texts: Do researchers make more mistakes as they continue to work in a discipline?

texts:
I am a PhD student and try to work each and everything in detail. I am facing a problem right now as I am making lots of silly mistakes. In the first year, I made fewer mistakes. In the second year I made more silly mistakes and now in the middle of my PhD I am making lots of silly mistake during presentations and meetings with my supervisor. I think it is due to the fact that I am now reading and understanding things more deeply.

Question:  How can I better avoid silly and annoying mistakes in my PhD? I am actually surprised to see that in the first year I use to make very less mistake although I use to read more material. Actually right now I don't read very much material I focus on one or theorem, but it appears to me that I am making more mistakes. I don't as these mistake's will be reduced with time or not. One example of a mistake is many times I assume that it is easy to verify but when it comes to verification many times I fails and I have very much difficulty in proving trivial statements ( may not be trivial for others ).


texts: How long should an academic CV be for someone applying to post-doc positions in Europe?

texts:
I am preparing my CV for applications to post-doc positions in the field of social sciences. I will apply to positions in the EU, mainly in German language countries.

I have updated my CV with my current position and experiences and I am wondering myself how long it should be at the max. Currently, with all details (Experiences in academia and in teaching; my course of education, language skills, a brief summary of my diploma thesis and my dissertation -- about 5 sentences each -- social commitments, IT skills and interests) I reach about 4 pages.

A CV for a job in a company is said to have at a maximum 2 pages. I could not find any hints how long a CV should be for a academic position. Does anyone of you have ideas or experiences how long it should be?


texts: What does IPR mean on a grade report in Canada?

texts:
I'm was doing some continuing education in a Canadian University this fall.  I was looking at my list of final grades on their website (none of them seem to be in so far), but one of them is marked IPR.

I did a bit of Googling, and found that IPR stands for (supposedly, anyhow) Inward Processing Relief.  Is this the case, and if so, what does it mean?  Does it mean that they haven't finished processing the grades yet?  If so, why do I only have it on one of my courses?

Screenshot for reference:


texts:
I have a Master's in Computer Science and I currently work in a manufacturing company. My current role is IT Manufacturing Technical Leader with responsibilities split between technical and business tasks evenly. I've always wanted to move closer to more-technical-less-business tasks.
So my questions are:

Given I want to be more on the technical side, is it wise to pursue a PhD in Computer Science? I am not sure how a PhD will help or affect my future roles (in this company or otherwise).
Another conflict I have is regarding the PhD itself. I am not really sure what I would like to research. Is this something I should know and be ambitious about BEFORE applying to my PhD? My wife is currently in her Master's and she is really passionate about a lot of different topics in her respective field. She intends on pursuing her PhD. Seeing where she stands, it makes me question my desire to get into a PhD program when I have no idea what it is I want to be an expert in or research on. So to repeat my question, should I need to know what I want out of the PhD now or will it come to me while I am in the program?

I have always wanted to get a PhD and I am afraid I shouldn't. I would appreciate some guidance on this.


texts: Citing the present study to validate an information

texts:
In geology, it is common to describe structures observed on land. Very often, these structures are described in details and then an interpretation is provided to explain how they have contributed to the formation of mountains. If a researcher (let's call him John) has worked on these structures in an area A, and you study similar structures in an area B (that is similar to A), then it is possibly worthwhile to cite John's work to support your observations/interpretations (depending on the context).

Let's imagine now that instead of describing the structures in B, you describe them statistically. If you want to interpret the statistical results, you would need (qualitative) descriptions of these structures, e.g. from those provided by John. However, you haven't described the area B and no former research paper did it either, so even if your structures in B tend to be similar to those of A, you would need those descriptions to explain your statistics.

To solve this, would it be correct to cite the current study like ... descriptive-text...(this study) if observations about the structures have been made in B but not formerly established in another research paper?


texts: How to argue against questionable research practices such as P-hacking and Harking?

texts:
I have come into conflict with co-authors when being asked to do things that I consider to be questionable.

Once I was told to try every possible specification of a dependent variable (count, proportion, binary indicator, you name it) in a regression until I find a significant relationship. That is it, no justification for choosing one specification over another besides finding significance. The famous fishing expedition for starfish (also known as P-Hacking).
In another occasion I was asked to re-write a theory section of a paper to reflect an incidental finding from our analysis, so that it shows up as if we were asking a question about the incidental finding and had come up with the supported hypothesis a priori. The famous hypothesising after results are known (Harking).

In both cases I refused to comply and explained my reasoning, what led to conflicts with the other party. I tried my best to not sound accusatory (not to give the impression that I doubt the ethics of the other party), but it nonetheless led to attrition and a worsening of the working relationship. In the long argument that followed, I was told that 'social science is not done as the natural sciences,' and that I was 'too inflexible,' 'too positivist,' and that everybody does these things that I was being asked to do. The argument culminated with me being asked to 'stop obstructing the progress of the paper,' what made me feel very frustrated.

