ranked schools.

Is this because of the competitive job market? We have so many good applicants, we have to narrow it down some how!
Or is it simply that these schools produce the most PhDs?
Has this always been the case?
How rare are exceptions to this? I know of a few people who graduated from a top 75 school and got hired at a top 50 school. But what about bigger gaps? The top 10 schools seem to just swap graduates, do they ever hire from a 50+ ranked school?

Update 2018: I have accepted a tenure-track position at a top 75 department at an R1 university immediately after graduating from an unranked department at an R2 university. It does happen!
This may or may not generalize to other fields and countries.


texts: Should I ask for a recommendation letter from a professor who has a bad non-academic reputation?

texts:
I am an undergraduate interested in applying for graduate school in a physical sciences program. I have a good relationship with a few of my professors (it's a very small department). I would like to ask if they would be willing to write a letter of recommendation for my application.

There is one professor who I respect greatly and who has told me in the past that he would be willing to write a glowing letter. He has a great academic reputation; he publishes the most out of all the professors in the small department and in (what I have heard) are top journals in his field.

The trouble is that he has a poor non-academic reputation. For instance, a quick Google of his name will yield a page full of news articles regarding his troubles with the law. These are the top results from the search.

Would a poor public reputation like this have a negative impact on the effectiveness of the reference? In theory, I know it shouldn't. Yet I am aware that real life hardly ever works as 'in theory'.

EDIT: the "troubles with the law" involve an impaired driving conviction. For context, this is in North America.


texts: Two questions regarding submission of reference letters for INRIA postdoctoral application in France

texts:
Please let me know if this questions doesn't abide by the rules of the site and I'd be glad to take it off. In this case, I'd also appreciate if you can tell me where I should post this question to get the best answer.
I'd like to apply for a postdoctoral position at INRIA, France, and I'm noticing that the places for recommendations are optional, see this link for a screenshot of the application page. I'd like to ask two relevant questions:
1) Are they truly optional for INRIA postdoc position applications?
2) In case I decide to submit my recommendations anyway, is it possible that I ask for the references to be sent to me, and I upload them myself, as opposed to the referees uploading them for me. And in the second case, it's apparently not clear how the referees will upload their letters to my application file?
P.S. I already contacted the job poster (= potential postdoc mentor) and the team's administrative secretary, by email and phone, only to get no response.
If you work at INRIA as a researcher or had a successful postdoc application at INRIA, your answer will be ideal but I'm happy to hear from all of you.


texts: Correlation between GRE Scores and Profile

texts:
I have recently taken GRE general and GRE subject tests and going to apply to US universities for Ph. D. in mathematics. My GRE general score is bad (verbal 138 + quant 163). My GRE subject mathematics score is 810 with 79 percentile.

My question is how do these scores affect my profile for getting admission? Is there any hope of getting a good university at all? Thanks to everyone.


texts: Publishing a novel idea without experiments and results

texts: I wrote a technical paper on a novel idea related to internet technologies. However, I don't have resources to conduct large scale experiment. Also, the numerical results cannot be consider as well. In the given situation is it wise to publish the idea paper in a low quality journal or submit it on arxiv?


texts: How do I prepare for my research program 2 months ahead of its beginning?

texts:
I'm starting a PhD program in the Fall. I know this can be specific to my program, but more generally, what's your advice for an international student preparing for academic success?
I'm going to email my advisor for some advice. I'm still not very familiar with formal and professional emails in academia . So is this OK?
"Dear Dr.???,
Can you give me more info on our research and how I can prepare for it?"
Thanks


texts: Reliable method to find ISI rated Journal

texts:
I searched in internet and all I found was that we have to search the name of journal in "https://mjl.clarivate.com/" and if it indexed as: SCIE or SSCI or ESCI then the journal is indexed as ISI journal.
but I wanted to submit my paper in "https://academic.oup.com/painmedicine" and I serached it in clarivate and it said that it is indexed as SCIE. But when I email to the editor of painmedicine journal he said that their journal is not rated or indexed as ISI. Now I am very confused that which journal is ISI?


texts: BAföG financial support for European students?

texts: Are European students (Italian more specifically) entitled for getting the financial support BAföG to pursue an MSc Degree in a German University?


texts: What to do when a good article is published in a predatory online journal that disappears?

texts:
European International Journal of Science and Humanities (EIJSH) published my article about 2 years ago. The publication was online. The problem is that I haven't been able to access the EIJSH website for about 1 year.

The study was cited once or twice when EIJSH still existed. I feel really desperate.

Can you give me any advice about how I should act? It is a solid article - can I send it again to a better journal? Or would this be unethical? Do I have any other options?


texts: How do (STEM) professors keep up with the latest tech or development in order to publish research?

texts:
From an outsider/student's view, STEM professors are:

not taking courses
mostly not doing things outside of their research comfort zones
not (?) studying up much except for their research, certainly not doing exercises from the back of a book and looking up solutions somewhere
some graduated 40 years ago or even more.
teaching the same course for past 20 years, which let's face it, is sort of like teaching history with numbers.
not visibly getting taught by their research students or anyone else for that matters.

How is it that a lot of the professors are publishing cutting edge research (especially in STEM) involving the latest tech and gadgets? If I am not reading the news, I wouldn't know what Apple is doing right now let alone develop an algorithm that mimics what their Face Recognition AI is doing.
How is it possible that a professor with a PhD in analog circuit back in the 70s could do research in today's massive microchip fabrication process when a tremendous amount of information/material is needed to get up to speed both in terms of theory and practical knowledge? Do these professors have fabrication facilities in their garage or something? How would they know without being in industry or taking a course?
How is it possible that a professor with a PhD in numerical optimization from the 80s where the latest and the great was quasi-Newton method is doing research on the latest deep learning algorithm? How can this person even be proficient at this? Are they taking courses on Coursera or something?
How do you do it?


texts: Should I write a bilingual email to a professor who can't speak German very well?

texts:
Should I write a bilingual email to a professor who can't speak german very well?

That's basically the question. I don't know if this is the right thing to do, because it could mean that I underestimate his abilities.


texts: Should I include a professor's name in my paper to get it published?

texts:
I am a master's student and want to publish a paper in a specific subfield in mathematics. I have written the paper all by myself.

The problem is my advisor won't check my draft. He says he is busy and so he could not find time.

My question is:

When papers are submitted to reviewers and editors, do they see what are the names of the authors in the paper submitted?
If my professor co-authors a paper will it be easier to get published?
Should I include my professor's name with my name to get the paper published easier?

I really want to publish it with my name only. But I really don't know how this publication process works.


texts: How to withdraw from an application process in a polite manner?

texts:
Say a candidate has met with a potential PhD supervisor and it was rather evident that he would be willing to take on the candidate. You have emailed a lot and met in person a few times, but nothing has been formalised yet.

Suppose now the candidate decides to take it into a different direction simply because there are better options.

What is the most polite way to withdraw ? Is it polite to send an email and explain, or does this come across as arrogant since a PhD candidate is not really in the position to turn down a Professor ? Would it be better simply not to get in touch again ? Is there some standard etiquette in the US and/or the UK ?


texts: How to prepare poster paper for conference that rejected full paper

texts:
I received a paper reject for a full paper (10 pages) submission in one of the top conferences in CS (distributed systems). I agree with some of the critical remarks, but we felt they should be considered as "extensions" of the work rather than deficiencies in our work. I also felt that the reviewers were not as familiar with this new reasearch area (always seems like the case!). I was planning to extend the work and look for another conference 2-3 months down the road.

Meanwhile, the same conference has started a poster track and "invited" us to submit a poster paper (3 pages) for the same. I am debating whether and how to go about it. I used to be under an impression that posters are "less" important than paper talks, but after reading this (How important are poster sessions in conferences?), and discussing with colleagues, I feel this could be a good opportunity to discuss with the research community, polish the work and then extend the work (with new / existing remarks) and submit for a journal. Extending a full conference paper into a journal is reasonably common practice in our lab, especially for papers that go in thesis.

Considering I have plans to publish a longer paper eventually, how should I go about preparing this 3-page (IEEE 2-column) "poster paper"? Shall I keep it more textual and keep the model / results in the poster? Or put the model with preliminary results in paper and all extra material in poster?

I checked with the conference that this 3 page paper gets published and not the poster. Any general guidance?


texts: Whether to take a holiday or get research experience when transitioning from masters to PhD?

texts:
Background:
I'm in a precarious situation.

I'm currently in the sixth semester of a ten-semester (five-year) combined bachelor's/master's program in engineering. So far I've had two relevant industry internships and have been getting stellar grades, but I lack research experience in my field. I am still unsure if I want to pursue a PhD, and I'm a bit apprehensive to make that life decision now.

