texts: Professor will not write a letter of recommendation because I have restricted access to my records under FERPA, is this legitimate?

texts:
I am preparing my tenure-track faculty application materials for the current hiring cycle, and I'm thinking of replacing one of my reference writers with one of my PhD committee members (I'll call him Dr. Z). In addition to serving on my committee (I successfully defended my dissertation earlier this year), Dr. Z was a co-author on several journal/conference papers and a former instructor for several classes in which I did very well.

I sent an email to Dr. Z asking him if he would be willing to provide a letter of recommendation for me. His reply:

  I have been informed that you have FERPA restrictions on your academic
   records.  I cannot provide reference letters for you or speak on your behalf to any potential employers with FERPA restrictions in place.

When I first enrolled at my PhD-granting institution, I placed FERPA restrictions on my academic records. Specifically, I chose to have my directory information removed from my school's online directory. I'm not a control freak, but I do tend to take advantage of mechanisms which help to prevent any of my personal information (such as home address, etc.) falling into unknown hands.

I have no reason not to remove the FERPA restrictions, but I hate the thought of removing them under these circumstances. However, I also understand, and appreciate, anyone's right to provide (or not) a reference for whatever reason(s) they choose.

I am left wondering, though:

Is there a legitimate reason that someone in Dr. Z's position would have for wanting to see my academic records prior to providing a reference?

Edit — For what it's worth, I am seeking out reference writers, such as Dr. Z, who can speak to my research capabilities, not about how well I did in their class.


texts: How to write mail to super senior renowned mathematicians?

texts:
I am 36 year old researcher in field of mathematics. When I get stucked at certain problem I use to write mail to mathematicians expert in the field. Sometime they are of age 80 and above. Most amazing thing is that they respond quickly to every of my mail. Most of the time when I  write mail to young researchers of my age or younger than me I start my mail with word "Dear Sir......." and when I write mail to super senior researchers I start my mail with word "Respected Sir.......".

Is my way of writing  "Respected Sir......." is correct or should use some other words for gesturing greater respect to them?


texts: Group-work course, part of the group failing

texts:
This question is based around a hypothetical, but realistic, scenario.

The situation revolves around a group-based course in which the main deliverable is a report. Every group member is responsible for the report. The report is graded as a whole and counts for the entire group but individual adjustments in grade can be made by the supervisor based on peer reviews and other considerations by the supervisor.
The issue arises when part of the group fails (due to the report grade) and another part passes the course. Let's assume the failing students did their part, just not enough to pass.

I am particularly wondering about the fairness or ethics of part of the group passing on contributions by the failing of the group.
I have taken part in many such courses and luckily the issue never arose in any of the groups I was part of. Thinking about it, I have mixed feelings about the situation the failing students (in this scenario) find themselves in.
On the one hand, you could say the failing students did not contribute enough to the report for them to pass the course. On the other hand, placing yourself in the failing students' shoes, their contributions are used to pass the other part of the group.
Concrete questions:

From a supervisor's point of view, should only those parts written by the passing students be considered to grade them so they don't fare on the work of the failing students?

This is almost impossible, you would first have to consider all the work (how else do your know some students won't pass?) then unconsider (if that's even a thing) part of it.
One option would be to either pass or fail the entire group, but that might be unfair on the hard-working group members (who do enough to pass if they were in a group of people who as hard as them).

From the failing students' points of view, it might seem unfair because their work is used to pass the others. Should those having received a failing grade be entitled to any compensation on the grounds that they did some work?

I'd compare it with starting a company, suppose three people build a company, two people do 40% of the work each, the other does the remaining 20%. While any two people in this case do over 50% of the work, I don't think they can just decide to dump the other person (this might depend on how the company was founded, but it seems unethical).
How this type of assignment works in my experience
A group of students is assigned a problem for which they need to write a report. The students get a list of requirements and it is up to them to divide the work and make sure everyone does their part.
If a student does very little work, the others can report that so a solution can be found (student has to make up for lack of work or quits the course). It's mostly encouraged to report bad group dynamics early so something can be done about it (that becomes harder as the project progresses).
The projects often have a tutor assigned to them, sometimes academic staff, sometimes a (more) senior student. Students also review their peers on how they felt the others participated. The tutor advises the one(s) responsible for grading the reports. Based on the report, the tutor's advice and the report itself, each student gets a grade (according to some rubric).
The courses I have in mind are mainly aimed at this report. The report will be the main deliverable and make up over 50% of the course's grade. The remaining part of the grade is made up by a combination of individual work and other group deliverables (e.g. presentations or computer code).


texts: Computer Science degree Vs. Software Development degree

texts: Why are schools offering software development degrees as opposed to computer science? Are computer science degrees not as good for software development jobs as the software development degrees? I see companies advertise jobs that say they want a computer science degree or related. Also, some companies won't accept any less than a computer science or computer engineering degree. I've never seen one company say that they want to hire someone with a software development degree. I know that "software development" is related, but what I think these companies mean by "or related" is math, physics, engineering, etc...


texts: How to indicate the type of position of a letter writer?

texts:
I am faculty member of a European university and I was asked by a student to write a letter of recommendation for graduate admission to a programme in the US or Canada.

Should this letter contain an information about the type of position the letter writer is holding? In my case this is a tenure track position but this fact is not stated on the department website. Should this be included in the letter? What would be the ideal way of including this?

To make matters more complicated, the type of position I have is "Assistant Professor" but the regulations explicitly forbid to use this as a title of the person holding the position.


texts: Aftermath of rightfully submitting a solo paper without my advisor's name

texts:
After reading this question and this I haven't find my answer.

My advisor hasn't contributed to my work and I know that my work isn't significant and it won't publish in top journals. But I want to publish it without my advisor's name in a conference.

So my question is not about automatically coauthor my advisor or having high hopes on my individual work.

The Problem arise from here. We have to enroll in some seminar classes before starting to work on our thesis.
In one of those classes our teacher said:

"No matter what you do, you have to enlist your advisor's name in your papers because unless it would considered as a work with no supervisor and it can not be trusted."
"In interview we have for PhD students, if the person who is applying hasn't written the name of his suprevisor we doubt him. Either he is a genius or he is hiding something or he is too active in his field."
"In some companies and research labs everyone add the name of their fundraiser to show him their gratitude, so should we.".

So based on what I heard I'm going to face serious problems if I publish my work individually as a student. The question is:

Apart from being unethical including a name of person who didn't contribute to work as a coauthor, does it have any academic weight? I mean, does it value my work if I say I did it alone or it does not have any different until coauthor isn't a student.
Is it true that I am going to be accused as a not genuine person if I don't add my advisor's name? Because our teacher told us that he and his colleagues don't consider these kind of submitted papers trustworthy and genuine, so don't look at them carefully and mostly reject them on sight.

Edit:

Conclusion: Thank you all. I think my vision is more clear now. The right way is not the opposite of the wrong way. It means despite "spoon-fed" "a very distorted view", the right thing to do is not doing the opposite.

I decided to do my best to play as a team, because of its mentioned benefits, especially for my first paper. But if working as a team doesn't go well, there is no harm in solo publishing or getting some new advisers.


texts: In-house code used in paper methods section but not shared

texts:
I am muddling my way through my program an stumbled upon a technique I would really want to employ in my research. The technique is well outside the realm of my PI's expertise and my PI would not run in the same circle as the person whose paper I want to leverage.

I have access to the necessary equipment through a core on campus, but I would need some support to establish a foothold in this subject matter. I have been reading some additional papers from the lab, but some of the finer details are probably housed in the code (matlab scripts).

I wanted to start by recreating what was in the published paper but the in-house code is not provided. That raw data is though. Is that common?

I sent a note asking for the code following the guidance of another post on this site. A complicating factor is the PI is a leader in the field (big lab, Nature papers etc...) and I am in a brand new lab.

Hopefully I hear back, but shouldn't you have to release the code necessary to create the figures?

I am in the biomedical field.


texts: How to apply for a faculty position elsewhere without revealing the conflict with current dept chair?

texts:
I am a new faculty member. My chair is simply crazy in my perspective.

I am an assistant professor. However, my teaching assignment is "offering individual statistical consulting/workshops", not "teaching any classes". This was indicated in my job description when I applied for this job. However, several times, she says, "you are not teaching" - so she says that I need to do what she asks me to do because she pays my salary (I really do not know why she pays).

What she wants me to do is to write research/funding proposals and articles, then put her as the PI/the first author although they are my research ideas/works. She has taken three studies so far. More seriously, when she took the first one, I refused it. Then she sent out an official letter including some other faculty, saying that she took my research proposal because it was originally her idea and I stole it. Worse still, she then forced me to write the paper for her.

My Ph.D. is in statistics. She said that I couldn't get tenured unless I change my research field into an education field which she wanted to do. Her point was again "paycheck" - I should do something because I am not teaching.

Worst of all, she claims I am a bad person and faculty member because I refuse her unethical requests as a researcher. Furthermore, she talks about me to all the other faculty members, causing them to hesitate to be friends with me. Whatever I say goes to the chair.

Anyway, I am leaving - what should I do to be free from the chair in the application procedure. I really do not want anyone to contact the chair as my referee. By the way, I wouldn't mention my chair in anywhere on my application documents.


texts: "Exceptional candidates from other areas may also be considered". What does this mean?

texts:
I'm a fourth year mathematics postdoc and I am looking at tenure-track jobs this year. I see some jobs that have a targeted research area but often have a caveat sentence along the lines of "Exceptional candidates from other areas may also be considered."