Since then I have seen several cases of what I suspect to be this type of research practice. For example, PhD students coming to me to ask about what they should change in their models so that their results come out significant, and people working at the same computer lab as me asking me for the same type of help.

I do consider these things to be seriously questionable from an ethical point of view, and would like to be able to argue against them effectively. However, the other parties are usually experienced researchers or students under the supervision of an experienced researcher. As a young researcher, I feel that I'm at a disadvantage when arguing against. It is often the case that I'm arguing against the instructions of someone who has more experience, publications, and, supposedly, knowledge than I do.

Is this one of those cases where we can't do much but try to be the 'change that we want to bring about,' shud it, and just make sure that we are doing the right things ourselves? Should we speak up more often? If so, any good strategies to be more effective and convincing?

p.s. The tag is social sciences because of my field, but I reckon that this happens in other areas as well, and I welcome input from other fields.

EDIT 1: In example 2), at no moment anyone suggested that we would confirm the new hypothesis in a new set of data. The intention was to pretend that we got it right from the onset, which is why I objected.

EDIT 2: Just to make clear. I am aware of the right way of doing these things (i.e. cross validation, confirmatory analysis in a new dataset, penalising for multiple statistical tests, etc.). This is a question about how to argue that p-hacking and harking are not the way to go.

EDIT 3: I was unaware of the strong connotations of the word misconduct. I have edited and replaced it with 'questionable research practices'


texts: Why are there some really young professors and other much older lecturers without professor status?

texts: I was just wondering how this is possible, there are some 50+ year old people who are 'Dr. X Y', and others who are maybe "only" 40 years old , but they are 'Professor Dr. X Y'.


texts: Grammatical mistakes and minor typos made during grant application

texts:
I have recently applied for a grant. The specific application consisted of a 3 page-pdf document and an online application form. The 3 page pdf document is solid (at least from my point of view), and there are no grammatical mistakes or typos. Unfortunately, in the form, I made some minor grammatical mistakes/typos. These are, however, very few and far between. For example, mistakenly not adding a word in the sentence, forgetting to add/type a verb in the sentence etc.
Do you think that such errors/typos albeit very few, in general, can be detrimental towards the outcome of the application?


texts: Is it poor grammar to replace normal phrases with mathematical symbols in sentences in a mathematical paper?

texts:
English is not my native language and when I read mathematical papers, sometimes I saw sentences such as

  The matrix A has rank ≥ n.

I am wondering if this sentence should be considered as grammatically wrong. I think the correct expression should be

  The rank of the matrix A is greater than or equal to n.

Are expressions such as "The matrix A has rank ≥ n" considered as acceptable in mathematical papers/theses/textbooks?


texts: Is it appropriate to use the word “like” in a research paper?

texts:
In a research paper, is it appropriate to use the word like meaning similar or similar to? For example the sentence:

  Like in Eq.(2), we will substitute y in Eq.(6) to simplify the equation.


texts:
I am in masters and came from a very developing country to EU for study. The classes started online due to covid19 and exams were supposed to be on campus but they started online due to the situation. This was my first exam of the first semester.
I came to EU country for an online exam to save from internet problems. This was the first exam of my life which was open book and online. We were clearly told that you can use all resources you need. Time was short so I used the internet.
There was one practice question that was taught in detail in class so I wrote it as it is. I was not really aware of plagiarism and the rules surrounding it. I copied from the internet and from notes which I made after listening to recordings of lectures because I record lectures during class. I didn't have a high typing speed and didn't use my laptop very often so I copied and pasted. In some places, I used software quilbot to paraphrase and forgot to put references, although they didn't tell me to put them. I also used recommended books and some other websites.
The Professor even mailed us about a question that was going to come in the exam where he just changed the value. I have a habit of learning things by writing on a page so I practiced there and wrote down in the exam. Now I got mail that I had 95% overall plagiarism and 100% in the practice exam with 3 other students of my country and from internet sources. By looking at the paper it can be clearly determined that it is cheating. Even spelling mistakes were also the same but only I know it was just a coincidence, or maybe we came from the same system of education and searched the same kind of things. Despite this, we have different grades. I was the second position holder in the bachelor's project.
So what should I do now? I am ready to give them the paper again but I am worried they don't put strict allegations. I have no idea about this kind of thing. I asked them many times to take an on-campus exam due to my unfamiliarity with computers.


texts: What are the common criteria of evaluation for a Post-Doctoral or Tenure-Track faculty position?

texts:
I am waiting for my PhD viva and I would like to start applying for Post-docs or faculty positions. We all know that a CV is never too good, so I would like to ask some things about the elements of evaluation for Post-Doctoral/tenure-track faculty positions. I know each university has its own rules, so I am looking for a general answer here. My PhD is in the field of Mechanical Engineering from an European University.