All six semesters I've been taking classes and conducting research in a not-so-relevant field (mainly because research in my field is hard to get as an undergraduate) - suffice it to say after three years of this, I've somewhat burned out.

I'm currently signing up for classes for my seventh semester, which is the first semester I'm required to take graduate classes. Because I've felt a lot of academic pressure, I decided to sign up for less classes than usual to give myself a respite.

In response to this, my academic adviser recommended that I conduct research at a lab near campus to prepare me for a prospective PhD. I'm reluctant to agree because I wanted to take the semester to relax and pursue various interests I've fallen out of touch with since the start of university.

I voiced my concerns to my adviser and he is continually trying to pressure me to conduct research, citing that not doing so would be a huge missed opportunity and might hurt my chances of applying for a PhD.

Question

I don't want to leave this as an open-ended question (a la "what should I do?"), so I'll try to make it more structured:

How important is having research in a relevant field when applying to PhD programs?
Would PhD programs look unfavourably upon taking a semester to "relax," considering that a PhD requires a great deal of dedication?


texts:
I'm not sure if this is the place to ask about graduate admission, so please let me know if the question is off-topic.

I'm currently in my senior year doing my undergraduate degree. I recently made the decision to pursue graduate studies (M.S. CS), but my GPA is a bit low. I will graduate with a double major degree in international relations and computer science. My major GPA will be 3.1/4.0 (cumulative 3.3/4.0), and so I decided to delay graduation an take another semester to raise my GPA (retaking a couple of courses and taking one new one) and also give me more time to prepare for graduate admission as I felt I was a bit too unprepared. After the extra semester (and assuming I do average to well) my major GPA will be 3.4/4.0.

I took the GRE and did well (163V / 169Q / 5.5 AW), but felt that I want to invest as much effort as I can (since this is the only time I'll have, to raise my undergraduate GPA) and then apply when I'm better prepared.

Does graduating late reflect poorly for graduate admission? I wanted to use that time and take advantage of the fact that I'm taking fewer courses during the semester to work on other projects as well.

Any feedback is appreciated. Thank you!


texts: When sending my final grades to one professional school, my transcript shows I am enrolled in another program

texts:
I have been accepted to two professional schools for next year, one of which is part of my current university (Program A). I need to send an official transcript with my final semester's grades to the other school (Program B). Before submitting a request to my current school to send my transcript, I checked my unofficial transcript. I was surprised to see that since I already graduated with my undergraduate degree, the transcript lists that I am currently attending Program A, including the classes I would be enrolled in for the fall semester.

Does my unofficial transcript reflect how my official transcript will appear?
If it does list Program A, will Program B regard this as an issue? Or can I just submit my transcript as-is with no explanation?
If this is an issue, is there a way I can circumvent it?

(Note: I'd like to hold on to both acceptances until nearer to the end of the summer, as Covid-19 might be affecting where I'll be living next year.)


texts: How does one find and select a PhD program in Computer Science (and/or Mathematics)?

texts:
How would I find and select a PhD program in Computer Science, or Computer Science combined with Mathematics? Since I am not a traditional candidate, I am unable to seek relevant advice from professors and fellow student. I am not too concerned about school ranking.

Some background about me and my circumstances may help frame the question and better focus the answer.

I have substantial experience in software engineering (over 20 years), including analysis, requirements, architecture, design, (extensive) hands-on development, testing, systems, team leadership, mentoring, management, and process. Many colleagues have said that I am really good at explaining concepts. I could continue working in software development.

I have a BS Mathematics and Computer Science minor, earned prior to my software career. And I am halfway through a MS Computer Science (part-time). Grades are solid (3.8 undergrad, 4.0 grad), the schools are good, and GRE scores are good enough (>160).

I would either return to my career or I would seek a position teaching at the college level. I am not concerned about about tenure or reputation, nor do I expect to become wealthy. I am willing to TA, and would probably enjoy it.


texts: Recommendation letter for a short time collaboration

texts: I have started my 1 year postdoc in math three months ago, of course after 1 month the university was closed and I have to work at home, due to Corona Virus. Recently, I want to apply for another postdoc position in another country. One of the required documents is a letter of recommendation from current mentor. I do not know whether it is reasonable to ask a recommendation letter from my current mentor, because I have just worked with him for a short time. Does he give me a recommendation letter?


texts: If the arXiv had referees, would conventional journal publications still make sense?

texts:
In the last decade, more and more researchers read the scientific literature on electronic copies or on printed copies, but not anymore directly from the printed journal.
Nowadays, I think the most important role of journals is therefore only to offer a well-established editorial and refereeing platform.

Anyway, there is a sort of economic loophole. Let me explain.
Research institutions pay both researchers and journals (to have online access and for printed copies) where researchers publish. On the other hand, journals offer a refereeing platform which is based on the unpaid work of referees, which are, again, researchers. Therefore, research institutions pay for all, and journals earn money for the research published. I could be a little naive here, but I think not far from truth.

Therefore, why are journals useful, apart from refereeing?
For instance, imagine that arXiv, or another open-access archive will introduce refereeing and some sort of editorial filtering. In this scenario, will conventional journal publications still make sense?


texts: Will graduate programs go back to GRE after COVID?

texts: With the pandemic going on, most schools have either decided to make both GRE and its subject tests optional. In all likelihood, would there be a big chance that this is the finishing hammer for the GRE, and make a lot of institutions move away from it?


texts:
I wonder what makes a paper publishable?

Is it because it provides a better solution to an existing problem?

Or is it because it identified a new problem that no one has found?

Thanks.

UPDATE:
My field is electronic engineering.


texts: How to highlight the importance of past positions in CV?

texts:
When addressing the past positions in a resume, although titles somewhat describes the role, they cannot clarify the importance of positions.

For example, listing a past position of department chair indicates administrative duties at department level, but it depends on the department. Definitely, chairing a small department with a few faculty members and annual enrollment of 30 undergraduate students is different from a well-funded department with tens of senior faculty members and several PhD programs. However, if a reader does not know that specific department, the term department chair is the same.

This is even more serious when it comes to differences in terminology. In a university, a faculty can be equal to a department, and somewhere else a faculty can be in the size of a university hosting several large departments. Even terms of mid-level administrative positions in academia do not always have the same meaning: e.g., dean, director, chair, head.

How do you fairly clarify the importance of the job you had?

It is possible to add a description, but as it is not very common, it may cause an impression of overestimation.


texts: Invited to give a talk but could not attend, can it be on CV?

texts: If I was invited to give a talk but was not able to attend, could it be listed under invited talks in a CV? My point is that there was an invitation and it worth to show it. Similarly, a paper can be accepted for a conference and no one of the authors presented it but it was published in the proceedings. Or a someone receive an award as a sign of recognition.


texts: International Student applying for a PhD in a university in Taiwan

texts:
I am a student doing my Masters in India, and was considering doing a PhD (in computer science, specifically ML) in a university in Taipei, Taiwan. I went to their website, but couldn't find some of the details I was looking for. These were the questions (in no particular order)

Will language be an issue? Are we expected to learn Chinese? The website said that there are courses in Chinese and English, but nothing more. I wanted to know in terms of doing courses, communicating with the advisor and his other students, as well as writing papers.
What about food? I am a vegetarian.
Can i get scholarship there? From the govt or TAship/RAship?
What about the coursework which I will have to do in my PhD? How long would it take(duration)? And how is the workload?


texts: Good multiple choice question for education

texts:
I'm new to academia SE and I'm not sure if this question fits here, but I think this is the best place I can ask. Please let me know if this question doesn't fit here and suggest me better place to ask.

Let's say that I'm a teacher and there is a student. We ASSUME that if a multiple choice question is given, then we can predict the probability for each choice that the student will choose. For example, if a question have 4 choices A, B, C, and D, then we can predict that the student will choose each answers with probabilities 40%, 30%, 20%, 10%. We will always assume that A is the correct answer. Then my claim is the following:

  For education, it is better to give a problem with probabilities 50%, 50%, 0%, 0%, than 25%, 25%, 25%, 25%.

The intuition behind this claim is the following: if we give a question with same probabilities for each choices as 25%, then the student might randomly guess, and she may learn less from solving the question. However, when a student faces a problem with probabilities 50%, 50%, 0%, 0%, then she may choose between A and B. Here 0% means that she (almost) surely knows that C, D can't be an answer. If she did wrong (choose B instead of A), then she may learn more from it because she only need to see difference between A and B.