I am trying to decide if putting my file in there will cloud their applicant pool (since I am in a related field but not in the advertised discipline). What do caveat sentences like this mean? What does "exceptional candidate" mean? Should I apply?


texts: Gift for mentor after his thesis defense?

texts:
I'm attending the thesis defense of one of my undergrad mentors this week. I owe almost everything about where I am today to him. I want to get him a gift, but I'm not sure what. He owns his own business, so a gift card seems pointless when he won't be short of money. I have never seen him eat or drink anything, EVER, so I'm not sure what kind of candy or food would be appropriate. He's a guy, so flowers are out.

We did have a shared love of a certain book series, but I already got him one of those for a Christmas gift and I feel like it might be weird to get another one again.

His thesis is something pretty abstract—even the name of the project has no real-world analogue. So a "cute" gift related to his thesis would be tough to come up with.

Also I'm a girl, if that matters, and I don't want to give him anything that would be creepy/weird/over-the-top with the gender difference taken into account.


texts:
I'm a young undergraduate student currently finishing my next-to-last year as a math bachelor. I plan to apply for a Masters as soon as I finish, and I look forward to a job as an academic researcher.

I'm also deeply involved with the culture of body modification, hosting myself a few tattoos, piercings and one scarification (as of today, all of which could be covered by wearing a dress shirt and pants). I also look forward to further modify my body, including face/hand tattoos, scarifications and piercings.

I know that, in general, this means that I will find barriers to land a job given my future undeniable ``strange" appearance. Now, in the context of academic jobs, how is this culture viewed upon? I've never seen a member of our faculty with any form of extreme body mod, just one or another mild, easily hidden tattoo.

I would like to add that both body modification and mathematics had (and still have) a huge impact in my life, both are my driving force and my passion for them will make me purse my dreams of being a (heavily modified) mathematician, no matter what. I would just like to know what type of obstacles I should be ready to face, when the time comes. Though I repeat to myself everyday that "if I'm good enough at my job, people will need to accept my looks", I would also appreciate a less faith-dependent advice. You know, for the hard days.

To further clarify how is this different from other related questions on tattoos, I'm talking about extreme body modification, while the question linked states: "Of course, if I did get one, it would be discrete and innocent." These images show what sort of looks I aim to achieve: photo 1, photo 2.


texts: Possibility of negotiating a better contract if I am offered an asst prof position?

texts:
I attended an interview last week for an asst prof position in math in a university in the UK that is much lower ranked than the universities where I did my PhD and postdocs, for instance, my PhD university is one of the top 20 worldwide whereas this university is ranked in the 300-350 bracket. The university is in the city where my girlfriend works hence why I decided to at least apply for the job but I am in no way going to jeopardise my career just to live in the same city as my gf if I decide this is position is not a good move.

Do you think that if I was offered the position I could negotiate a better contract? For example, if I was to request that instead of coming it at the very bottom of asst prof scale, I come in several ranks higher?

I would be in the running for asst profs jobs in much higher ranked institutions, or I could make alot more money by going to industry which many of former PhD colleagues have done - so from my perpsective if I am to sacrifice positions at better institutions/higher salaries there would have to be some compensation. This is a very big sacrifice since, as far as I understand it, you can step down in the university rankings as much as you want to take a job but you won't be stepping back up..and I imagine it will be much harder to apply for and get funding, etc. coming from a much lower ranked place.

So do you think it is possible to obtain a better contract or is the academic hiring system so rigid in general that there is no room for manoeuvre here and I would be forced to come in at the bottom rung of the ladder?


texts: Typical start date for lectureship (UK context)

texts:
I received an offer for lectureship at a UK university. Their academic year starts in September. Usually (as far as I've seen), new faculty members start ~ 1 month prior to the start of the academic year. However, they want me to start 3 months prior  (basically before summer begins), citing the reason is for me to get used to the new environment and meet new colleagues (which would really only require 1 month if even that!).

My current position (fixed term) doesn't end until much later. And I have plenty of time to hand in my notice (although I rather finish my whole contract, just to tie things up nicely). All the same, I'm quite surprised by this very early start date. I reached out to the University and tried to negotiate with them, but they seem very firm on this (I didn't push because I was afraid they will rescind their offer, which I know is unlikely to happen in the US but this is the UK context so could be different).

No where on the original post advert mentioned a start date (or time). It's my bad that I didn't ask during my interview (as I just assumed).

My questions are:

is it typical in the UK to ask your new recruit to start so much
earlier? If not, should this be considered a warning sign? what
could be the real reason? They want to put me to work right away?
Can I negotiate (further) on this (How far can I push it)? and what
could be my leverage (I see none). This really early start date
feels rushed, not to mention it will be insane in terms of
relocating (and also breaking the lease on my house).
Thank you!


texts: Including a future conference presentation in graduate school applications?

texts:
I am a physics student currently applying to PhD programs, having had two years of full time post-bac research since graduating undergrad. Unfortunately, by the time most of my applications were due I had not produced a publication, although one was in preparation. Recently however I had an abstract accepted for a large conference in my field, so I will be giving a presentation at that conference in a few months.

Most graduate school applications ask for any publications or presentations having to do with your research. I have two questions:

Would it be appropriate to include this presentation given that it has not happened yet? The review process for these applications will likely be over by the time of the conference, so waiting until then to include it isn’t really and option.
Would it be worthwhile to email the director of graduate studies at institutions where I have already submitted my applications and ask them to update my application portfolio with this new information?

I know that research factors heavily into admissions decisions, and while I focus quite a bit on my experience in my application already, it might be good/important to also show some deliverables from 1.5ish years of research. I also don’t want to commit a faux pas by including things that perhaps shouldn’t be. Any advice is greatly appreciated.


texts: Why is dental school a separate thing from medical school?

texts:
I have always found it peculiar that terminal degrees in medicine (in the US, at least) are awarded in two forms. On the one hand, we have the MD (and the DO), a holder of which can go on to practice all sorts of medicine, ranging from pathology to radiology to oncology to family medicine and so on. On the other hand, we have the DMD and the DDS, holders of which can go on to practice oral medicine, and, as I understand it, little else.

Why is this so? What is it about oral medicine that has it being taught in different institutions than all the other branches of medicine?

(I don't know how this stuff works outside the US; answers contrasting the US system with other countries' systems of medical education could be very informative.)


texts: How to deal with radically different prerequisite preparation?

texts:
Let's say there is a core sequence of classes for an undergraduate STEM program, starting with what we'll call STEM 101 and STEM 102. The STEM 101 course is predominantly taught by two instructors: Professors A and B.

Now, in STEM 102 the performance of students coming from those two instructors is radically different. In STEM 102, Prof. A's students have an 86% pass rate, and an average GPA of about 3.0; Prof. B's students have a 33% pass rate, and an average GPA of about 1.0. Qualitatively, Prof. B's students appear bewildered by expectations on the first few days of class in STEM 102; they mostly cannot perform the expected basic skills; and they don't seem to get better over the course of the semester, either (still making the same basic-skills mistakes on the last day of STEM 102).

What are the best practices for dealing with this situation?


texts: How to check geographical variation/self citation in the citing articles on Google Scholar?

texts:
In my department, I have been assigned to find geographical variation and self-citation in the citing articles of some research papers. On Google Scholar, manually it is very difficult to check citations for every research paper. For example, one of the research article has 650 citations, it would be a laborious task to check every citing article for geographical variation and self-citations.

Is there any tool which classifies citing articles based on their geographical variation and self-citations?


texts: Switch from pure mathematics to machine learning as postdocs?

texts:
I'm a first year postdoc in pure mathematics (geometry/topology with strong background in analysis) with undergraduate statistics and probability background (with also measure theoretic probability). I also have some programming knowledge in ForTran, C and Matlab, but I never used them in my pure mathematics career in my graduate school for the last 5 years.
In my next job, I'm considering doing a postdoc in machine learning (ML). The reason behind this switch is: I'm satisfied with my pure knowledge so far and have been wanting to see some real-life applications of mathematics, and also keep my options open in both industry and academia.
My questions are:

How hard is this switch going to be? I guess I've all the required mathematics background, but will it be hard to pick up the necessary computer science skills, even if I work in more theory-oriented problems?
What exactly are the programming knowledge I need to master to work in ML?

Is there a website/email-list where I can get notifications on jobs in machine learning? I'm looking for jobs in Europe mostly, but information on the US would also be welcome.


texts: Who do I ask for a letter of recommendation if my advisor and I do not get along?

texts:
My relationship with my advisor did not end the best. He took months and months to get me my thesis edits (I am currently finishing my 5th year as a Master's student because of this), and I ended up having to involve the department chair and dean to get a response. I was also made the leader of our project after other students graduated or left with little to no guidance, so there were many mistakes on my part because I didn't know what I was doing and he wouldn't help me, but got upset when I asked other faculty for help.

Last time I asked him for a letter of recommendation he took so long to respond to me (despite me asking/reminding him about it daily) that the job closed and a person was hired before he even got to it. I don't feel that I can ask other faculty members because he would find out and get mad at me for not asking him, whether he would write me a letter or not.