How important are:

TPC (Technical Program Committee) at conference?
Reviewer at journals and/or conferences?
Journal papers. What metrics are important? Impact factor, indexing (ISI, Scopus, Scimago quarter). Is quantity  more important or less important than quality?
Conference papers. Are they of significant importance compared to journal papers? What metrics are important here? Indexing? Proceedings resulting in publication are more valuable than those private (only on the proceedings book).
Previous research grants as R&D engineer with a MS. degree. They seem to be really important. How should it be stated? Reference of the grant, name of the project, and length?
Advanced studies diploma (1st year of some doctoral degrees). Is it very important?
Recommendation letters. How many are usually needed? Should all of them be of University lecturers, or engineers working at industry are also appreciated, if they previously worked with me?
Professional references. Are they needed if recommendation letters are sent out?
Does any other metric seem to be important, like teaching experience?


texts: Is it normal for things to be so cutthroat, and what to do about it?

texts:
I am a postdoc in mathematics. I like doing math, but I do not feel like I belong to a community, in the true sense of the word.

My vision of mathematical research is that it should be a massive collaborative effort to solve puzzles and publish the solutions, and no one should be excluded without a good reason. Also people should be allowed to openly talk about each others' results objectively without any feelings hurt.

However, in my field, people seem to see research as a competition. They form factions and play the game of inclusion-exclusion and loyalty matters more than truth, so does pride and it is almost impossible to be sure if an error is an error in a paper without making enemies.

People also treat knowledge as private property (within their factions or to oneself) and tend to keep secrets.

There are two types of secret-keeping generally practiced in my field:

When working on a project one would avoid talking about what they are working on and what are the partial results etc. in fear of being scooped.
When the work is done one should avoid proper exposition in the paper or explanation to the public so that:

they can stay ahead in the competition
they can make their results look as non-trivial as possible.

As much as I do not want to force people to disclose their secrets, I value clear explanations and talking to people about my work in progress. But as I do not belong to any faction I seem to be taking a huge risk on my career in doing so.

The fact that everyone is expecting secret-keeping also makes me reluctant to work with them because I do not want to sign an invisible NDA and unwittingly make enemies when I discuss with others on joint projects (and it is hard to set a boundary on discussion). This is not particularly helpful to my current state of isolation.

Perhaps it is just my field that has an environment incompatible with my belief, or perhaps all this is considered normal in any field. Nevertheless do you think this is a good reason for me to seek a different career path than academia?

Is it feasible to make a career doing open research?


texts:
I want to show the average response time based on number of tasks on a device on a chart. So the x-axis is "number of tasks" and y-axis is "average response time".

My question is which charts I can use? a line chart or a column chart?


texts: Is it possible to make a decision upon a manuscript just within a month?

texts:
I am the author of a 12-page double-column manuscript submitted to IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics. Here is the record of the updates within the journal online system, corresponding to the aforementioned manuscript:

Submission Finalization: 7th Aug. 2015
Under Review: 11th Aug. 2015
Awaiting EIC Decision: 16th Sep. 2015

The journal has declared that the authors might expect the result between 8 up to 10 weeks after the submission. But how is it possible to review a 12-page manuscript with a 6-page supplementary material just within one month?

With a full sense of anxiety, I might think that it would be a sinister sign for the early rejection of the manuscript.

Does anybody have any experience with this journal or similar transaction ones, with such very short review-to-result time interval, to evaluate my situation?


texts: Retroactively turning down an accepted offer to a professional program from one school in favour of an offer from another school?

texts:
If I accept an offer to a professional program from one school (e.g., law, medicine, pharmacy, etc.) and then later get an offer to a better program from a different school, can I retroactively turn down the first offer to accept the second?

Both schools are in Canada, but answers relevant for US schools may also be useful.

I'm actually asking for my brother. The problem in his situation is that the acceptance deadline for one school is after the offer date for another ("better") school. The first school has refused to extend the deadline and the second school has refused to give early notification that an offer is pending.

I am hesitant to say the exact type of program because I don't want to expose his identity to anyone making a decision regarding his admission.

The following question is about grad school, not professional programs, so I'm unsure if the answers apply.
Is it legal to withdraw a signed offer letter from grad school?


texts: Effective open-ended student evaluation questions

texts:
As we reach the end of the semester, the students in my class are being asked to do their evaluation of my teaching, as is common at most universities. As with most evaluations that I know of, I have been given an opportunity to provide open-ended prompts for the students to respond to.

I would like to craft open-ended questions for the students that will help me to improve my class/teaching style. This class was a large (~100 students) lecture, so I would like to focus the questions on how to improve myself in teaching large classes. Has any research been published showing which questions (or which types of questions) generate answers that are most effective at helping teachers to improve at teaching large lectures? If no research, is there any anecdotal evidence of "most helpful" questions?


texts:
What is the main difference between an integrated four-years MMath degree and a "standard" three-years Bsc followed by a one-year Master’s degree?