I want to find a suitable reference that justifies my claim, with some real experiments. I tried to search hard but I failed to find it. If anyone knows such reference (papers or whatever), please introduce it to me. Thanks in advance.


texts: Publishing a comment or contacting the authors privately?

texts:
I have just read a recent paper in a well-respected journal. The work is technically sound and the results interesting. However, the authors comment their main results as unexpected and “extraordinary” (in the abstract and in the text), while it is an instance of a very generic and well-known phenomenon, which has been experimentally confirmed (and theoretically explained) in a large range of systems in the last decade. The author do not seem aware of the literature on this phenomenon.

Now, I am somewhat conflicted between two courses of action:

Raising the matter with them privately, making them aware of the literature they have missed so that they do not repeat the mistake, and telling them (nicely) that their claims of extraordinary behavior are not valid.
Doing the same thing, but through a formal “Comment” published in the same journal. This does not only bring the matter to their attention, but also to other readers of the journal. Right now, I favor this option, because I think it improves the scientific record.

The journal in question does publish comments, its policy on the matter is the following:

  These are a medium for the discussion and exchange of scientific opinions […] For publication of a Comment or a Reply, they must be judged by the referees to present new insights and be of interest to our readership.

Moreover, a Comment in the journal will necessarily include a “Reply to the Comment” by the original authors, as per journal policy.

So, how do I choose between contacting the authors in private, or submitting a formal “Comment” to the journal? What factors should guide my choice?


texts: GPA rounding 2.498 to 2.5. How ethical is this?

texts:
I finished this year with a cumulative GPA of 2.498 (pretty low, not gonna lie). The main concern that I have is that when rounding to 2 digits, it will be pushed to a 2.5, and I'm worried that in interviews when I say that I have a 2.5, and if the interviewer checks my transcript, he/she may think that I am bumping up to meet requirements, even through it's very close to the line.

I am already aware of past questions regarding gpa rounding, but those seem to deal with round from 2 digits to 1 digit, which doesn't fit my situtation. Am I wrong in thinking I shouldn't do this? I don't want to want anyone to think down on me.


texts: How to be more interesting to prospective PhD advisors

texts:
I've been in contact with a couple of professors at US universities recently, and both of them were interested in the projects that I proposed. Now, I will be applying to these universities this Fall, and I want to make sure that I make myself look interesting to these professors through our email correspondence.

What should I do, through email, to make myself standout? What questions should I ask these professors even before I apply to their respective programs? Also, would it be appropriate to ask about financial support in their labs or departments at this stage?


texts: Is the idea of "boarding university" still a formal policy?

texts:
In the past, most education centers were boarding schools in which students live full time. Still there are boarding school at high school or college level. However, for universities, students just tend to attend the class and leave the campus. Even, dormitories are just like rental projects rather than keeping the students to live in the campus.

Old-fashioned universities like Cambridge still have the so-called colleges which are responsible for student life (to live in the academic community). In this classic model, the university is investing in colleges to build an academic community outside formal education, which is conducted by technical departments.

Is it a formal policy for modern universities to keep students within the campus beside the formal education? OR they prefer if the students attend classes and leave the campus?

The reason that I ask this question is that social activities are conducted by student clubs. If students do not join clubs or somehow live in the campus, it is not responsibility of the university administration (and they normally do not care). In classical universities like Cambridge, keeping the colleges active is still responsibility of the university administration.


texts: How can writing a Review Paper possibly help in the CV of a undergraduate student?

texts: I'm  a student of computer science amd I've written a reseaech review article on Fibonacci Sequence which will be published next month in a math journal. All I wanted to know is how will it help in my academic profile and what affects will it make in my CV?


texts: Can I get an office in a university as an independent scholar?

texts: I have a math-related PhD but currently work as a software developer. One day, when I retire from software development, is it possible to "join" a local university's math/cs department as an independent scholar?  All I need is a PhD student desk and access to the libraries. I can fund my own travel & overhead fees. Has this ever been done before? I just don't want to move around for a job and face the immense pressure of publish or perish.


texts: Is ABET accreditation important for a bachelors degree in software engineering?

texts: Would getting a non ABET accredited degree in Software Engineering put a person at a considerable disadvantage when it comes to employment, or applying for graduate school?  I ask because I was accepted into San Jose State Universities Software engineering program and have learned that it's not ABET accredited.


texts: Am I allowed to do the work for a research assistant (RA) without having been awarded an assistantship?

texts:
I recently finished my undergrad degree and'm now enrolled in an entirely online graduate (M.Ed) program in educational technology/instructional technology.

Nonetheless, I'll be moving to the physical campus of this Lower Midwest flagship university in late August. Although I'll be receiving grad Stafford loans (huzzah, no undergrad loans!), I applied for financial aid past the assistantship deadline.

I know the importance of networking and collaborating with faculty. I'm prepared to live off of loans (which is feasible, given the low cost of living in this city) so that I can work for one of the projects associated with my school. It's my hope that this would make me an attractive candidate for a 2016-2017 assistantship.

So...should I live off loans (and, realistically, a 15-hour/week part-time job) for that first year, so that I can be what's essentially an unpaid intern?


texts:
I think I have a few questions here.
I've said this before: I don't have many talents, but I can teach, and I can teach very well. Education is my passion and that is one of the reasons I am pursuing my PhD (that, and the fact that I love doing math eight hours a day).
This being said, can anyone with a PhD write a textbook? Or do you have to be well-known in the field and have lots of papers published? What if I write a really good textbook- will nobody buy it because my name is not known?


texts:
What would be the most appropriate place for someone to upload their Master thesis in Education? (Their institution does not upload electronic versions of theses.) The thesis is original research and a paper version has already been accepted to a conference; the author just wants to share their thesis with the community independently of the paper.

I have come across this list but I don't know the culture of the field, so I cannot advise them on which one to use, if any. I also note that the thesis is not in English.

Thanks in advance.


texts: When receiving an answer to a question do you respond with thank you?

texts:
When I don't understand something in a lecture or think I found a mistake I send professors emails, if it is not possible for me to ask the question after class. Do you send a thank you email after receiving the answer?

I don't know if this is relevant at all, but I study at a German university.


texts: Exclusion from PhD in Economics selection in Italy for degree

texts:
I received an exclusion email from Italian University for PhD in Management program due to not eligbility.

I earned 4-year bachelor's degree (Vietnam) and one-year second level master diploma (Italy) => Total 5 years of studying

The requirements are: bachelor (3 year for Italian system) plus Master of Science (2 years) => Total 5 years of studying

My question is: how to solve my current problem for next year in order to meet their requirements:

Solution 1: take a 2-year master and wait next 3 years for applying
Solution 2: take some extensive courses which they provide credit/certificate.

Anyone has been in my situation? Could you give me some advice?

Many thanks


texts: Is there any requirement to cite recent literature in publications?

texts:
Recently I submitted my first paper to a philosophy journal and got a rejection. This is of course nothing unusual, but as someone with a STEM background, I was surprised by the reason for the rejection: While there were no complaints regarding contents or correctness, it was felt that the paper failed to cite and engage with the recent literature on the topic.

The latter is indeed true: I did ignore the latest papers in the field and only referenced a handful of "classic" papers from the last century. But I also thought this was okay, as it seemed to me that the recent literature didn't add much to what was already covered by the classic papers, and was in any case not essential to the discussion.

Now, I'm not here to complain about having my paper rejected, or to argue about who's wrong or right. I just would like to know whether the requirement to cite the recent literature is a humanities-specific thing, or whether this is a common requirement in most fields. For instance, I imagine that if I had submitted a maths or computer science paper that referenced only a handful of classic and old, but relevant papers, my own paper, if correct and substantial, would have been accepted.

Note: Since people seem to misunderstand me, a bit of extra clarification: I don't have a problem with citing recent literature, if that's what it takes to get a philosophy paper published. I just want to know if this is more or less the same in most fields, including maths and CS. In the latter, so I believe, it's less of a big deal to cite the latest papers as long as the submitted paper correctly solves some well-known open problem.


texts: Is it acceptable to extend results from an arXiv paper that has not appeared in a journal?

texts:
In general, building on unpublished work of another author, which he may have told you in  confidence, or you may encountered as a reviewer or by word of mouth or other informal means, is not an acceptable practice. Does the same apply if the author has uploaded his work on arXiv?

Here's a specific scenario: Suppose I submit a paper for review to a journal. The paper has results that could possibly be extended, however, the idea for extension is either not obvious or is not compatible with the theme of the paper, so I may plan to keep it for a  later paper. If I put the paper on arXiv would it be considered ok if someone else extends my results? This would ruin the theme of the other paper I wanted to write with the extension.