I am looking at potentially getting a Ph.D., but they typically want 2-3 letters of recommendation. I am not sure who to ask at this point. I know I could have done better, and I have good relationships with other professors, but I feel that I can't ask anyone at this point and I am struggling to get a job that isn't seasonal/temporary.

Does anyone have any advise or suggestions that could potentially help me?


texts: Is it okay to modify the LaTeX template for article submission with additional packages?

texts:
I want to start writing on an article that is probably going to be published in one of the IOP journals. There is a template for their publications, but it lacks some (for me) essential packages. Since I've never submitted an article myself, I want to be sure the editing process goes as smooth as possible by eliminating problems early. So here's the question:

Can I add all the packages I like to the template without pissing off the editor? I talk about things like inputenc, fontenc, biblatex, microtype, etc. Nothing fancy, but very basic LaTeX stuff. I also prefer to have a separate .bib file for my bibliography, since I have them already organized that way and do not want to manually copy the info into the bibliography as suggested in the template.

I already read the guidelines for authors and there was no mention of modifying the template, only that its use is highly appreciated.

If anyone could provide any (preferrably inside info) on how editors work with submitted LaTeX files, that would help a lot! Thanks.


texts: How honest should one be in a PhD exit interview?

texts:
I will be graduating with a PhD and so I have one coming up soon. It seems like a new trend in academia. It is usually for all graduate students who enter the program when they leave it, with or without finishing. For example: ece.rice.edu/~suman/grad_council/exit.html. It is not to be confused with the thesis defense and will have no impact on my graduation. The interview is going to be with only the graduate program coordinator in my case. I assume, though, he will share the input with others including my advisor.

I searched the web and found answers for exit interviews in the corporate workplace instead. Most of the websites seem to suggest not to be completely honest to avoid burning bridges. These websites also suggest that HR people don't make any structural changes anyways to accommodate your concern. Can I extrapolate these ideas to a PhD exit interview? Is there anything to be gained by being honest in this interview? In particular, should I be honest about the advice and guidance I received from my advisor especially if I feel I didn't receive enough attention and advice from them? I know this is a common complaint among graduate students, should I be honest nonetheless?


texts: Should a graduate student instructor write a recommendation letter?

texts: I am currently a graduate student at a large university in the United States and I am the instructor for an advanced course. One of my students is applying to masters programs and has asked me to write a recommendation letter. They did a good job in a hard (and fairly unique) class, so I think I could write a fine letter saying this. But it isn't clear if this will be useful to the student's application if it is coming from a graduate student. Should I agree to write the letter, or suggest that they find full professors to write letters?


texts: Whether to change supervisor in UK Masters degree when supervisor is not providing much feedback and says I can change supervisor if I want?

texts:
I am pursuing a taught Master's degree in UK, and my field is social science. I was assigned to a dissertation supervisor by department. My supervisor is a very nice person with good personality, he is also tenured and respected in department.

The problem is that I can not get much feedback from him. I did two classes with him, and during these classes I talked with him about my class projects. I got an impression that he does not care much about what we do in our assignments or dissertation. The results from my assignments under him, did not make me happy, compared to the results I achieved from other classes.

The main problem is, I observe a similar trend for my dissertation work. He does not seem very interested in, probably he is too busy with his own research and other duties. But, at the end of the day, this affects the quality of the work done, and I am totally lost.

I talked with him about this issue and my concerns about the dissertation. He said that he believes I will do good work, but, also he pointed that I am free to apply for an advisor change (though, viability of this is unknown).

I am not sure if he is politely telling me that he wants me to leave or stay. What kind of path should I follow ?


texts: How to thank or apologize to an associate editor of a journal?

texts:
Suppose that when submitting a paper to a journal I made a mistake that resulted in some rule violation. No one detected this rule violation until the decision was announced. Once the decision was announced, the associate editor sent me an email to warn me for future submission.

I would like to reply to him/her. What should I write? An apology? A thanking?


texts: What if you love your field but can't take the heat of academia?

texts:
Imagine "a person" who may or may not be brilliant in her field, but certainly has new things to contribute, some of them (in her opinion) fascinating.

Imagine she adores her field, relates to it spiritually, and has been convinced for years that her life purpose is to do this research. She cannot imagine spending her time on this planet in any other way.

Of course, she has poured hours into it already, devoting her undergraduate career and much of her personal time to her area of interest. But she knows that it takes years of full-time commitment, study, and mentorship to become an expert in a field and to become qualified to break ground in a specific area.

But suppose it is not in her nature, nor particularly within her abilities, to meet the demands of today's academic culture. She is absent-minded and spacey; she is idealistic; she is in certain ways immature. She crumbles easily under stress and is psychologically vulnerable. She has difficulty making time for everything even without the demands of a graduate or postgraduate workload. She hates filling out forms and (especially) soliciting recommendations, even though her kind and charitable professors are always eager to write for her.

Please answer one or both of these questions:

A.

Should the person in my example "go into academe"--that is, should she go to graduate school for an academic PhD? If not, what should she do?

B.

Does the "absent-minded professor" exist anymore, and if so, how do/did they get through the hurdles?


texts: What to do as a grad student about an adverse grader?

texts:
I'm a grad student and one course I'm taking is graded by another grad student. Today, nearly halfway through the term, we finally got feedback on all our previously submitted homework dating back to the beginning of the term. I've done everything correctly, but the grader has frequently marked me down for not including steps in my work which are so obvious I would never, as a grader myself, consider marking sophomores down for passing over them without comment, much less fellow grad students. And on a couple of occasions he's marked me down for reasons which are plainly factually incorrect.

I can see statistics for each assignment's grades and it looks like I may be the only one getting dinged like this; other students are generally getting either perfect scores or scores low enough that it should indicate they've actually gotten things wrong. I begin to wonder whether the grader has it out for me. At the present rate I could end up with a B+ or A- on my transcript for this relatively easy course where I'm turning in practically perfect work.

The fact that I'm only finding this out halfway through the term does make things worse, but even if I'd known beforehand that he'd grade this way, honestly I don't think I could possibly have predicted the particular trivialities he's insisting on. So the only way I can imagine ruling those out is by turning straightforward single-page TeX'd assignments into ten-page exercises in stating the obvious. And then there are the problems where his stated reason is simply wrong.

During the pandemic, courses are being held remotely, and the site we use for submitting homework and viewing feedback includes a way to request a regrade. But it appears that request goes to the grader, and if this is a pattern of unfair treatment I'm not sure about confronting him about it. Yet I don't want to disproportionately hassle the professor, who I've never met before this class but who has commented positively on my comments in class.

How should I address this in a way that doesn't escalate things/burn bridges/whatever but does address the problem?

Edit: a couple people are misunderstanding. This isn't about me looking for 'leniency' on 'harsh grading.' I've done the work correctly, and the grader has taken exception to my style or something; he apparently hasn't been dinging other students similarly. I didn't intend to adduce examples, but perhaps given the misunderstandings it's necessary, so here are two. I showed a particular vector space was n-dimensional and exhibited n linearly independent vectors, and concluded they were a basis; I was marked down for not explaining why. I wouldn't expect sophomore linear algebra students to tediously reiterate every single time that any set of n linearly independent vectors in an n-dimensional space form a basis, much less grad students. In another instance I was marked down for saying the singular value matrix is diagonal, with the grader complaining that it's only diagonal if it's square. That's simply an overly restrictive use of the term; what I said was correct and clear.


texts: What Types of Content Should Be Included in A Poster Presentation of Unfinished Work?

texts:
I am preparing my first research poster for a conference at my school that allows for participants to present on unfinished work. I would be interested to know from more experienced researchers what they would want to see in terms of content if they were to view a poster that does not have any results yet. I have also included below a couple of headings that I feel could be included in the design of the poster with a brief description of what I think they ought to contain. The ones that are surrounded by ?? indicate subject headings I am not confident should be worth including, but the first three seem somewhat standard.

To offer some context, I have a model but just have not been able to get preliminary results because we were waiting on data for a long time through a data sharing agreement.

Summary --- One or two bullets that can justify the project and is easily digestable
Introduction --- Offers some background and motivation to the research and ends in the research question trying to be answered
Data and Methods --- Points to the data used in the research project and methods used to answer the research question
?Expected Results? --- Because I don't have any actual results, I am thinking that I could supplement those with what answers I might expect to find.
?Implications? --- Because I don't have any results, I can't really draw any conclusions. However, I think that answering my research question will have broader implications


texts: Are three year degrees from India equivalent to Four years degree in the US?

texts: Is a three years bachelors degree in Commerce and three years bachelors degree in Law from India termed to be equivalent to have a four years graduate degree from the US?


texts: What is the difference between predatory publishers and vanity presses?

texts:
The University of Sunshine Coast's website gives the difference as:

Vanity publishers are publishers that will charge the author a fee for publishing a book ...
While similar to vanity publishing, predatory Open Access publishers seek to take advantage of the Gold Open Access model, whereby the author pays to have an article available as Open Access on the journal website.

This sounds pretty trivial: vanity presses are presumably willing to publish anything, including journal articles, if paid.
If there is a difference, what is it? If there is no difference, why did Jeffrey Beall create a new term?


texts: How do I work on research independently?

texts:
I have a few good ideas in the area of evolutionary economics which I would like to discuss with an established researcher. How do I go about doing this? I live in Bangalore, India, where there don't seem to be any researchers in this area.