And what is the "natural" progression (if any) after a MMath: is it a PhD or it is not possible to apply to it and a further Master’s degree is needed?


texts: Can software based project be considered for the award of PhD?

texts: I am having issue in understanding the meaning of Philosophy in technical area. Suppose I have novel project that could be even patentable, can that be considered as a topic for PhD? The project is software oriented and can be developed on any standard computing machine such as PC/Tablet/Mobile phone. When I approached one professor for accepting me as his candidate for PhD, he started telling me that there is no Philosophical approach in my topic and it is just a project work. My topic was mainly related music synthesis involves developing algorithms to develop music from certain text based script files. Also no one did any work on specific topic that I opted.


texts: Failed my 2nd Qualifying Exam in PhD. Absolutely devastated. How to proceed?

texts:
I just failed my 2nd Qualifying Exam in my PhD program. It was supposed to be a 60,000 word paper but it was an incomplete work.
I am in my 4th year at my PhD and my research is in field of humanities. My major is Geography. It is an integrated course, as in I joined as soon as I got my Bachelor's. I am doing my research on a multidisciplinary and very practically useful subject based on sacred forests and urban landscapes (I won't go into details). But, I was going through some intense emotional time for 6 months (June to December 2020-a critical period) due to personal tragedies in my family. Also low funding is also a problem. I am an international student. And pandemic is just making it worse.
Now, I feel absolutely devastated.I am not going to get a chance again at re-exam, and that is fine too. I can understand why they wouldn't want to invest in such a bad student. I do work very slowly, but sincerely and did learn and correct accordingly as my advisor said for this 60,000 word hell. Though I could not do field surveys and data collection due to strict travel sanctions, I tried backing up my research with more literature. The problem here is my research is focused on a more practical part of urban forestry, and it is so niche that there is a severe lack of academic work on my topic, if you don't count ancient scriptures (which is hardly academic).
I realise my mistakes and I am willing to do everything to correct them. I just need some more time. But being told I am not suitable to be a PhD student just based on the incomplete paper (it was just 40 pages long) hurt me more than being told how my research was absolutely useless. I am aware that my research IS useless at current stage, but I had all the future work set up in proper parts so it becomes relevant. I was not sure if I can give reasons about tragedies and poor health because last time I tried that they had said 'so what? even pregnant ladies do phd" and that was that. And that is fine too. But being told I am useless as PhD student was like taking a direct hit on what defined me. It was sort of an existential crisis. The shame and incredible sense of loss is palpable and making me clam up instead of working to get out of it.
I know it is not the end of the world and I am sorry for long sob story. I want to know how to proceed? Is it possible to get into a PhD after failing quals? Or do they dismiss you if you have failed quals? Should I immediately apply to a PhD or gain some work experience before?
Thank you.


texts: Is it possible to complete a PhD in CS in 3 years?

texts:
I have always wanted to get a PhD. I'm in my thirties now and have a full time job. I don't necessarily need to get a PhD for my job, though it could open doors to a few research jobs that I can't apply for now. A few friends and colleagues have gotten their PhDs in about 5 years, they tell me that some have even spent 7 or 8 years.

Is it possible to complete a PhD in 3 years? Why or why not?

This would be a post-masters PhD in the US or Canada.


texts: Is it possible to write and defend a dissertation on work for a private company?

texts:
I am in an oddball situation where I have amassed a number credits beyond a masters at University in the US. I am currently working in a research setting, but I am aware that without the PhD by career ceiling is somewhat low. I do not want to leave and go back full time because I like my job and I want to stay in industry anyway.

Hypothetically, assuming no IP issues, is it possible to write a thesis on a private work related topic? I would be returning to the same school that gave me the masters degree and I would self fund, but I am curious to know if I would face a lot of friction if I asked. The research topic is not a core strength for the department but I just need to affiliation etc... I work with all PhDs from respected institution, who would be pseudo advisers. Getting a PhD on my day to day work would be advantageous since I already have a sound background and I know my degree would be marketable.


texts: Should a colleague receive authorship for identifying a research gap and reviewing a manuscript?

texts:
A colleague of mine identified a research gap / problem and reviewed a manuscript of mine addressing said problem. Otherwise, he/she had no other contribution to the conceptualization and execution of the solution and to the writing of the paper.

Does he/she deserve authorship? I don't believe so but I have acknowledged his/her contributions in the acknowledgements section. If this is not standard practice in science, I am more than happy to include his/her name in the list of authors.


texts: Should I leave out bad undergraduate research experiences?

texts: I am a mathematics and physics double major student entering my third year. Over this summer and the previous semester I have been working with a research group in physics writing simulation code. But I have been taking an incredibly long time to finish writing this objectively simple code that I have become very dissatisfied and pessimistic about my future in physics. I have been thinking about applying to graduate school in mathematics instead but I wonder: Would it even help to list this in my graduate school applications? I've spent a lot of time on this project yet I have near nothing to show for it. No publications or even interesting results. My code isn't done yet! Should I bother asking for a letter of recommendation from my PI knowing I did a terrible job at it? I have good grades but I do not know anyone who I believe will give me a strong letter of recommendation, which I know is crucial to admissions.


texts: Accepted by European university, rejected by all American ones I applied to? Possible reasons?

texts:
I've been wondering this for a while.