If this happened to me it would make me uncomfortable, as if my confidence has been breached. I don't know if this feeling is justified. This feeling stems from my view of arXiv. My personal theory is that arXiv is an informal medium, unlike journals and conferences, and in that sense it is no different from other channels of informal communication. It allows for structured and faster dissemination of work (thus inform the ongoing work of others), in addition to establishing priority of results, but that does not grant it a formal status. I think an author should exercise restraint in extending results from arXiv, and apply the same standards that he would if he were to encounter the work through classical informal channels.

Of course, this is just my theory. I would like to hear what others have to say about this issue.


texts: Is completing two years of your PhD sufficient to satisfy journal reviewing requirement of having a PhD?

texts:
For reviewing papers, some journals ask you to have a PhD degree.
I want to know, if the PhD degree is the obtained certificate at the end of your PhD, or it could be also be, for example, your third inscription in the PhD (you have previously two succefull years in preparing the degree).


texts: How to satisfy PhD requirement that publications be available online when papers have been only just been accepted?

texts:
It is a requirement of my PhD to publish a certain number of papers. And for the papers to count, they need to be available online. I have deadline in my PhD study.

I have three papers accepted in one journal. It will take time to be online.

I can access my papers through ResearchGate but couldn't find them in Google search.

How I can find the articles in Google search from ResearchGate, without waiting for the journal publishing procedure in order to meet the requirements for my PhD?


texts: English certificate for postdoc in the UK

texts:
I am applying for a postdoc in the UK. I hold an academic IELTS certificate. Does anyone know is that enough for a Tier-2 visa?
Thanks in advance


texts: How does Google Scholar find papers on personal websites?

texts:
Recently, I added a new paper to my personal website, and it appeared on Google Scholar a couple of days later. On my website, all I did was write the name of the paper, together with the authors and name of the conference, and then provided a link to the PDF. This information alone somehow informed Google Scholar that the text I added was actually a new paper. There is no other information about this paper on the web, so I know that Google only used my website to update Google Scholar.

So what I am wondering, is how does Google know what is a paper, and what is just some arbitrary text on my website? For example, if I had only written the name of the paper, without the authors and conference, and without the PDF, would this still have been detected?

On my website, the paper is listed on a webpage called "Publications", in a list with a load of other papers, but this is quite specific to the design of my own website. I'm wondering whether it has something to do with the PDF which I provided a link to. Perhaps it inspected the PDF and decided it was a paper, and if I hadn't added the PDF, it would not detect it as a paper. But then again, the HTML formatting does not necessarily indicate which text the PDF is actually associated with, even if it is obvious to a human on inspection of the webpage. Or perhaps Google Scholar just has some hand-engineered search which looks for instances of HTML where there is the name of a known conference, known authors, and a PDF nearby.


texts:
I've been spending the past three years as an autodidact for computer science and physics, in lieu of a degree. Main reason for this being that high school classes bored me, so I did poorly in them, and there were no CS classes available at the time. I decided at the age of seventeen to begin learning CS and pursue an equivalency instead, which I have.

However, now I am starting to see that I'd like to branch into observatory astronomy and integrate my data-science knowledge, as I notice an ever increasing necessity for people with both these skills. However, the space community seems to feel a lot more strongly about having a degree, more specifically a PhD (which I personally disagree with but that's getting off topic).

My question is, what possible options do I have? Should I continue being an autodidact and try to prove myself without a degree? Or suck it up and pursue one? If lack of a doctorate is out of the question, what's the most efficient track to a university with the competency level appropriate for me? My biggest problem is time. I want to do as little side tracking as possible, and stay on track with my current competency level.


texts:
My professor and I have been trying to publish a paper, but it keeps being rejected. A journal emailed my professor asking her to submit the paper to them, but I am not sure it is legitimate.

None its papers have DOIs.
It is OA, but only one issue is available and it has <5 papers

Are these warning signs?


texts: Would being a teaching assistant influence your research?

texts: I see that a TA position requires 20h every week which almost equals 2.5 days workload. Wouldn't that be too heavy for a Ph.D. student? If I don't do the TA, I could save the time to do high-quality research but I will lose 18K AUD stipend, which would make my life difficult at Sydney. Is it worth doing a TA?


texts: 46 year old CPA wants to earn reputable doctorate - need advice

texts:
I am new to this forum and need/want advice. I am 46 years old, hold a CPA license and have a Macc from an AACSB accredited university.

My goal is to obtain a doctoral degree and research/teach at a university...not necessarily a top university, but not a small, liberal arts college either.

It appears that I have almost certainly missed the traditional PhD boat due to my advanced age (though I will still apply to several schools). While no program head would admit it, my understanding is that BUSINESS Phds in the U.S. really don't accept students much older than 30.

I've also researched DBAs/Executive Phds too. And while I don't hate the idea of these, the price tags are usually somewhere around $120,000 before travel expenses (these are hybrid programs).

Further, I have ZERO desire to obtain a Phd from a school like Walden, Capella, Northcentral, etc.

So my question is this: what do you think (you obviously can't know) my prospects would be with an out-of-field Phd? There are a few Phd degrees in the U.S. in fields like Human Resources, etc. that are somewhat related...but are not true business degrees. In other words, they would not be AACSB accredited because that is only available for business schools. There are a handful of these programs throughout the U.S. at reputable schools that are both hybrid and affordable.

I would have a Masters in accountancy, a CPA license, and of course the somewhat out-of-field doctorate.

Any advice is appreciated. Just remember...I am 46...not 22 with tons of options.

Thank you


texts: Can a Professor move a class an hour earlier?

texts: My professor moved class from 1:30 to 12:30 and I missed class and a big research presentation i was supposed to give.  Is he allowed to move class like that?


texts: How does one choose which articles to cite for a very broad sentence?

texts:
For example, take the sentence: "Gaussians are widely used in mathematics & statistics".
At this point there probably tens of thousands of papers that use Gaussian functions in some way (that's not even counting the papers in other fields like the social sciences that make use of Gaussians). It's impractical to cite them all. The sentence still calls for at least some citations though. How does one choose which papers to cite?


texts: I submitted an article 10 days ago. First at the dashboard, they put under review. After one week, the dashboard put Awaiting EIC Decision. Is that bad?


texts: Should I be an author on another PhD student's paper if I went to their meetings and gave advice?

texts:
My PhD supervisor (in the field of artificial intelligence) invited me to several meetings with another PhD student. Since I have more knowledge than my supervisor in some topics, I made many suggestions about how this student could improve his methodology. In total, I went to 5 meetings of 3–4 hours each. I could have used this time to do my own research.

When the other student started to write his manuscript, I asked to be an author, since I had contributed directly to the research, but he felt I only deserved to appear in the acknowledgments. So I asked my supervisor to be on the paper and even volunteered to help writing it. My supervisor said “Don't worry about his paper, you have your own things to do, and he is not going to submit this work anytime soon”.

One week later, they submitted the paper to a major conference without my name on it. I felt really insulted that they used my time and skills with no credit to me.

I didn't actively do the research or help write the paper, but I felt I was supervising the student since I have the most experience on this topic. Many academics in my field get their names on papers by just giving suggestions.

What should I do? I am planning on taking it to the head of department.


texts: What options does college dropout with great grades, research projects and CV have to return to university (or thinktanks)?

texts:
I studied Social Sciences (Development Economics concentration) at one of Europe's top ranked universities and achieved excellent grades, but had to interrupt my studies just before taking two final exams, entirely due to personal reasons - thus not completing my undergraduate degree.

While I was at uni, I obtained grants to run a new research project in my field with  sponsorship by some well-known professors. The progress of my work was published in an international journal and also a few industry magazines. I was also heavily involved in other projects around the university.
I mention these little details just to make it clear that I was not at uni just for the sake of getting a qualification, but because had a genuine intention of contributing to my field, to research and maybe become a professor.

While I was addressing my personal issues, I started working, first freelancing but later at a mid-sized company and have worked my way up to middle management. My job is somewhat related to what I studied and also very analytical, although it's obviously business-focused.

I am wondering what options I have...
- if I wanted to return to a research based position;
- especially, if returning to university might turn out to be too hard/long (might have to re-do the entire undergraduate studies while working)
- and whether it might be easier (but also possible) to try applying straight into think-tanks and development focused positions.

One of my concerns is that despite my good CV in business, I don't have the same quantitative-analytical and research skills of someone who studied at postgraduate level. It's one of the subjects I enjoyed most and even enjoy at work, but how can I prove myself to future employers?

I think my question boils down to: how much do my achievements matter, and what else do I need to do to make up for no degree?