Do I just put it together as best as I can and email it off to whichever professors in the United States that are accessible on the internet?

The big problem is I don't quite know "the lay of the land" in terms of previous research, how my ideas fit in, and exactly how valuable they are, although from my initial survey, I have a hunch that I'm on the right track.


texts: Last year of PhD: only one paper in peer review and other in arxiv. Problem with postdoc?

texts:
I am starting to look for postdoc (I am at the end of my 3rd year of PhD, my PhD is a 3 year long and I will finish in october) and I currently only have 1 co-author publication (on a good journal), and 1 still on arxiv on which I am first author.
In the meantime we are writing 2 papers on which I am first author.
However I am worried that as "in practice" I only have one paper in a peer reviewed journal the post-doc advisor might not be super interested in my profile. Indeed it is "easy" to say "look there is another on arxiv and other in preparations". Because as long as it is not peer reviewed it could be something of poor quality in people mind.
My question is then: on my CV I wrote "in preparation" for those two other papers. But isn't it a bad thing to only have one co authored paper in a peer review at this stage? How usually post-doc recruiter (for a first post-doc) look at the publications? Are they putting weight in the "in prep" section of the curriculum? How to "defend" my profile?


texts: Can you have a career in academia without having to write grant applications?

texts: I really like doing research, but I've heard that all the fights for funding can be a major headache. So I am wondering, how can I enjoy my work without worrying about grant applications? Are there specific fields or positions that don't require this?


texts: Is it inappropriate to decline presenting paper on behalf of someone else (outside my expertise)?

texts:
I have been requested to present a complex paper outside of my own expertise at an upcoming conference. I have rejected this invitation on two occasions stating reasons such as:

Not my expertise
My first Conference
I'm not an author on the paper
I don't understand the paper
and so on...

Apparently people present other people papers in Computer Science all of the time at conferences, but surely these people are knowledgable on this subject? Would it be inappropriate for someone to present a paper, for the reasons listed above? I'm not feeling like a team player right now.


texts: What's the difference between 'research topic' and 'research area'?

texts:
I am writing an essay to apply for a summer research project and is supposed to write about 'general research topic that interests me' and 'area I would like to focus'. I'm kind of confused about these two terms. What's the difference?

For example, if I'm interested in computer science, where should I write it?

p.s. I have asked this question in English Language & Usage site but didn't get answer. So I suppose that these two words may only have difference in academic field?


texts: How can I tell whether a mathematics journal seems reputable?

texts:
There are some general questions on this site about judging the reputability of journals in general:

How do you judge the quality of a journal? and
How to identify predatory publishers/journals

I am interested in answers specific to mathematics, that may not have been raised in the other questions.

I received the following email from the "American Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics" ten days after submitting a paper online. How can I tell whether this is a reputable journal? In general, how can I tell whether a mathematics journal is reputable?

  Dear Authors,

  On behalf of the Chief Editor of the “American Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics” we are happy to inform you that your article entitled ‘A possible approach proof to proof the Riemann Hypothesis” is accepted for publication in (Jan-June 2015).

  Please send DD/Cheque for US $ 250.00 payable to ‘ Vijay Kumar Jha ‘ to our address.

  Our address:
  Vijay Kumar Jha
  Managing Editor
  c\o. ACADEMIC RESEARCH JOURNALS (INDIA)

  4383/4A, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi-110002

  (M) 08826561892

  We thank you very much for your contribution and encourage you to continue submitting your future.

  Yours sincerely,


texts: Applying for fellowships in the UK with different UK host scientists

texts:
I have finished my PhD recently, and now I am applying for postdoctoral positions. I am not a UK or EU citizen. Assume that I would like to apply for two different fellowships in the UK (for example, among those described here), with different UK based host scientists. Let's say I would like to apply for a scheme A together with X and for a scheme B together with Y, where A is not equal to B and X is not equal to Y.

Could such "double application" hinder my chances?


texts: Are small conference posters bad etiquette?

texts:
I am displaying a poster at a conference. The board is 4 feet wide and 8 feet tall. My university offers 1 free small poster print per semester. I used their service and my final poster is only 3 feet wide and 2 feet tall.

The conference had no specific sizing requirements on their website. I contacted the conference organizers and they said it's small, but OK. This is my first conference. I still have time to pay a private printer for a larger size, but don't want to spend money if I don't have to. Is it bad etiquette to have an undersized poster?


texts: Arbitrary units or unitless plot to protect data?

texts:
My question is about naming semi-arbitrary units in a (conference) paper.

I am writing a paper and, in accordance with advice from my mentor, I need to remove exact data and parameters from most of the paper because some of it is sensitive information. Ideally, I would like to preserve the shape of the plots but make the units arbitrary.

Note that this doesn't in any way interfere with understanding the results. The exact same procedure can be used regardless of the exact parameter value (literally the slope of a line), but we aren't allowed to publish that value.

In one case, I was plotting two curves on the same plot showing the difference in performance between two actuators. I normalized both curves, but then they more or less overlapped, which made the graphic uninteresting and a bit confusing. So, I normalized one plot and then did some relative scaling / biasing of the data to preserve the overall shape somewhat proportionally.

What would I call that? Normalized data? Arbitrary units? Unitless? Should I just make a note that the scale has been adjusted to preserve the shape?

In another case I have two sets of linear fitted data and I am having a similar issue on how to display and label these things, because the units will be rather arbitrary but it won't be quite normalized.

Thank you for your time.


texts: Is it commonly accepted to refer to a Master Degree in Statistics as M.Stat.?

texts:
I have recently obtained a Master Degree in Statistics from Tor Vergata University of Rome.

Can I routinely use the term M.Stat., which has the strength of being much more specific and informative, or is it more appropriate to use the generic M.Sc. term?


texts: Is abandoning my PhD degree better for my career path?

texts:
It is a known fact that reputation and lineage are a very important factor in academia. Master students need recommendation letters to get a PhD opportunity and the same for PhD students looking for a postdoc position. If a PhD supervisor knows someone in another institute or a company, he can very easily help his student get a postdoc or a good job in the industry. If your supervisors are prestigious in the community, you can start your career much more easily than your peers. Conversely, a mediocre PhD supervisor may become an obstacle for his talented student.

I am a PhD student in CS, and I am at the final stage of my PhD. However, I wonder whether it is better to abandon my PhD degree because of the mediocrity of my supervisors. Since a thesis will be stored in a database; once deposited, the PhD student's name will be permanently bound to his supervisors, and if the public perception of my supervisors is low, I'm concerned that I may have difficulty building my own brand.

To address my concern, I would like to know which of the following states is likely to make it harder to become a leading scientist?

having a PhD from mediocre supervisors in a mediocre lab, or
not having a PhD, and building one's name from scratch?


texts: Qualifications to be computer science undergrad TA?

texts:
so I've applied to be a teaching assistant for System Fundamentals (undergrad course) and am meeting with a Professor tomorrow.

I did well in the class, but I'm not sure how "smart" one has to be in order to be a teaching assistant. I'm not the geeky and super-smart type that knows computers/programming in and out. I suppose you could say I'm "textbook smart," having studied a lot, but I can't solve problems on command.

My question is, how much above the students' knowledge of the subject should I have in order to be an adequate TA? Insights/experiences on anything related is appreciated. Thanks.


texts: How do I talk to my professor about my anxiety/depression?

texts:
I am 22 years old and I have recently began my first year of grad school. It is very overwhelming. Everyone seems to have more developed thoughts than I do, and all my classmates are 2nd or 3rd year PhD students who speak in metaphors. I have struggled with anxiety and depression for about 5 years now. I have had all kinds of treatment for it. I am currently not being treated for it. About a year ago I decided I did not want to take medicine anymore, and my doctor gave me permission to wean myself off of it. Up until last month I was okay. The way I feel right now I have not felt in two years. My anxiety attacks are prevalent and I am so overwhelmed with sadness I cant get up in the morning or eat. . I have probably about 3/4 attacks a day and because of it I have not been to my class in 3 weeks. I am up to date on all assignments, however, participation is 25% of my grade and I have now missed a total of 4 classes out of 12 overall.

I do not know how to talk to my professor about this. I have crippling anxiety when speaking to professors about my struggle with anxiety due to a bad experience. In my last semester of undergrad, I disclosed to my law professor that I had anxiety in general, and also extreme anxiety when speaking in front of  a large group. He essentially told me that he did not care and I needed to get over it. He also said that if i ever tried again to "take an easy way out", he would fail me. Long story short, I got up in front of the class to present my brief and I fainted two minutes in. My professor laughed and made jokes about me and I decided not to apply to law school. I am forever scarred by this and I am tempted to just take a W in this class, but I feel deep down that the right thing to do is talk to my professor first. If anyone has any advice for me, I would really appreciate it. I am just very insecure about this. Sometimes my depression convinces me that I am not depressed at all and I should just get over it, but I don't know how.


texts: How to judge quality of manuscript to decide whether to submit to high-ranked journal?

texts:
I am not talking about whether I can submit a paper on subject A to a journal on subject B.