I'm currently doing the first year of my PhD in Frankfurt. Originally from New Zealand.

I'm not complaining about my situation but if anyone asks me I'll honestly say I would have preferred an English-speaking country.

I'd actually applied to about 9 PhD programs in the US and all rejected me. Yet I was accepted to a (supposedly far more competitive) fully funded European PhD, and rather quickly - accepted late last year and already working now.

It has me wonder. I had very strong letters of recommendation from professors that are well known in my field. I had also published a paper (which has now been cited in Nature) out of the fruits of my research Master's.

My GPA is about 2.8-2.9 by US standards (hard to convert, my school was a "we grade harshly, rarely give out As and we'll make you sweat for a B" style system). Professors at home told me my grades were irrelevant with the strong letters.

People say that I was likely discounted because I had a research master's already and I'd probably see doing more course load as beneath me? That doesn't seem to hold water.

I really don't know. Any thoughts?


texts: What to do when you find someone else is working on the same masters research

texts: You've been hard at work for lets say a year on your masters research and you then discover that someone else has been doing the same research as you have. (Let’s assume it’s a coincidence that the same research is done). What do you do in that case? Should you hurry and and get to the “winning line” ASAP? Should you or the other person change their research proposal?


texts: Can you still do a postdoc if you definitely don't want to become a professor? Will your advisor think less of you for doing so?

texts:
I'm a senior grad student struggling with existential angst. I'm fed up with my advisor, to the point of fantasizing about quitting my PhD. I likely don't want to become a professor. But at the same time, I still love my field of study (in the biosciences), I like research, and I have a postdoc lined up starting next year at a great institution working on a project that I am really excited about. Also, due to conflicts with my advisor, I am really worried I won't be able to graduate in time to take this postdoc job. My questions are:

Is it still worth doing a postdoc? Another way of asking is: have other people set out to do postdocs with the clear intention of not becoming a professor?  I don't mind the low pay and I'm excited about the topic, so my guess is yes... but I'm worried it might hurt my chances of getting a job in industry or elsewhere afterwards (not sure what I do want to do instead though).
Would it be a terrible idea to TELL my current advisor that I don't want a career in academia in the long run, but still want to do a postdoc? I feel that it might help with the current impossible standards he/she is holding me to, and hence speed up graduation. But, I'm worried that both my current and postdoc advisor will assume it means I won't take science as seriously, and hence won't do a good job as a postdoc.


texts: Giving up before even starting: life without a PhD

texts:
I am currently a Master student working on my thesis (started a few days ago). I've always wanted to become a researcher (thus getting a PhD) but a few months ago I started doubting about this decision and about my potential. Now that I'm working on my thesis, this feeling is getting just stronger and stronger. I thus came to the conclusion that I'm most probably just a mediocre researcher that would most probably be able to get accepted into a barely mediocre graduate school (I'm in Europe), even if my grades are quite strong. At this point there isn't much I can do, like getting a degree that would lead me more easily to getting a job in Industry, so I'm quite worried about my future and I lost all my motivation.

So, my question is: how likely it is, for a mediocre (Master) student and if we don't consider getting a PhD, to be able to get a job in Industry (like R&D department) in fields like data science or bioinformatics? If you will: what's the point of producing mediocre (research) results?

I read a lot of questions on this community about people in the middle of their PhD having similar doubts, but in this case I haven't even started it, so probably it's not a duplicate question.


texts: Self studying and letters of recommendations

texts:
I got the following response from a mathematics professor at UT Austin:

  Gaining admission is more about the positive things in your file
  than about checking all the right boxes. If you haven't taken all of the
  standard courses, but have learned it all on your own, that's OK. However,
  there has to be a very good reason why you're better than another
  applicant who HAS taken all of the standard courses. Your letter-writers
  have to make a convincing argument that there is something very, very
  special about you. If your physics professors are better able to present
  these arguments than you math professors, then it's OK to have most of
  your letters come from physicists. But those letters have to be very, very
  good.

My situation is such that since I am not a mathematics major, I haven't done a lot of standard math courses, which I intend to/or have studied on my own. Clearly, I need to win the graduate admissions committee's over by making sure my letter writers write good letters for me.

My question is:

  Generally, what can students like myself do to make sure they get the best possible letters from their professors? That is, how should one structure the self study plan to ensure maximum possible output and in return, the best possible letter from an instructor. More so, I'm not sure what qualifies as a "very, very special letter." What makes a letter "special?" More so, how can students like myself make sure that they are able to get such letters.


texts: Why did most US Universities switch to semesters

texts:
I recently meet someone attended a US school still using the quarter system.
I've heard several theories, the most popular being that the semester system is easier for university to administrate.  I've also heard it is so the university breaks will line up better with K-12 school break schedule.