UPDATES / Answers to questions in comments:
I dropped out of my own, for very personal reasons. In fact, I almost disappeared without notice and had to leave to another country. I am also a bit reluctant to discuss with my university about what those personal reasons were, but trust me they were very serious.
So I would have mixed feelings about returning to the same university.
I am sure I have disappointed many people there, and they would not understand why I left...

UPDATE 2 / Answers to rocinante's update :)
There must have been a misunderstanding. I didn't mention nor imply anywhere that I considered faking my credentials to advance my career. I started at entry level with my current employer and progressed from within, i.e. there were no academic requirements when I started, but I proved them that I had the skills required for my current level.
To be more specific, I am asking about whether there might be chances for alternative training to get into a more advanced research path. Adult learning, online courses, non-degree professional certificates.
For example, I have heard of several people getting into MBA programs after 5-7 years of work experience, but no degree.
Are there analogue routes into research?
I hope this clarifies.

UPDATE 3 / Answers to Ben Webster and rocinante
Thanks both of you. It's true I should consider my old university; I am just very afraid that it might not work and considering what alternatives I may have should my attempts fail. I am also not belittling the value of degrees, BUT simply wondering how else I could prove myself, improve my knowledge, use a professional body route rather than academic etc. if the old university option won't succeed.
I know many doors will close, but I am determined and convinced that my potential, passion and skills far outweigh what's on paper.


texts: Can an international student manage his cost of living in Australia if his 4 years PhD tuition fee is waived off by the university?

texts: I received an offer of admission from one of the Australian Universities in Perth. My supervisor recommended my application for tuition fee waive off scholarship and university has accepted that. I have to manage my cost of living and travel expenditure. I am not sure that I will be able to manage my cost of living and travel expenses by doing part-time work. So I will be highly obliged if you can provide necessary information so that I can take a decision. Thanks...


texts: Visa preparation for the postdoc will take weeks. Can I start research (with the PI?)

texts: As it's mentioned in the title. I am going to receive a formal letter this week. During my meeting with HR, they told me the visa will take 12 weeks so we can agree on the start-date at the point. My question is this: I really want to be successful in my postdoc and I want to do research as soon as possible, can I email tell the PI about this? (to get information about their current research step, etc.) or I should keep doing research and reading on my own and wait until everything is official?


texts: So, I applied for a graduate program (non-thesis) which is an advanced standing program and the only way to get a masters at the university for my program. During the summer session I completed my elective classes with an A and a B. However, fall semester rolled around and I did piss poor unintentionally because I became overwhelmed due to my own mental health issues, a physical assault and a financial burden of fixing my car ($2,000) which I need in order to attend field placement which is 250 hours a semester. So working full time to ensure I had a car for my program and attending classes and placement full time just screwed me. I ended with a fail out of a pass/fail course, two additional F grades and a C, which for my program is also not passing. My program hasn't kicked me out, however, there is no way for me to graduate as the GPA requirement for the graduate school is a 3.0, and my program is only 30 hours of credits. I cannot get licensed without my degree and the director of the program appears to be sympathetic to my situation but I don't think I have anywhere to go from here. I have never made below a B before in undergraduate or graduate work. I am in their MSW program but I am afraid I cannot continue in the program with hopes of getting a degree here, and my graduate level GPA will have only the one piss poor semester and an okay 2 classes over the summer. I want to continue but I am not sure if I can reapply or if my GPA will haunt me and ruin my chances of getting any Masters level degree. (I also did not withdraw or drop out of the program because I am a child who aged out of the foster care system and have no biological or legal guardians who could financially support me and I have been surviving off of working and budgeting financial aid.) Any advice would be appreciated, I am currently just really lost and stressed as I do not know what I can do from here.


texts: How should I handle reviewing a paper that is very similar to something I am working on?

texts:
I was sent a paper to review recently. I decided to review the paper and saw that part of the paper is on a very similar method that I have been working on recently. Not the wording, of course, but the main ideas.

One of the problems is that they did not mention that part in the abstract, so I didn't know about it when I accepted the review. An even worse problem is that their paper is poorly written, full of wrong theorems, terminology etc. so I have no choice but to recommend rejection.

I know reviews are anonymous. But I want to avoid two things:

Them reporting me for a plagiarizing or stealing their idea.
Them thinking that I have stolen their idea, even if they do not necessarily report me.

What should I do?


texts: What does "indicative" mean for the literature review

texts:
One reviewer of my paper commented the following:

  The authors should clearly state that the literature they have
  included in the introduction is indicative (both in the case of
  experimental measurements and molecular simulation of ILs) and
  redirect to some recent review articles.

I don't know what does he mean. I don't know If he expected that I add some introductory sentences before reviewing literature like (bold part):

  Several experiments have recently been performed in order to understand the underlying dynamics of ILS, including XXX. ZZZ et al. [8] obtained the viscosities of the ILs XXX and YYY in a wide temperature range. Moreover, ZZZ and KKK [9] recently published atmospheric pressure self-diffusion coefficients of MMM tetrafluoroborates and NNN in the temperature range of 40-90 ℃.

However, in a previous paragraph I mentioned an introductory about ILs in General and not XXX in particular:

  In the literature, experimental and theoretical methods have been employed to obtain the properties of ILs. Experimental analyses such as IR, H and F NMR spectra, polarizing optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and UV-vis spectra have been used to determine the properties of ILs [5-7].


texts: Risks in accepting a position if candidate considers themselves unqualified and believes they will fail

texts:
Freddie was offered a post-doctoral position they did not apply for, by Sasha.  Sasha and Freddie know each other because they used to share an office.  The topic is quite different from what Freddie has known in the past.  Freddie is surprised and hesitates to accept.  Had the position been externally advertised, Freddie would not have applied for lack of self-assessed qualifications, but Sasha convinces Freddie to learn on the job.  Notwithstanding the impostor syndrome, Freddie accepts, being between jobs and enjoying the opportunity to broaden skills if successful.

The risks for Sasha are quite clear: perhaps too optimistic about Freddies skills, and if unsuccessful, that will be bad for the project.  But what are the risks for Freddie in this scenario?  In the scenario in which Freddie is unsuccessful, how damaging would that be to academic career chances?  Is the value of an unsuccessful postdoc positive, neutral, negative?

In a previous version of this question, Freddie was called Sue, and Sasha was called Sam.


texts: Does working in a research group with poor funding means poor future prospects post graduation?

texts:
Background:
I am pursuing PhD in a Canadian University in mechanical engineering.
My PhD work is computational and I work in collaboration with experimental groups. I am in my 4th year and I have published two journal papers till now. The funding in my group acquired by my PI is always in collaboration with some experimental professor in our department.
These experimental professors have direct contact with big industries and other large universities. It always feels as if my group is piggybacking on the influence/success of the experimental groups.
Now my advisor has good standing in computational mechanics research community, but I don't think she has the influence to acquire funding without the help of the experimental groups. All the past members of my group were Chinese and they have got academic positions in China and few are pursuing postdoc. I think many wanted to stay in Canada and enter into industry but couldn't due to poor contacts of my advisor. While the graduates of the experimental group go into both academia and industry due to their advisor's closer contacts.
Goal: I want to be in academia but I am also open for research scientist position in Industry.
Issue: However, I have a feeling that considering my research group has poor funding record, it means I will always have poor future prospects post graduation.
Question: Is this analysis true?


texts: How to respond to "unfair to write English" comments?

texts:
I teach mathematics and computing, for example, our department's discrete mathematics course. As is customary for that course, it's used as the first foray into formal mathematics, including a heavy emphasis on reading and writing proofs throughout the semester (required for both our math & computing majors). In response to difficulties I've seen students wrestle with in prior semesters, on the first day of the course I have a slide with this quote:

Writing Proofs in English
“The best notation is no notation; whenever it is possible to avoid
the use of a complicated alphabetic apparatus, avoid it. A good
attitude to the preparation of written mathematical exposition is to
pretend that it is spoken. Pretend that you are explaining the subject
to a friend on a long walk in the woods, with no paper available; fall
back on symbolism only when it is really necessary.” – Paul Halmos,
How to Write Mathematics