My question is:

How do I know how good my paper is? I could of course just send it to the best journal in the field, and see what they say, but I also don't want to embarrass myself and waste their time. If, however, it is very good and would be accepted by such a journal, it would be unwise to publish this in a lower ranked journal I would think.


texts:
I’m a Syrian refugee residing in Europe. I am about to complete my undergraduate degree in mathematics, and have applied to several graduate schools. To my surprise I got into a few very good ones. However, the last years I have suffered from tinnitus as a result of an explosion in Syria. I am afraid that the concentration problems that come with it (usually manageable, but sometimes severe) will prevent me from success when the difficulty level of study increases. Especially because I have never heard of a successful mathematician that suffers from the same condition. Being a mathematician is my dream, and it would be hard on me to give it up. I lost a lot already.

Could you give advice on how to proceed? Are there strategies to adapt for people in academia with tinnitus?


texts: Is it necessary/useful to include the publishers in the list of editorial board memberships?

texts:
When listing the journals in which you are a member of its editorial board, is it necessary or useful (maybe overdoing) to include the publisher, impact factor or any further information?

We had a debate among colleagues and there were two opposite opinions:

Any further information is superfluous, as the audience should know the journals, as the publishers are not mentioned in the list of publications too.
Because of numerous new journals, the audience may not understand the journal's reputation if not mentioning some further information.

WHat do you think? What is the most professional/standard/acceptable approach?


texts: How should I write or abbreviate my Indian name in academic papers?

texts:
I am Sulthan from India. In India, we use the first letter of our father's first name as our initial. So in my school records my name is "A.Sulthan". On official documents, such as PAN, licence, voter ID, and Aadhar Card, I use my name alone as "Sulthan" and my father's name is written as "Ayyup Kan". For my passport, my father's name is used as my last name. So my name is written as "Sulthan Ayyup Kan".

Now I am a researcher and author. I write papers with the name "A.Sulthan" when submitting it for publication and peer review. I am confused about how I should write my first name and last name. For example, for my last name, should I use the initial "A." or ".A"? Also, I would appreciate some suggestions on using names in publication.


texts: Danish Assistant Professor job offer and recognition of Master's degree

texts:
I am happy to have received a job offer from a Danish university and we are currently discussing the salary. The salaries in Denmark are negotiated by a collective agreement and there are fixed scales for everything. So what is crucial is to make sure that I land on the right scale.

I have completed a 3 year (180 ECTS) undergraduate degree and a one year Masters degree (90 ECTS) before doing a PhD also in a European country. I can confirm that my PhD degree is recognized as a fully equivalent to a Danish PhD degree.

I am told that since my Master's degree with 90 ECTS is not equivalent to a Danish master's degree (which typically has 120 ECTS), the university can not put me on the salary scale for their regular Assistant Professors. Rather, I am put on a lower scale that puts me at a financial disadvantage.

Is this even possible? By deduction, since they do not recognize my Master's degree but a Master's degree is a prerequisite to do a PhD in Denmark and my PhD is deemed equivalent, this would imply that technically, the institution does not recognize my PhD degree?

This seems inconsistent with the confirmation that my PhD degree is recognized as being equivalent to a Danish PhD.

Is this a catch 22?

Kind regards!


texts: Whether to publish one big paper or many smaller papers for a given research project?

texts:
Let's say I invented a system to solve a problem. To run this system, I made my own algorithm.I also created some other things for that system. The main contribution was supposed to be the system.So is it a good idea to have as many research papers out of the project as I can? Or to publish a single research paper?

I have seen a lot of researchers where they were targeting a single problem and they proposed a single solution. Now, what they would do is write a research paper for every component separately. Then they would write a single research paper showing how all the components would fit together.

So is it a good idea to try and increase the number of publications you can have out of a single research project?

My own personal opinion is that the quality of your research matters not the quantity. But I have also seen a number of institutions requiring a specific number of publications to even apply for their jobs.


texts: Decision after first round of peer review

texts: I submitted an article, after the first round of peer review, i received a letter from the editor saying "Your paper should become acceptable for publication pending suitable minor revision and modification of the article in light of the appended reviewer comments". What does this means, after submitting the revision, will it still be sent for another round of peer review or the editor will handle it himself? Just curious since the revision is not much and straight to the point


texts:
My question is regarding how to go against advice given by advisers/faculty in a professional way, specifically in applying to graduate schools (but I am interested in the general case as well). Due to my poor test scores, one of my mentors has explicitly said that I should not apply to school X and Y. However, the location of the school and research interests of the faculty align well with my preferences so I want to apply anyways (although I must agree with my adviser that my chances are slim at best). How should I let my adviser know (he is likely to be a letter-writer for me as well)?

On a related note, should I follow his advice? I don't want to "waste" time applying to a school that is a big reach for me but I also don't want to lose hope.


texts: Should my SOP be a narrative of all the events in my life that lead me to develop my research interest?

texts:
I am applying to a master's degree in computer science and while writing my SOP I see two options:

I participated in a bunch of competitions, read a bunch of papers, worked with a senior scientist and produced a draft of a paper which is about to be published. These are all chronological events. Should I describe each one of these events in a separate paragraph and explain what I have learnt from these that caused me to develop a research interest?
Should I just directly mention all the events very briefly in 5 ~ 6 sentences and the next couple of paragraphs talk about the specific topics I am interested in conducting research in, without mentioning the motivation behind what got me interested in these topics.

While concluding I would like to mention few specific faculties whose work fascinates me. I would like to describe the works of few particular faculty members which I would like to work under(Possibly have them as my thesis advisor if it is fine by them).

Are either of these two options fine or which one should I choose preferably? Also how the should overly narrative(Tone and everything) of a SOP be?


texts: Is it worth submitting papers to "graduate" peer-reviewed journals?

texts:
I am a first year PhD student in the social sciences at a Canadian institution, and I'm wondering whether it's worth submitting a paper to a "graduate" peer-reviewed journal. This would be my first experience in publication.
There are a few different types of graduate journals. However, I'm referring here to those journals written and produced by PhD and post-doc students.
To my mind, the advantages would include: more chances of getting published, and this would be a great advantage in the first years of a PhD project; a smoother review process and, hence, more time to concentrate on courses and/or other projects.
The quality of the work that these journals publish is very good. However, is it better, to wait, re-read and try to improve my paper in order to submit it to higher ranked journals?


texts: Is it appropriate to promote my article to a professor related to the article's field?

texts:
Pardon but I couldn't find a better title for my question.

I am one of the editors of an undergraduate journal, created alongside 2  other undergrads of the same school, in which we publish upper-undergraduate articles related to our school courses(mostly expository, sharing our love about our studies). We publish the journal both online and in print, with printing costs covered by the faculty.

Is it appropriate if I publish an article related to, for instance, fluid mechanics, to pass the journal volume in which my article is featured to the professor teaching fluid mechanics in my school?? Will this be considered as a 'showing off'? I

would like to mention that the professor knows me well from the first year of my studies in which I expressed to him my interest in his field and asked for extra references for self-study.


texts: Is it bad-practice to have a high citation to content ratio in academic writing?

texts:
I'm writing a high school history textbook. While writing my book, I'm finding its becoming very heavily laden with sources. If I used Turabian's footnote style, they tend to fill half the page. Perhaps 1 source per 2 lines of text. My reasons for this are:

The history involved three different groups of people, but typically
only one point-of-view has been presented in most general sources, so I'm having to check more sources from these other points of view (which has revealed to me that a lot of sources are missing important details).
There is heavy bias in much scholarship, because the scholars are writing about their own ancestors, or have much local pride, they ignore facts that contradict their developed image of their ancestor as a "hero".
Indigenous groups with no written language were part of the history, so the facts can be difficult to pull out, and requires cross-checking and confirming information across multiple sources while filtering out the biases mentioned above.
Sometimes a great source ignores the basic details, like the date of the event, so I have to include cite general sources for the date alongside the more thorough detailed source with better analysis of the event.

Is too many sources frowned upon? Most secondary textbooks I see are strangely quite absent of sources. Is there some way this is bad practice?


texts: Is it appropriate/wise to include personal/family reasons in a "Justification for Choice of Host" on a fellowship application?

texts:
I am applying for a fellowship that would allow me to start an independent research group--something between post-doc and faculty levels.  Part of this application requires that I explain my choice of host university.  My question is whether I should include family reasons alongside professional ones in my justification statement.

The university I'm hoping to work at is strong in my general field, though the academic fit could be a bit better (e.g. more faculty with complementary interests, more labs with relevant equipment/resources I could use).  The main reason I'm choosing this university is because of family reasons: my partner has a good job at this university already, and since we have a small child together, I can't reasonably move elsewhere without totally disrupting my entire family.

After hitting the standard points (the strengths of the university and department, relevant faculty interests, professional development opportunities), should I also mention my family situation?

On the one hand, I'm worried that some reviewers might find it inappropriate for me to include personal asides.

On the other hand, I think including this aside is a good place for explaining why I have a bit of a gap in my CV (I took family leave and am looking to return to academics), and why I'm choosing a place that the reviewers may think isn't ideal.  My CV mentions that I took family leave, but of course this small line item could easily be missed.  I'd normally use my cover letter to explain my situation, but in this case cover letters get stripped before the application reaches the reviewers.

If it's relevant, this is in the UK, in the natural sciences.