No one has ever explained to me why semesters or more efficient, or more family friendly.  I only know 1 person educated with the quarter system in the last 10 years.  Is there a reason most US universities adopted semesters?


texts: Semi-solicited motivation letter for professorship

texts:
I would like to be promoted to a full professor (who wouldn't?!). I have a competitive track record, publication index, and, above all, demonstrated capacity to bring in Big Money. I know my little department will soon recruit for a professorship. Plus, the Dean himself, over drinks at a faculty meeting, invited me to motivate my candidature, when I semi-jokingly suggested that I should be promoted. Keep in mind I'm now only Asst. Prof.

So, let's say I want to motivate my professorship. I figure the best way to do is to write a report in which I succinctly outline my most important accomplishments.

My question for you is: Is there any precedent for such a document like the one I describe in the previous paragraph? Even in other university systems. I'd like to emulate an official format to make this look serious.


texts: Do I need to cite the source every time I paraphrase in this particular project paper?

texts:
This is my first question in this forum and although I have gained a lot of information about proper citation from the web, I am still confused in this case. We are assigned a task by college to make a study from resources available online on a particular topic and prepare a project.
Now, I know the fact that I need to cite everytime I use someone else's idea. But this project work has to be prepared in this order: Title, Abstract,
Keywords, Introduction, Review of Literature, Methodology, Results, Discussion, Conclusion,
Acknowledgement, References. This basically means that none of the work is our own and we need to study e-resources available and complete the task at hand.
What I am confused about is the particular heading called Review of Literature. I think that what we are going to write is entirely some sort of review of literature of others work since we've done nothing on our own. So, after making a thorough study of the papers available online, I paraphrased and put proper intext citations as well. Basically, methodology and results are also paraphrased from others work and as such I have put in-text citations not only in case of Review of Literature but also also in Results and Methodology.
So, I want to know whether I am doing it in the proper way or not?
This means, do I really need to provide in-text citations in this particular case in every part of the document if it is someone else's idea?
Sample:

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:
The study made by Gautret et al. (2020)  notes that hydroxychloroquine (an analogue of chloroquine) has been already demonstrated to have an anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity in vitro. Moreover, hydroxychloroquine’s clinical safety profile is better than chloroquine during long term use and also allows higher daily doses and interaction with other drugs is less as well (Gautret et al., 2020).

I have written the Results like this, but I think I've put too much in-text citation here:

Results: Patients treated with hydroxychloroquine (6 out of which received supervised doses of azithromychin as well for initial five days) were aged an average of 51.7 years (~14 years older than mean age of control patients) but not much difference was seen between two groups regarding “gender, clinical status and duration of symptoms” (Gautret et al., 2020).
As time passed, the study showed notable results and the percentage of patients showing negative PCR test of their swab samples at “days 3-4-5 and 6” during study period showed remarkable differences compared to “controls” when 70% of hydroxychloroquine treated patients were “virologically cured” but only a meager 12.5% of the other group achieved this feat (Gautret et al., 2020).

So, this brings me back all way round to the same question: Do I need to cite each and everything which is not my own idea? And is the approach that I am taking correct?
Edit:
This is what we are asked to do:

The Guidelines:


texts: Is it acceptable for paid online course to use quizzes and materials from elsewhere on the internet?

texts:
This question is specifically about a high school course, but it should be applicable to any online course in general.

I was taking a physics course online to skip it in school, those courses are really expensive, so I took the cheapest one that my school was allowing me to take, and it was understandably low quality. This much was ok and expected.

What wasn't ok however, was that all the questions on the quizzes and exams were stolen from the internet. Every single question was taken from some school's "Ch 3 Review Sheet" or "2008 XYZ High School Physics Final Exam" etc. that was made public online.

My parents paid $500 for this course and the people didn't actually write anything themselves, and I'm pretty angry.

So my question is twofold:

Is it ok for a course to do this?
If not, is there any official organization I can complain to.


texts:
I am applying to PhD programs this year. I want to know which CV format I should use:
Here is something I found on pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/837036280728995057/
Here is something I found on Harvard website: https://scholar.harvard.edu/chau/cv
Basically, the one on pinterest is very detailed. the Harvard one is very short.
If  I use the pinterest format it can be repetitive because I already describe my research experience in the SOP. My advisor told me to use the short format. However, I want to be sure so I want to hear your opinions.
Which format do you think is better?
Thank you all!
Edit: I'm not asking for you to choose format for me, I just want to know whether it is better to write a long cv that describes every experience or a short cv that  just lists some headlines.


texts: I publish under a one-word name, which Google Scholar does not index. What can I do?

texts:
I publish under a single name (no last name). As Google Scholar does not recognise me as an author I face several issues with citation counts and wrong bibliographic data being available in Google Scholar. I have reported this issue several times through the contact us form for Scholar but I just get an automated response from them. What can I do?
Example: When you search my name in scholar, my papers appear not because I am an author but because I am a word in the paper. Google does not index me as an author. So, if some one cites my work as Abhishta et. al. Google has no idea who is being cited.
This situation is a different from the questions that are asked before on this forum as the former questions were discussing problems that journals require multiple names for an author but in this case, the publisher is fine with having a single name and the paper is already published. However there are problems with Scholar indexing the data of the paper.
First author indexed by Google as
Actual authors of the paper


texts: How do computer science admissions committees process GRE essays sent with the scores?

texts:
I am currently studying for my GRE exam and I came across a book which states that GRE essays are sent with the official score reports. How does the admissions committee process these essays?