Now, the last few semesters I've done this I find that I regularly get pushback on this. For example, this semester I had a student write in the live online chat, something like, "This seems unfair to students who have poor English skills". And I've been kind of stumped for a short, solid response to that.
Note that I'm at a community college in the U.S., which is part of a large urban university, and about half of our student population is foreign-born. We have a TOEFL requirement for enrollment, but some students indeed have very weak English skills (I've had a small number that apparently needed every course lecture translated by a friend, and couldn't communicate to me directly).
My initial instinct is something like, "You enrolled at a university where the instruction is in English, and has an English requirement for registration, so no one should be surprised at this." But (a) that seems wordy and byzantine, and (b) misses the underlying problem that people are led to believe that math work is entirely deterministic symbol-pushing, such that some people pursue it precisely because they think they won't need strong language skills (in fact, some of our advisors explicitly say this to students).
Obviously, replace "English" here with "natural language" at whatever institution and location you might consider.
What's the best, shortest response to student criticism that "It's unfair to expect writing in English"?
Related from SE Mathematics: Why there is no sign of logic symbols in mathematical texts?


texts: How to prevent Google Scholar from reformatting the name of a consortium to the Last, First format

texts: I am trying to edit entries on my personal Google Scholar page. The process is smooth but Google Scholar automatically reformats any author name I enter to appear in the Last, First format. For example, if I add "Example Consortium" as an author, Google Scholar will list this as "E Consortium". How do I stop this reformatting?


texts: How often should I notify referees about my PhD application?

texts: I will be applying now for PhD programmes and I wonder if I should notify my referees about every single application, providing data, such as: title and brief description of the project so they can tailor their references? Or that would be too much for them to get every single time an email like that? I know that they are busy with academic or own research commitments so I don't want to pile them with emails if that's not necessary. They are aware that I'm applying now.


texts: What does the status "editor discussion period" in editorial manager mean?

texts:
I have this on editorial manager, but I can't find any information about what it is/means anywhere!
It's been this way for 15 odd days, and before that, it was "under review" (I may have missed some steps in the middle because I didn't check for 3 weeks).


texts: What can be done when my assignment's requirements has been so vague that it is jeopardising the grade that can be achieved?

texts:
An assignment spec was released but it was poorly written and vague to the point where the requirements of the software system is unclear. As a final year undergraduate this unit counts a lot to my overall grade. After numerous emails, phone calls and face-to-face discussions with: other students, lecturer, other lecturers and head of the course, they clarified the assignment with 2 weeks to go (was supposed to allegedly take 4-6 weeks which would have been a struggle anyway). The other parties all agreed that the spec was poorly written and interpreted it wrongly themselves.

I have been working on the solution but I am worried I cannot implement it to the standard of a 1st (70%+). The institution seems reluctant to offer an extension to the deadline and I don't know what else can be done. It is a sponsored degree so I study part time and work full time, so there is very little gap to pull all-nighters or power through whilst keeping a professional front for 9 hours a day.

Is there anything me and fellow students can urge the university to do, or anything our employers (sponsors) can do to encourage action?


texts: Is it OK to put a paper on the arXiv after it has been published online?

texts: Suppose that a paper has just got online in a journal without any previous submission to the arXiv. But the authors have spotted some minor typos and are also not satisfied with the typesetting of the online version. Can they put a newer version of the paper on the arXiv that contains some typesetting edits and minor corrections of typos?


texts: Timeline for late tenure track positions

texts:
I have been waiting for a week after my first-round interview for a tenure track position in the US. The interview went well, I think, and ended up with a nice response from the chair of search committees. She was impressed with my presentation, but I took it as her courtesy. From the interview, I also knew that the initial interview was completed yesterday.
This position was posted in March (very late) and closed in April (very short). If offered, the candidate will have to work in August. I am curious to know if anyone has any experience with such quick hiring. What should the timeline be for the hiring decision?


texts: Should departmental talks be included on a CV?

texts:
This might be more relevant to early career scholars since the CV isn't quite long enough to start filtering, but should departmental talks be included on a CV?

In my department we have weekly meetings where students and facility will give updates on their research, early findings, or talks based upon recent publications. I've heard some differing opinions as to their relevance on CVs since there is only a minor degree of filtering to do one of these talks. According to the principle of peer review I get the impression that such talks are of minor value, but is there value to early career scholars included them, or are they perceived as padding?


texts: How should I refer to myself (single author) when addressing reviewers comments?

texts: I'm referring to the detailed answer to each of their comments. For example, under each comment, which of the following is appropriate: "The author believes that...", or "We believe that...", or "I believe that..."?


texts: Is it normal to preferentially invite female speakers when there would otherwise be few female speakers?

texts:
My institute is creating an annual list of invited speakers and solicited suggestions from staff. It was at pains to point out that although only "n" 18% of suggestions received were female, they made up "n+1" 31% of the speakers selected to talk. As a female student, this makes me feel uncomfortable that women seem to be getting preferential treatment - is this normal practice in academia, in the UK or elsewhere?

Edit: I didn't mean my question to sound insulting, I'm sorry if it sounded that way. Everyone invited is perfectly qualified and I didn't mean to suggest otherwise. It just seemed a little strange all the women on the shortlist made it through whilst quite a few men didn't. And that the email took on an apologetic tone and emphasized this so heavily. I was just interested in whether this is common as it makes me feel a little uneasy that gender plays such a prominent role in the organizers' thinking. Thanks.


texts: Lab journal best practices for pre-experiment research

texts:
I'm interested in nuclear physics, and I'm building a cloud chamber. Because I'd like to do science fairs and (eventually) go to college and publish papers in the field of physics, I thought it would be good practice to keep a lab journal. (For reference, I'm in the U.S. and am currently, of course, an amateur.)

I am currently doing some research into how I want to construct part of the cloud chamber and also into which parts I wish to purchase. Is it best practice to record which parts I picked and why I picked them?

Note: If there's any information I should add, please let me know; this is the first question I've asked on Academia.SE.


texts: Open-source the project code before or after publication?

texts:
I recently completed a part of my project and communicated a paper to a conference. Let's call the paper's title as "project x: for this and that". Now, I wish to open-source project x to facilitate reproducible research and to have more (at least some) people use it (and cite it!).

Are there any specific drawbacks or risks involved in open-sourcing project x on, say, Github or Sourceforge? Do note here that I would still be improving on project x, and possibly sending the extended version to a journal (my area of work being Computer Science).

I understand that if a conference/journal requires double-blind review and my project is searchable on the Internet, I am revealing my identity to the reviewers. This is bad, right?

Are there any other cons I should be considering? And are there any pros of open-sourcing before a making it into a publication?


texts: Should I mention that I refereed a paper in my CV/SOP?

texts: The journal I published in invited me to referee a paper and I would like to know if such experience can can be mentioned in my CV/SOP when I apply for masters/PhD degree?


texts: Is the abreviation 'Doz' equivalent/interchangeable to 'Prof'?

texts:
I'm doing a PhD in Austria and I noticed that people are a bit weird around titles so I'm adapting to it. I also saw that some use the abbreviation Doz (Dozent) and others Prof (Professor). Are these equivalent/interchangeable?

I've read this wikipedia page where it says:

  Docent is also used at some (mainly German) universities generically for a person who has the right to teach.

So I thought maybe it's the difference between actively being a professor and being able to teach, but later it says:

  In Germany, Austria and in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, Dozent or Hochschuldozent denotes an academic appointment at a university or similar institution, at a mid-level ranking of seniority.

So is it related to seniority? Do you first become a Doz and then a Prof?


texts: what is the best strategy to deal with a situation where a student asks all of homework problems on an online forum

texts:
I teach a course, every week I assign homework. I put several hours to choose the right homework problems which cover the course material and permit them to be prepared for the exams.

I encourage students coming to my office hours and to ask all of their questions, I may also help them to solve the homework problems. During the class I normally give some hints about the homework's difficult problems (in any).

The homework load is (in my opinion) reasonable: 4-5 exercises, maybe 3-4 out of them are easy and maybe 1-2 is a little challenging. The homework has 10% point.

Today, to my surprise I saw a user who has asked all of my homework problems (including the easy ones) on math stackexchange. And all of them have been answered. Regarding the particularity of my homework problems and the time of posting the questions, I am sure that the user is one of my students, I am not sure which one.

To be precise I had not prohibited the students about posting the homework questions online as I was not expecting this situation.

My question is what is the best strategy to deal with this situation.


texts:
I need a point of view of users here regarding doing postdoc in small lab or big lab. I am currently looking for a postdoc position. During my PhD years, I worked in a small lab with inexperienced supervisor as principal investigator. She was a very nice supervisor who is concerned a lot regarding my PhD study. However, she has a weakness of not publishing a lot papers into journal and she is also not a risk taker when it comes to researching high impact research that will result in novel and interesting findings. As a result, I did not manage to publish a lot during PhD study but somehow I did manage to have a smooth PhD study without too many problems because my previous supervisor helped a lot.