Thanks!


texts: Can you abbreviate the title of the Proceeedings of the IEEE?

texts:
I found this on Page 34 of IEEE EDITORIAL STYLE MANUAL, it's about how to edit the reference. I don't understand the following sentence:

  NOTE: The only exception to this rule is PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE, which never carried an acronym on the masthead

Does it mean when cite a paper from PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE, do not cite it in an abbreviation form. If it is, why the following example ( Page 35 of IEEE EDITORIAL STYLE MANUAL) gave an abbreviation form:


texts: Disclaimer in syllabus, a good or bad idea for instructor and students?

texts: I have seen couple of syllabi that used a disclaimer similar to "Instructor reserves the right to change the syllabus at any time". For the instructor side, it could be good, but from students side it could be good or bad, depending on the change. Any other thoughts?


texts:
I read that John Nash had a very short PhD Dissertation. A mere 27 pages. See this link:

http://www.princeton.edu/mudd/news/faq/topics/Non-Cooperative_Games_Nash.pdf

Are there other famous people with such short PhD theses? Anyone breaks this 27 page record?


texts: I am determined to be a professor, should I quit my low-tier Ph.D. program and go to a higher-tier school for a PhD.?

texts:
I have been studying as a computer science Ph.D student for 3 years in a relatively low-tier school. I have done pretty bad during my first 1-2 years as an undergraduate. Even though I have received top grades during my second half of study, the GPA pit cannot be filled up. I end up being admitted to a less ideal school and start doing research there. However, recently I feel like quitting my program (transferring to master) and get into a higher-ranked department. I have the following reasons.

My platform now is not high and people around lack motivation. Environment has huge impact on people. I wish to be at some place where everybody has their earnest enthusiasm for research.
I worked really hard on myself, and managed to publish several good papers. I am among the most productive student in the department. With several years' research experience. I have demonstrated my intelligence capabilities, thus stand a better chance to get to a top-tier department, where I can receive better training and prepare for my future career.
Top-tier departments have much better connections, from industrial, from external labs, from alumni, etc. Connections matter in any place. That is also a reason why people do care about where you get your PhD from. With the same research outcome (paper), a school is most likely to choose a candidate from a more prestigious school. It is just how it works.
I have thought about post-doc. However, I do not think a post-doc will receive better training or so from the advisor. Furthermore, people do have higher expectations for post-docs. People would be surprised a Ph.D has published 5 top-tier papers. For a post-doc, hmmm... Please do not be obsessed with my example, you get the idea.

Something to clarify:

I definitely do not wish to defer my career by another several years. I do not intend to use another PhD as an excuse not entering the real world.

I am 25, I still have some time to follow my heart. I am hardworking and self-motivated. These days a CS guy can easily find a crazily high-paying job. I give it up, and I still wish to set a best path for my future career. So here are my questions.

Will admission committee be hesitant to admit students who quit another Ph.D program? Would I be looked down upon simply because I wish to join a higher-tier department?
I guess I can only re-apply for the next fall, which leaves me a year in between. What should I do to further enhance my chance?
Is completing my current PhD and get to a related field (such as CE, ECE, EE) an option? I somehow prefer this way because I still do not intend to ruin the relationship with my advisor while I get to do what I want. (Assume I get lucky and graduate in 4 years) But again, does it hurt my chance of being accepted to another program?

I know It my not be the best choice I have, but it is what I really want to do. As long as the price is not a leg or arm, I am willing to accept it.

I welcome any comment and suggestions. However, please be REALISTIC. Let's talk about it in a realistic world, where better department does provide a higher platform and help a student achieving higher goals, at least in probability.

Thank you in advance.


texts: Potential referee for a journal submission

texts:
I have a paper to be submitted and most of the journals in my field would like to have a "potential reviewer" list (3-4 potential reviewer) by the author. Of course, the last decision to send to paper to these reviewers is up to the editor.

I wonder if it is ethical to propose a researcher (who is expert of the topic of the paper) from your institution as a potential referee? Does it cause any conflict or unethical situation?


texts: Can I update the search of a systematic review at revision?

texts:
I have recently received peer review on a systematic review after six months, with revisions requested. This is on a dynamic subject with significant literature published since. I re-screened the papers and was able to include a further 5 from those published in the past 6 months.
Is it acceptable to update the review at revision with this additional data, as it will be undergoing peer review again regardless? I think it improves the review substantially to include more data, which is more recent, but I'm not sure if this is acceptable?
Thank you in advance!


texts: Is it okay to grade some students harder because of their perceived potential?

texts:
If a college professor has a clear rubric for their expectations for an essay, is it unethical -- or even illegal -- to grade certain students harder than others?

A few students I know are in a college English course. They are producing better essays than other students, but have recently been making C's instead of A's because, as the teacher says, they are "held to a higher standard" than other students.

Is there some action that can be taken to remedy this issue? They aren't out for blood, just the grade they have worked for.

Edit: Thank you all so much for the replies! For clarity: we are residing in the U.S. and the professor himself sent an email explaining that their writing is exceptional and as such he will hold them to a higher standard than their peers.


texts: Why is my paper constantly being rejected despite supervisory team being very happy with it?

texts:
I am in my fourth year of my PhD, a rather rocky journey which has involved my original supervisor being fired with little to no notice and various interruptions due to COVID.
I am working in the field of biological modelling, and both my former supervisor (an expert in the field but not very involved in my research) and my new supervisor (less of an expert, but very involved and a senior academic at my institution who has supervised dozens of students over multiple decades) are happy with my progress and never expressed any concern.
I have now tried a total of four submissions to different journals, and was always faced with a rejection. The latest, to an Elsevier journal, desk rejected after a few days. The previous rejected with rather disappointing feedback, lacking any substantial weakness or points where I could improve. (They even mentioned I didn't cite some key authors, of whom instead I had cited multiple papers...)
I am now worried I will reach the end of my PhD without publications, but especially without understanding what the core weaknesses of my work are. Even presenting my research at various symposiums nobody ever really raised any serious concern. My supervisor mentioned it might be because we are "outsiders" to the field, but that explanation doesn't fully convince me.
Any advice?


texts: Can a professor force students to pay a subscription fee for a different site in order to take classes?

texts: I have a friend whose has a professor who is forcing students to sign up for a website (that requires them to pay a monthly subscription fee) where they will be posting lectures, notes, assignments, etc. The professor did not inform them of this until a few days before the first class would be starting, meaning students who could not afford to pay it right away essentially couldn't attend class on the first day. We've had departments use different websites before, but this is the first time I'm hearing about someone using one that students have to pay out of pocket for. From what I know it functions the same way as Blackboard, but it isn't covered by the school. They are also expected to pay a lab fee and buy the textbook so it just seems like overkill, but I don't know if it's something that can be brought up as an issue to higher ups.


texts: Application for a PhD in Germany: how specific do I need to be about my thesis plans?

texts: I've just finished my master's degree in physics and now I'm searching for a PhD position. I found a working group at a German university that is searching for some PhD students. In the vacancy it is asked for a CV and a statement of research interest. I know that I should write my motivation, qualification etc. for working at the research theme. But how precisely am I supposed to give the topic of my doctoral thesis? Is it sufficient to have a broader view of the topic and themes the working group is dealing with or is it necessary to formulate the concrete topic of my planned thesis? Also should the statement be part of the CV or should it be a separate document?


texts: Advice? One of my PhD supervisors is insisting on involvement with my article based off my Masters thesis.

texts:
I'm a bioarchaeologist working on my PhD research in a field that incorporates biochemistry (stable isotope analysis) and bioarchaeology/anthropology. I have submitted my first peer-reviewed article based on my Masters thesis and am currently going through the revisions process. I casually mentioned this to my boss, who also happens to be one of my PhD supervisors, and he immediately asked to read the article and insisted that he wants to edit the stable isotope sections (he's a geochemist). I demurred, because the situation doesn't sit right with me, for several reasons:

First, he has absolutely nothing to do this article, as it is based on my Masters thesis research, which was done under a different supervisor and in a different country. Second, I'm not sure as to what his motives are. Does he simply want to help, or does he want co-authorship? I would rather not make him co-author, as, again, he has no business with my Masters research. Third, he's pushy. I have clearly stated that I am a bioarchaeologist/anthropologist who uses biochemical/geochemical methods (stable isotope analysis), not the other way around, yet he is still trying to push me towards geology. I also do not like this. But, because there is no other place in the country to do my research, I am here only for that reason.

Does anyone have some advice? Am I overreacting, or am I right in feeling that he's out of bounds?

Thanks!


texts: What should be taken note of in collaborating with professors/ researchers?

texts:
Recently, as a fresh graduate with a BSc in both physics and mathematics, I've met up with a mathematics professor from a University in my home country.

During the discussion, he asked for my motivation in collaborating and I've made it clear to him that my objective is

  1) To indulge in research during my time in industry

  2) To obtain significant research experiences during the period in which we collaborate to strengthen my application for graduate admission.

We will be working on two future research directions built on a previously published paper of his. I have been told not to share the two future research directions until the paper is published. Further, he has not commenced on this research project yet due to teaching commitments.
But, currently, I am picking up background knowledge related to this paper while familiarising myself with his previously published paper that is related to this current research.
This research looks something on the level of an Msc or honours level thesis.
He has made it clear that in collaborating, he expects results.