I am applying for a PhD in computer science.


texts:
Recently I have received an offer for PhD studentship in Biology from a lab in Germany. I have completed my Bachelors degree and I have solid 2 years of research experience with 3 peer reviewed publications. Now to formally enroll as a PhD student they are asking me for Masters degree which I don't have.

My question is, is it possible to enroll without masters degree into PhD in Germany? I know that in US, UK Masters degree is not a pre-requisite for PhD. How about in Germany? Can't my research experience be accounted as qualification ?


texts: In Australia, possibility of transfer from a fixed-term Lecturer to a continuing appointment

texts: Recently I got a position as a 3-year fixed-term lecturer at an Australia university. I wonder if there is any possibility to transfer to permanent position? Or I would have a better chance if I apply to an open continuing position after working there?


texts: I have seen some few syllabuses online that look very similar. Is it fine to adopt any syllabus or instructors need to have their own syllabus? And do instructors need to get permission from the original syllabus writer or just link and acknowledgement?


texts: Using second person in cover letter for a publication

texts:
I'm writing a cover letter for a study discussing a particular cognitive phenomenon. I'd like to begin with directly inviting the editor to consider this phenomenon in his own daily experience.

My adviser believes that this is an unacceptable deviation from academic style.

Fresh writing or faux pas?


texts: Pros and cons of teaching assistantship as a masters student intending to go on to industry job

texts:
Background:
In the final year of my masters. Not seeking to apply for a PhD program in the future.

Situation:
I have a potential opportunity to TA a grad level course. Highly confused about taking it up. The opportunity is good however along with the 2 courses that I have to take for graduation, I also wanted to take up another extra course to gain new skills for use in the industry.

Ideally I would want to do both - the extra course and also the TA work. However since I have not taken up a TA opportunity before, I fear balancing 3 courses + the TA work would be a potential overload. However once I leave grad school, I won't be able to have a TA opportunity nor will I be able to take the extra course that is offered here. The TA work would be around 15-20 hours per week. I also have to pay for the extra course I take up.

Any ideas/suggestions would really help. Answers from an industry standpoint would really help.


texts: Timely answers to academic e-mails and internet addiction

texts:
After lots of struggles with the internet, almost overcoming an addiction to Facebook and a compulsive obsession to check my e-mail, I have finally reached an equilibrium that allows me to concentrate and be productive. My strategy is simple: I check and answer e-mails only three times a day: when I get to the lab in the morning, after lunch, and before leaving at night.

During the rest of the day, I use the computer just for work (I’m a bioinformatician) and keep my e-mail locked with an app. At home, I fully disconnect from my computer. Also, I don’t have a smartphone. I know this strategy seems a bit extreme these days when most people is connected 24/7, but it’s the only way I found to control myself and get my things done. I have the impression that everybody (especially in bioinformatics and including my PI) assumes I’m catching up with my e-mail almost instantly (for real, it isn’t rare to get answers from coworkers in matter of seconds).

For instance, one day my PI came kind of angry to my desk asking why I hadn’t gone to his office (or cancelled) if he had sent me and e-mail asking me to. Of course, the message had been sent but I hadn’t checked the e-mail.  The follow up message “Could you please answer my previous e-mail?” isn’t uncommon in my inbox. So I’m starting to get worried that some people may get upset at me for being a late responder, especially people outside my lab, but at the same time I have to level out my internet usage to keep my addiction tamed.

In that context, I would like to known what is considered a timely response to an academic e-mail? If I can’t use my e-mail all the time, what strategies to use so I don’t miss crucial information? Should I let my PI and coworkers know about my previous problems with the internet?


texts: Sharing set of exercises in a textbook (the morally right way?)

texts:
This is possibly a more general question about copyright, but I think I can specify this question into question about teaching, especially on STEM subjects. I don't know exactly whether I should post this on academia SE or matheducator SE.

So, I have a printed version of a Calculus textbook (English). I teach Calculus not strictly following this book and have other delivery methods too (as all instructors should), but it helps me a lot to guide me in some cases. We as instructors also are told to tell students which references are used in this course, but DEFINITELY not to tell them (and better tell them not to) to pirate the ebook version of those references.