Now, I am researching/ looking for a lab to do postdoc study. While I already received an offer from my previous PhD supervisor to do postdoc with her, I am contemplating to accept that offer due to the fact I mentioned before that her lab is small and she doesn't focus much on publication. I want to keep my options open to the big lab that might have more experts in my field and more publication opportunity. On the other hand, my previous supervisor is a very nice supervisor who is a great leader and boss. And the grass is not always greener at the other side so who knows I might not like new lab.

So the question is, big lab or small lab is better for postdoc research?


texts: How to convince a journal editor that my paper is not a duplicate?

texts: Recently, I submitted two manuscripts in two different journals. The papers are related, but their contents and purposes are different; and they also made use of different data sets.  One of these manuscripts got accepted for publication, but one of the reviewers for the second manuscript informed the editor the paper was a duplicated paper that he or she recently reviewed.  Evidently, that the same reviewer has reviewed my both manuscripts. However, the editor has asked me to clarify and provide evidence that my paper is not a duplicate. So how should I respond to convince the editor and reviewer that this paper is a legitimately separate work?


texts: How to cite R packages when using Mendeley?

texts:
In Mendeley, the closest category for an R package appears to be "Computer Program"; however, R itself is a computer program, not its packages.

Other literature sources seem to cite technical documents about R packages instead of the actual packages.

Aside from manually entering the citations, is there a way to incorporate R packages in my Mendeley library?


texts: How important is an (Honors) undergraduate thesis to graduate school admissions?

texts:
I'm an undergraduate Honors student in a STEM major, and in the upcoming years I will have the option to complete an Honors thesis in my field, either as a research/data analysis or a literature review sort of thing. Because of other circumstances I can graduate "with Honors" with or without it, so it would purely be adding to my major, not so much my overall graduation status.

Either way I will have some volunteer experience in labs in my field, and a decent GPA, etc. Would an undergraduate thesis in my field greatly help my graduate program applications? Does it matter if the thesis is based on original research or literature review?


texts: Adding summary to a PhD application statement of purpose

texts: I am applying to PhD in computer science. In the statement of purpose, is it good to include a summary section and list important contributions as bullet points? (e.g., I have 10 publications, I have 3 years teaching experience, etc)


texts: Chemical Engineering subject classification

texts:
Our department is working on revamping our curriculum and I thought it would be a good time to align ourselves with any internationally available subject classification schemes for Chemical Engineering. My goal is to automate the process of checking coverage of topics in the new curriculum to avoid important topics falling through the cracks.

I have found the AIChE Body of Knowledge, but this appears not to allow for coding of topics. I'm looking for something similar to the AMS Mathematics Subject Classification, which allows for a relatively exhaustive list of topics as well as providing short codes which can be used to count automatically which modules provide which topics.

Does anybody know of a systematic coding scheme for Chemical Engineering topics? Failing that, what strategies or tools have you used during curriculation to code the topics and check for coverage?


texts: Do I cite introductory material in a subject that helped me indirectly?

texts:
I am writing my undergrad Bachelor's thesis in computational physics where I do C++ programming. In some C++ books, I read some things that were quite useful during programming, but they do not have a direct connection to the physics.

Since I was proficient with LaTeX before I started the thesis, I do not see a point in adding anything about that in the references. That is rather a skill than specific facts, and I did not really read about it during my research.

Another thing are resources that I consult for an introduction into a topic when I do not understand something in a paper. After reading that introduction material, I often understand the paper to a sufficient extent. When I then write the text, I think I could get by by only referencing the paper since it contains virtually everything needed. But it also seems wrong to omit that I read introduction material.

Should I cite sources like the C++ book?
Should I cite introduction material like Wikipedia, websites or easy books?


texts: Extra time when time is of the essence (U.S.)

texts:
In the U.S. context, I am wondering how colleges deal with the accommodation of students with disabilities when testing something for which "time is of the essence".

Consider, for example, a sight-reading exam at a music school. Surely, as much as dyslexia seriously impairs reading text, there must exist an equivalent condition impairing some people's ability to read music. So I would expect that under current policies, a student who can demonstrate a serious "music reading disability" could ask for accommodation in the form of extra time on a sight-reading exam (at least if the exam is one where students are given some time with the new sheet before they have to perform it live)?

The issue, obviously, is that time is of the essence in a sight-reading exam. What is being tested is precisely whether the student is able to quickly (sometimes even "on the spot") read a new sheet of music.

Of course, this extends beyond the particular example of sight-reading. A school that trains mechanics may specifically want to test whether its students are able to service a car in a given amount of time. A school that trains chemists may want to test whether its students can perform a given experiment in a given amount of time as well. And so on and so forth.

These situations seem hard to reconcile with requests for extra-time from students with disabilities. My questions are:

Do current accommodation policies recognize a "special kind of tests" where "time is of the essence" and requests for extra time from students with disabilities can legally be turned down?
If so, what prevents teachers from deciding that time is of the essence in all (or most) of their tests? In answers to other questions about extra time, we often read that "tests should test knowledge and understanding, not speed". What if a school decided it wanted to grant degrees to student who not only "understand" some material, but are also "quick on their feet" and able to apply this material to solve problems (or produce an artistic performance in the musical example above) in a timely manner? Could the school go down that road without contravening existing anti-discrimination regulations and risk losing all its public funding?


texts: Is it possible to do an MBA while pursuing a PhD in Sweden?

texts:
The title says it all. To elaborate, I wanted to know specifically in Sweden, am I allowed to apply for an MBA degree in parallel with my Ph.D. studies?
Update 1: I'm aware that it's not recommended to pursue these two demanding degrees together. The question is whether in Sweden it's technically possible or not.
Update 2: It's a question related to Sweden, only!


texts: How long should your answers be for a postdoc interview?

texts:
I have a postdoc interview, I found a video that talks about the most common postdoc questions where the person says "the general rule of thumb is that all your answers should start and stop within 30 seconds", he also suggested to summarize your answers to 3-5 sentences. He insisted on this especially for the "tell me about yourself" question, is this really the "general rule of thumb" of postdoc answers? Because I have tried this for the first question and I found myself talking for 1 minute or so.
Edit:
For the sake of clarity, how long should your answer be for the "Tell me about yourself" question? If I am supposed to summarize my answer to 5 sentences, I feel that I will leave out a lot of details !


texts: How/whether to update PhD admissions committee about new scholarship

texts:
I applied to 4 US PhD programs and I've received 3 rejections and 1 waitlist.

I also applied for a scholarship for $25,000/year x4years and just found out that I got it.

I'm thinking that I should update the school I'm waitlisted at because the scholarship could probably help my chances of getting in. I have some questions I'm hoping I can receive some input on here:

How should I go about updating the waitlist school about this scholarship? Should I do this in writing or by phone?
Should I inform the schools that have already rejected me about the scholarship--is it possible they may change their decisions based on this new information? And if so, how should I approach telling them?
The scholarship would require me to research a certain (widely researched) disease and maintain one of my MSc supervisors (at a different institution) as a co-supervisor during my PhD. Is it likely that the school(s) will mind this (especially the second part)?

Thanks in advance for any and all feedback!


texts: What matters most for Grad school admissions ? Practical grades or Theory grades?

texts:
My college separates theory and practical grades. I have poor grades in theory like I scores around 60 ~ 80 in most of my theory grades. But except two practical exams in which I scored between 80 to 90 I got above 90 in every single practical exam. Even in my Engineering thesis and cumulative viva I scored above 90.

Applying to grad schools is a costly process so I am thinking if I should choose colleges based on my practical grades or theory grades. I can only apply to 5 ~ 6 colleges at max. Maybe less too.

Practical exams are given 2 credits and theory exams around 3 to 4. Engineering thesis was for 8 credits and cumulative viva 2 credits.

One of the reasons I scored poorly in theory grades was cause 5% of marks is awarded based on the candidates attendance and I had below 40% all throughout my undergrad study. But its not mentioned in the grade cards though.

Edit: I am a computer science student.


texts: Postdoc delayed decision! Possible reasons?

texts:
I have been interview 2 weeks ago for a postdoc. The panel said that they will reply early next week and its already two weeks passed since the interview. I am wondering if i should wait more or should send an email?
Interview was conducted two times because one of the committee member was busy in first day and was not able to join. The first interview was actually very good and the second interview with with this professor was not that good as the first was. Is he holding back the decision?
I have also noticed that one of my reference letter is not yet delivered, so I asked this professor and he said he will forward in 1-2 days. Could this be a reason of delay? Or 2 reference are enough to establish decision?