In academia parlance, is it clear to academics that given (2) or the fact that he expects results, it is implicitly known that I expect a co-authorship?
If it isn't, how should I broach this topic?
If it is, how do I ensure that he sticks to his word, assuming I do make a reasonable amount of contribution?
To what degree should transparency be ensured?


texts: After posting in arxiv the author finds that proof technique in the paper has some similarity with some discussions in a math forum

texts: Suppose in mathematics, someone writes a paper, uploads it to arxiv and afterwards he learns that the proof technique used in the paper has some similarity with some discussions in a math forum (e.g. math exchange / stack exchange). It was not published in any journal or in arxiv. He did not see this discussion while working on the paper. What should the author do? In general, in mathematics the priority goes to the one who publishes the article first in arxiv.


texts: Selecting a Thesis - Are there lists of interesting or open questions?

texts:
Is there an aggregated pool of potential thesis topics that are available for exploration across universities for different concentrations? Perhaps there would be some that have been pre-vetted by professors.

I'm curious if there's an easier and/or quicker way to discover and select topics when there is not a compelling subject/topic available.


texts: Does Impact Factor reflect the quality of a journal?

texts: Is the impact factor really useful for judging the quality of a journal article?


texts:
I recently learned that most U.K. universities advertise themselves as having a minimum grade cutoff of a 2:1. I’m an American, and according to Cambridge’s website, they consider a US 3.5 to be the equivalent of a 2:1.

I did some google searching, and on College Confidential people seemed to think that that is a hard cutoff, and your application won’t be looked at if you’re below a 2:1. This really surprised me because, in the US, failing to get a 3.5 is detrimental, but by no means the end of the world, for PhD applicants. I’ve seen plenty of schools advertise a 3.0 cutoff.

Is a 2:1 a hard cutoff for U.K. PhD applicants? Is a 3.5 a hard cutoff for Americans who want to do PhDs in the U.K.? If you do a masters before your PhD, does this apply to the masters coursework?


texts: What was graduate admissions like before the electronic age?

texts:
On the applicant side, did admissions require the same documents as today? Also, since gathering the required documents presumably took longer (especially for an applicant who had already graduated), how soon did the applicant have to apply before intake? For example today's graduate programs commonly have a January application deadline for August intake - what was it like in the past? Since today's students regularly email prospective supervisors before applying, did students in the past also regularly visit campuses before applying? Finally, how much were application fees then compared to now?

On the admissions committee side, did committees rely less on personal contacts and more on the submitted documents? E.g. suppose an applicant submitted a recommendation letter by Einstein, who a member of the committee knew firsthand. Today, I presume the committee would email Einstein to discuss the applicant. Would committees of the past do the same (but with telephone / post)? If not, was there a greater risk of forgery?


texts: How to write a PhD thesis in three months?

texts:
I am planning to write a thesis in three months. How to be more organised towards writing and get the first draft ready in three months? Has anyone written the first draft of the thesis in three months or so?

I have some writing done already as I have published some conference and workshop papers.


texts: How does applying to work with multiple potential advisors at a university work?

texts: I plan on applying to some graduate programs for a psychology PhD. At some of these universities, there are multiple professors I am interested in having as an advisor. If I am accepted to the program, how is my advisor chosen? Does my order of preference get taken into account or does it depend on which professor express the most enthusiasm to have me? Experiences may vary of course but any insight into this process would be helpful.


texts: How to calculate a rough 'chance of admission'?

texts:
I am looking to apply for graduate programs for Fall 2019 and I am so confused about my chances of admission for different universities.

I know it cannot be really calculated and there is no such formula (2*GPA+5*publications etc) but I think there should be a way to estimate a rough probability. Like someone with a 3.0 GPA and no research won't in %99.99 of the time get admitted to MIT right?

Particularly in case of international students like me, knowing your chance of admission is the key to just apply for where you actually stand a chance and not to waste money on application fees.

I think I shouldn't mention my own GPA and application material by the rules of SE. So I won't. If I can please tell me in comments so I add them.


texts: A DOI is a commonly used digital object identifier to refer to an electronic document. How do I secure a DOI for a research dataset, to help share and identify it?


texts: How to cite an interactive dataviz (Shiny app)?

texts: For my next paper I am going to provide a link to an interactive data visualization created using Rstudio's Shiny framework. How can I properly cite it?


texts: What does it mean when a paper is copyrighted by an organization?

texts: While I was searching for materials for my research topic, I found a research paper which is signed as copyright by "Some organization". Does that mean that I could not use the content of this paper nor the ideas it presents until the paper owner gives me permissions?


texts: Addressing Professor in email with half-typed name, how to deal with the mistake?

texts:
You address a new Professor by accident with half-typed name in an email. The professor is from US but working now as a professor in Europe. This was my mistake. Rest of the mail was done except half of the name -- the name had unique alphabets not finding in my keyboard so he may have similar experiences. Anyway my mistake can make me look very ignorant the expression I don't want to create.

How should you deal with the issue? With apologies email? Just forgetting the mistake and in the next email making 100% sure to have correct spelling?


texts:
Can I post on Arxiv a final paper published on PLOS ONE? I would like to put on Arxiv the final edited paper, replacing the old pre-print. Can I do that?
I am wondering if this violates any rule of either PLOS or Arxiv, or is OK.

On the PLOS website it says:

  All content published by PLOS is Open Access and distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. You should credit the appropriate PLOS journal in your coverage and provide a link to the freely available article in any online coverage.

I also saw other answers to this question, but nothing specific for PLOS: Can I submit published articles to arXiv as well?

Which license should I choose?


texts: Cover letter clarification for a lecturer position

texts:
I want to apply for a lecturer job and in the section of the cover letter it says this:

'Please attach your covering letter describing how you meet the criteria on the Person Specification. You should use the competency headings of the Person Specification in your covering letter, providing examples of how you fulfil each one. You should also take into consideration the Job Description provided.'

Does it mean I have to refer to the Person specification titles while writing the cover letter (which seems more logical) or actually paste the PS titles inside the cover letter?

Thanks!


texts: In my conclusion, I imagine what my results could imply for future developments. I want to emphasize my argument with a rough calculation. Is this allowed in a conclusion section?


texts: Should I give an overview of my research program at the beginning or at the end of my job talk?

texts:
I am preparing to give a job talk for an on-campus interview
for a tenure-track assistant professor position.
In many of the job talks I have attended,
candidates will spend 40 minutes talking in depth about a particular project,
as well as spending 5-10 minutes on their research program,
i.e. summarizing other projects they have completed
and briefly describing questions they are interested in exploring
in their future research.

Question: Is it better to give the the "research program" part of the talk before the in-depth project,
or vice versa?

My personal inclination
If I recall correctly,
I have seen candidates do either of the two approaches.
I am inclined towards talking about the "research program" first,
then the in-depth project second.
This is because there has been research showing that
after 10 minutes, the people attending a lecture lose attention.
(See John Medina's book Brain Rules)
If I leave the "research program" to the end,
I am afraid many people may have "fallen asleep" by then,
but if I put it in the beginning,
hopefully it is more likely to be remembered.


texts: Withdraw manuscript from peer review after finding a major error

texts:
I just received a major revision decision (1st round) for a manuscript I submitted to a reputable journal.  After looking into one of the reviewer's comments I found a major error in my analysis.  The conclusions of my research are almost completely different as a result.  I also don't think the reviewer realized the severity of the error.

I would like to withdraw my manuscript from the journal because of the major error.  However, I don't know how to approach my co-authors or the journal about this issue.  I've always been able to complete major revisions for other papers I've written, and so I've never had to deal with this type of problem before.  I also realize that the editors and referees have already put a lot of time into reviewing my paper.

I would like to ask this forum for any suggestions about withdrawing a paper once it's in review.  I don't know how common it is to do this, and how it is generally perceived in academia.


texts: Final exams: What is the most common protocol for scheduling?

texts:
At my college this semester, just a few weeks before spring final exams, the administration decided to entirely throw out the prior process for scheduling final exams (which has been in use for at least two decades, I think). Whereas scheduling, duplication, and collection of final exams was formerly centralized, basically it all immediately regressed to being each department and instructor's responsibility. Suddenly there are many (hundreds) of instructors and students with conflicts (two courses at same time in different rooms) and no defined process for solving them. Various instructors and departments are arbitrarily shifting finals to other days, times, rooms, etc. (which seems likely to cause more conflicts).

Our day class meetings are traditionally one-hour apiece, and our final exams have always been two-hour blocks. One of the people partially involved with the recent decision has claimed that these problems would be best solved by having a few days where departments with large common finals hold theirs, then followed by standard class meetings for a week in which the majority of instructors can do whatever they want; possibly extend the meeting to two hours, or split the final into two separate days, etc. The final claim is that this latter protocol is "how it’s done in almost every other college in America".

In my limited experience, it's hard to see how this proposed process (keep standard class meetings and let instructors work out final exam times on their own) is common or feasible. Is it truly how it's done in almost all U.S. colleges? If not, what is the most common protocol? Any references or evidence to support claims one way or the other?


texts:
I am currently in a dilemma and could not decide where I am going in the future.

My undergraduate and master degree is in software engineering and I am currently doing a computer science PhD. I did well and I had participated in more than 5 projects with more than 100,000 lines of programming experience. About 5 years ago I started to grow interest in mathematics although I never had chance to spare much time to learn it.