Thanks


texts: Finding original research ideas/topics as an undergraduate student

texts:
I am currently an undergraduate student majoring in mathematics and biology. My plan is to combine both of these fields with the hope of somehow working with modeling infectious diseases through the use of differential equations and other methods.

I recently took a course in mathematical modeling and an independent study on modeling infectious diseases. I worked with the SI, SIS, SIR and other models. The main method was using differential equations to model the diseases. I've worked with very simple models that were logistic, to more complicated models such as the Zombie model.

This field really interest me and I would like to work on some sort of topic that isn't well discussed or well known. Maybe even create my own model. However I don't particularly know where to start. How would I go by finding some sort starting point? Any help in the right direction would be appreciated. I am on winter break and I have a month of free time. I'd like to use this time to do some research and write a paper on it. Something that I may possibly use in the future.


texts:
For my masters degree in computer science, I'm currently working on a paper on ransomware. Goal of this paper is to focus on academic writing and citing sources correctly.

Trustworthiness/Quality of sources

As I wanted to show what kind of business ransomware is and what amounts of money are dealt with, I had a look at the TOR onion network - a deep web only accessible by TOR browser.

I found some interesting results. Despite the fact that the pages are completely anonymous and it's not sure if the authors can be trusted, would it be ok to cite those pages on ransomware-related questions, stating their poor trustworthiness immediately after the citation?

BibTeX

Other questions came up on how to cite these pages. My bibtex file now looks like this (I replaced some parts by * for obvious reasons):

@misc{Darknet:****,
    title={**** - The Better & Cheapest FUD Ransomware + C&C on Darknet},
    howpublished={\url{http://****.onion}},
    note={Abgerufen am 12.03.2017}
}

My question here is how to state that the *.onion url only works in TOR browser? Or should I better include a screenshot in case the page gets shut down?


texts:
Sorry for asking maybe a too-specific question. I've searched the internet and in this site but I still want a specific answer.

Is the Lecture Notes in (enter the name of field here) by Springer a journal?

Some universities require the PhD students to publish in journals in order to graduate, so I want to know. I am in Computer Science field.


texts: I want to do research by myself and with my friends, but I don't want to apply for a degree. What are the advantages and disadvantages of doing research without studying for a degree?


texts: University Test Bank Website- Potential Liability Issues?

texts: I have an idea for a website, which I'm afraid may land me in trouble. I want to create a website where students from the university I attend can submit exams that they took (with scores of 90% or above), and they will be publicly posted on the site for other university students to utilize and study from. However, would this cause any violation of academic dishonesty rules? Would the professors try to hunt me down and get me suspended from the institution?


texts: Citing 'several' studies in one statement... cite all of them or use 'for example'?

texts:
Let's assume that 10 empirical studies have been done for topic x. If I want to mention the following: Several studies have been conducted to deal with topic x (study 1; study 2; study 3).

My question: when I mention the word 'several', am I obligated to cite ALL the 10 empirical studies in the citation? Can I just cite a few? Should I use 'for example' to tell the reader that I am citing only 3 related studies, however others studies do exist?


texts: PhD (at Oxford) vs staying at in the industry (Facebook) for a ML student?

texts:
I am 26 years old and I got an offer for a PhD in Machine Learning at Oxford. However, currently I am a software engineer at Facebook and I am living a very well-off lifestyle.

I applied for the PhD last year, not knowing if I would get it and I decided to work as a back up. Now that I have a great paying job it is hard for me to want to do the PhD even with the scholarship. However, I know the work I can get after completing a PhD at Oxford is much more interesting to me (my work is currently not very interesting) and I could be making more than I am now.

My question is: will it be worth it do take 3-4 years to do that PhD (and graduate around 30) or should I just stay at Facebook even though the job is not very interesting for me.


texts: As a PhD student, should I attend group meetings when they just make me feel bad?

texts:
Should I attend group meetings? In our group meetings, scientific issues (experiment or results) are not discussed, participants only tell their situations (I will have a paper) or material, economic issues are discussed.
I am currently a PhD student and I will complete my second year in next September. I do not want to attend group meetings in any way. There are only two PhD students.
Since the first group meeting I have felt very bad because all I could say was that I was reading articles, I had not started my experiments. Then I started my experiments, and our group leader asked me 'are you still in the lab?' It was like pinning. I don't know, maybe that's his style. But attending group meetings makes me feel bad because I am the most inexperienced member in the group.
I have no problem with my advisor, I also had good results with my work which will be published.
In one of these meetings, the group leader said that to me 'She needs tutoring', but we have never met him except for dinner. I don't think it's fair. I am doing my doctorate in Germany and as someone from Bosnia, I don't know their culture.
I cannot decide whether to attend the meetings or not.
11 people, others are professors or doctors.


texts: How to establish a global authority to deal with academic plagiarism?

texts:
In the vastness of today's academia, the "wrongful appropriation" and "stealing and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions" and the representation of them as one's own original work prevails regardless of institutional measures to curb this kind of plagiarism.

If there were to exist a global authority to monitor journals and other publications for plagiarised material, it may benifit the academic and scientific community greatly.

We can keep a watch on material being plagiarised or uncredited. Then, blacklist authors who repeatedly steal other's works.
I am not sure how ethical it is to do so but it sounds just.

Does there already exist such a recognized global organization?

After I graduate, I seek to help academia by setting up an establishment that focuses solely on eliminating the plague of plagiarisation. Then, expanding it be a watchful protector for the entire academic world.

What is your advice for me? At this moment, this is simply an idea.
Even if I do set up a thing like this, how can I hope for it to be one day recognized by people like you?

I'm unsure of the process (toil) involved in setting up such a huge authority. I would ofcourse need expert academicians and scholars. Programmers and scientists to find detection algorithms. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people to go through material looking for similarities.

Do you have any idea how such an organization would function? I'm just day dreaming here.


texts: Is it possible to submit a paper to a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal without PhD and get it accepted?

texts: Is it possible to submit a paper to a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal without PhD? More specifically, what would be the bare minimum qualifications that would grant one the possibility of the paper being published in a peer-reviewed academic medium?


texts: Job Application - Non-Tenure Track and Tenure Track in One Ad

texts:
I am working on an application for a job ad that lists available tenure-track and non-tenure track jobs in the same ad. I would want (and am qualified for) either position, but there are, of course, more non-tt positions. Is there an industry standard for how I should approach the cover letter. For example, should I:

Just choose one job to apply for.
Mention in my letter that I would like to be considered for
both/either.
Send in separate applications for both?

Any advice would be appreciated.


texts: Removing an author then adding him in a revised manuscript

texts: I submit a revision of a manuscript to a reputable journal and removing one author and changing the order of another author, then the editor sent it back to me to clarify the reasons for changes and ask for signatures from all authors even the removed.can I resubmit it without changes as first? as I am afraid to be rejected


texts: Should I reply to email from institute director congratulating me for being shortlisted for a position?

texts:
I have received an email from the "director" of a prestigious research institute, sent to me and another candidate, announcing and congratulating that we have been shortlisted for a particular position. He then mentioned that his assistant will contact us to inform us about the interview procedure and the next steps.

I wonder if I have to reply to the email, given it is sent by the director with his e-mail and not his assistance, or administration email, or I have to consider it as a kind of public announcement and just wait for his office to contact me?


texts: Will tutoring calculus be worthwhile experience?

texts: I'm an Electrical Engineer, working in industry but planning on returning to school in a few years to get my PhD and pursue academia. I was recently offered an opportunity to be a tutor for high school calculus students, and am curious how beneficial that would be for me in applying to grad school and continuing on eventually as professor. It would only be a part-time thing, but I feel like it would be a good opportunity for me to learn how to teach math, since that's a position I haven't really been in before. I'll likely do it whether it'll look good on an application or not, but I'm just curious to see if it could be doubly beneficial.


texts: Ethical reaction to fake academic degree claim. (Unfinished PhD)

texts:
Let's assume a hypothetical context where someone figures out that a given businessperson's claims to have a PhD from a prestigious university are not true. The person in question was enrolled in a PhD program but they never finished and therefore no degree was awarded. The person is introduced in interviews and presentations as "Dr." and listed in the company's website as having a PhD in a scientific topic from a specific real university.

Provided the evidence is unequivocal, the questions are:

What is the ethical response to this? How to handle it?

Is it fraud?

What are the mechanisms available to denounce this, if pertinent?

(depending on answer to previous question)

I'm personally interested in the case for Europe and UK, but cases for other countries may be of general interest.

This is related to other question about Diploma mills, but my question is about real prestigious universities, real enrolment but no award.

This question does not relate to degrees pending imminent conferral, but to incomplete degrees, falsely advertised as completed.