Now my wife has got an offer in math PhD. In the summer I finally dedicate 3 months to learn graduate level mathematics. When I say "dedicated", I wrote a study note on Real Analysis with about 50,000 words in three months! I type in every word I learned from the textbook, made illustrations using Mathematica and wrote my understanding whenever it is possible.

Then I grew an idea to transfer to mathematics PhD. To achieve this goal I even participated in my wife's classes and did homework in order to get recommendation letters. I was planning to study probability, statistics and numerics that are more near to computer science if I got admitted.

However, this plan is strongly vetoed by my family members and my PhD adviser. None of them agree, including my wife. The main reason is that our universities are not top ones (the math dept. of my wife's math department is ranked about 80+ by Us News and 2nd tier by AMS) and we examined recent graduated PhD's jobs and got pretty shocked -- almost none of them get tenure, and most of them did 6 or 7 years in math but their current jobs get paid 30%~40% below software engineers (accroding to glassdoor) even considering tax and life cost differences.

There was only one exception who did another PhD in statistics in Wharton School of Business for additional 5 years and tenured at a top-10 statistics department. He did 10 years in PhD in total. This is also a possible path for us but it took a really long time and the future is of uncertainty.

I am currently 2nd year in CS. My current adviser told me in 3 years I am guaranteed to get a high pay in software companies. And under his sway even my wife told me she wants to enter software industry. My adviser's words to my wife is "you have learned advanced math pretty well and that proves you are smart. If in addition you learn computer things and then your will one of the best. ".

Yes most of these companies value more about programming and algorithm skills than your mathematics. Those mathematical stuff in CS like "machine learning", "pattern recognition" are not of daily use in software if you don't get a research position.

I am really in a confusion right now I need to decide and focus. Otherwise I would not be able to excel in either direction. So I post here hoping that someone can give some opinion. Thank you!


texts: How far will my Masters counterbalance low undergrad GPA in PhD applications?

texts:
I'm currently pursuing a Masters degree in Philosophy at a top UK university, and as my grades currently stand, I'm looking to graduate with a Distinction.

During my second and third years of undergraduate study, I was struggling with diagnosing and dealing with a medical issue. Unfortunately, this affected my grades in several modules throughout those two years. My undergraduate degree transcript features a patchwork mixture of Firsts, 2.1s and then a couple of those 2.2 grades. As a result, I graduated with a low 2.1 overall. Of course, this is all documented, supported by my physicians, and my supervisors were aware of my situation.

My issue is that I am now in the process of preparing to apply to PhD programs in Philosophy. I am hoping to apply to several Canadian institutions to be closer to family, but I will likely apply to some UK institutions too. I can see that GPA is an important factor in the admissions process.

My questions are:

How far will my undergraduate underperformance be likely to affect my chances of admission, and what can I do to strengthen my application to these programs in light of this?

Will my strong Masters GPA be enough to counterbalance my undergraduate transcripts?


texts:
BACKGROUND

I am working as a faculty member in the CS department of engineering university of a South Asian country for the last couple of years. I have done my masters from another  Asian country. My main activities are teaching only. I do like teaching but I like doing research projects more. Unfortunately, here, I do not get enough time to work on projects due to already teaching responsibilities and secondly, there is no research group or such environment in my department that works in the same field as I want to do.. i.e. Data Science, Applied Machine Learning. Also, here, there aren't any positions for researchers explicitly. In short, I do not have a research environment and collaborators around.

Nevertheless, I want to advance my research career and get involved in a good research project long-term or short-term. In my opinion, I have the following options:

PhD
Research stay
Research internship

PROBLEM

I have been applying for Ph.D. positions abroad (and still have been), mainly Europe but I'm quite open to NZ/Aus, Canada/US. However, until now I have not been able to secure any. For research internships and research stays, 1) its really hard to find because many groups don't mention 2) I have contacted to some and they said they do not have the funding or open positions.
Well, the time is ticking and after not getting positive enough response over time, I contacted some and asked if I can come on self-funding. But, since I am from the EU, and for Visa, the universities need at least official funding source and not some personal funds and for countries like Germany, they require me to fixed deposit funds for the entire 2 years before they give me a visa.

I do not find enough time to work on a decent project and publish papers myself while doing a full-time job of teaching. With every day passing, I am not getting younger.

MY QUESTION

So, what other options could I look into to get an opportunity to work on a research project? and strengthen my profile so that I could get a fully funded Ph.D. position or a position of a researcher.I do not have an official funding source. nor too much funding to pay tuition fees of the institute but have enough that I can survive in another country or even work part-time.
I am not a really dumb guy. I really want to do some quality research having some real impact. It is just that I do not have such a top-quality research profile that is required to get funded positions or researcher jobs (at least that's why my experience of getting rejections).

Thanks in advance.


texts: What is the correct way of writing two MSc degrees on a business card?

texts:
If someone would have obtained two MSc degrees, how do you put that on a business card?

I myself have two MSc degrees from a Dutch university. The degrees are Computer Science which gives me the Dutch title ir, and Science Communication which gives the Dutch title drs. Both degrees are internationally an MSc (as indicated on my diplomas). I know that in Holland I can use the following:

drs. ir. John Doe

Since the Dutch titles are confusing in international use (especially the drs part), I would like to use the international format on my business card. For one MSc I know that it is written internationally like this:

John Doe, MSc

However, how is the international format for two MSc degrees?


texts: Publishing a review of another person's proof

texts:
For a Graduate level math course one of our assignments was to prepare a lecture on a topic to give to the rest of the class.

My topic was to present a result that had been discovered some years ago as it would compliment some of the material from class. I wrote up a small paper on the topic to help prepare me for the lecture.

I think it would be useful to publish because there are only two places I know of where the proof can be found: the original proof is in a Swedish mathematics journal, and the other is in a physics textbook and lacks a certain amount of rigour or intuition.

My lecture followed the textbook's presentation and I added to the proof some rigour, and some intuition behind the steps of the proof. However, I didn't really add anything to the result, just explanations and flushing out omitted details.

Would it be considered plagiarism if I were to publish a review of their proof on a website like Arxiv? I don't think the review is important enough to be put in a real journal, but I do think that some people might find the explainations useful.

Another thing to note is that this would be my first "publication", could it hurt my future academic prospects? Thanks for the advice!


texts: As a non-researcher, how to tell new knowledge that the speaker might not know?

texts:
A talk was closely relevant to a problem which had no breakthrough for a long time, but the speaker didn't seem to know a recently new method which is proved be able to solve it yet. What should I do?

I was not a researcher, relative young comparing to the large amount of attendees, and this was the first time I attend an international conference all by myself. Whether the audience interacted with me or not, they could always notice me as I was the smallest person sitting in the front row (for note taking, the rest of rows didn't have table) in between old, big/tall Western professors. Not to mention my broken English.

I had asked the speaker if he knew any new method to solve the problem or not, and he said no. I think he and the audience did have an interest to hear it (I could even mention some leading names working on it), and I know that most of them didn't really care what I mention above at all, but still with that much pressure I didn't have enough confidence to say. Since the new method comes from a completely different field, it might take a couple minutes to explain it. The longer I talked the more embarrassed and tongue-tied I was. In the end I thanked him and asked no more question.

I know that everyone has their first time, but what is your advice in this exact situation? What would you do to feel relief yourself? The impact of the newfound knowledge is big, and yet I'm a non-researcher. That pressure is not an easy thing for an inexperienced person to handle.


texts: When to take questions during a thesis defense?

texts:
I am going do do my thesis defense next week.
I am not nervous.
On the contrary, I am so over-relaxed that my instincts tell me this will cause a problem during my defense.

I am not sure when to take questions, though:

Should I accept the questions during the presentation or should I say that I will answer the questions at the end?
I am thinking of going with the second option, answers at the end. However, what if a jury member asks me a question during the presentation?

Edit: My thesis is on computer science. I'm going to defend it in English.


texts: Five handling editors changed in a span of 1 month. What could be the reason?

texts: The submission system shows the name of editor assigned and the name has changed 5 times till now. Its been a month since submission. what could be the reason and does it say anything. Its a mathematics journal.


texts: Plagiarism and Authorship in a Translation

texts: My colleague's article was translated by another person and republished in the translated language. My colleague became the first author, and the translator became second author. Did my colleague or the translator thereby plagiarize the original article, as they published the same paper twice?


texts: What could it signify if I find most forms of abstract math (e.g. Calculus) much easier than Physics, Chemistry, and so on?

texts:
I'm an undergraduate now, and am faced with a genuine lack of ability when it comes to Physics. Seeing how my peers react to lectures and catch on faster, it's clear that the issue isn't my professors, but the way my mind takes (or doesn't take) to the material. I had similar trouble with high school Chemistry, and even in college, I completed all levels of Calculus and Differential Equations as well, and didn't struggle nearly as much in those. Doing the calculations in Physics or Chemistry is easy of course, but using definitions and formulas to relate real-world concepts to each other and work on them is extremely challenging to me.
Does anyone know why this might be? Advice is also appreciated on improving upon this weakness.


texts: Two concurrent different versions of a paper to journal and conference; do I need to paraphrase?

texts:
I know that, especially in computer science, it's legal to publish an extended version of a conference proceedings in a journal if the 'new' content is above 30%. However,

Is it ethical (and legal), to send the extended version to a journal if the conference acceptance still not announced yet provided that I disclose the situation. Will the journal accept it?