However, many students of mine admit that they do not know where to access the materials easily, other than using notes from me, and going to/borrowing from the library (which has limited stock here) and of course pirating (via downloading or copying). Those who only use my notes usually only repeat examples in the notes without doing much exercises as very few are given, as I expect them, and tell them, to find your own sources of exercises besides some that I gave, such as googling notes, libs, etc, legally.

While I cannot pretend that "Hey, I did not tell them to download, so it is not my fault if they do. Sorry, dear author!" since that's just morally wrong, I was thinking that maybe I can help them some way. I think that, at least, they have access to try problems and exercising, since I always make sure my notes cover all the needed materials, but still very much doubt that I have to quote some MORE exercises from the book. And then my question comes in..

Would it be that bad to just share them MORE exercises in the Calculus book that I have? Like putting them in my notes too, but instead of just 5 each lecture, I give them 20 that are based on the book. Significantly more problems as long as they do not repeat the just the same 5 problems or so.
If you ask me how I share it other than putting them in notes, well, can I just take a picture of few pages containing the intended exercises and share them through a messenger app (not through official site of course)? If that's a no, can I just rewrite/retype them again? This way, of course I will make sure that the exercises are taken from mentioned sources. Also, we are not english natives, so what about translating these exercises while typing them?
"Why don't you make your own set of exercises?" This seems to be the ideal approach, but I bought the Calculus book so that I could also show it to anyone near me..and quote some exercises. Also, I don't think making my own set of exercises is that easy, since it takes months to make variations (not just changing numbers/function) for one course WITHOUT reading from many other sources. Besides, these sold out books are to help me, meaning I can use the help to also help others, right? I use my own words to put the materials into the notes, but why should putting set of exercises into my own words also be a must?

If this is too wide, feel free to mark this.


texts: What are some uses for clickers/pollers?

texts:
I've seen clickers/pollers/etc. used in classrooms for many things, such as evaluation and assessment and agile/contingent teaching.

What other uses are there for clickers in the classroom?

To clarify: I'm looking for a list of constructive uses for classroom teaching.


texts: How conceivable is it to research independently while working in a non-research role in industry, to improve my profile for graduate admissions?

texts:
I'm toying with the idea of finishing my undergraduate degree and then entering industry for a short while. If I spent three years and earned enough, my thought is that I'd soften the burden on my parents of financing the sinewy road -- filled with costs and time -- I'm willing to take in earning a PhD. If I earned enough after three years, then I'd feel uninhibited, for example, in getting two masters, waiting another year to apply for a PhD if I were rejected the previous year from one, taking a year off to research and so forth.

Spending a few years to earn money seems good, except that during these years, it's dubious whether I can work towards making myself a stronger graduate school applicant (most importantly, by doing more research). Also, any research done as an undergraduate would, I fear, go to waste. If I returned for a masters at my undergraduate institution directly after finishing my undergraduate, by contrast, I could continue whatever I was working on as an undergraduate.

A possible remedy is to research on my own (or under a willing professor's supervision) while I work in industry? Have others tried out such plans? Are they generally advisable?

Please Note: My question is different from the suggested duplicate, because I ask about the possibility for a student (and not a PhD) to perform research on the side (after working hours) while working in a non-research role. The duplicate question resolves whether someone employed in some company's research division can also research themselves independently.


texts: My co-authors don't want to help get our manuscripts published anymore. What should I do?

texts:
Recently I've had three different sets of co-authors give up on the publication process.  Here are the three cases:

Publication was rejected on the basis that additional work was needed, amounting to repeating all the experiments.  One co-author has retired, another left academia, and a third just isn't interested in the field anymore (and has also left to work elsewhere).  To do all of the work myself seems a little unreasonable if after all that I'm still 3rd author.
Publication was desk rejected by multiple journals (5 so far) due to either being "too theoretical" or "too applied".  The other authors wanted to just turn it into a tech report, but after I started reformatting it, they decided they didn't care if it got published anymore due to the multiple rejections and wanting to move on to other things.  2nd author left our organization recently.
Publication has been written, but one of the authors refuses to move forward with the submission process because they are unsure if our conclusions are right.  Unless we have a "bullet proof" (their words) interpretation of our results, we can't submit.

I don't want to give up, but it's demotivating to have co-authors who don't care.  Is it worth it to keep fighting these battles all by myself if they still benefit?


texts: Transcripts required for application, but my school doesn't really have any

texts:
I'm currently in the job market for tenure-track applications in mathematics. I have seen that some of the positions ask for undergraduate or graduate transcripts (both unofficial and official).

I have an issue, especially with graduate transcripts: I obtained my Ph.D. in France, and I didn't had any coursework or anything, only my thesis. Thus there are no transcripts per se, only a certificate that I completed all the requirements. Would such a thing be enough for positions asking for transcripts?


texts: Should I still apply for a phd if the PI can't confirm if he is able to fund?

texts:
I have found a potential advisor that is keen on advising me for Phd and has offered to fund me. However, he isn't sure if he has sufficient funds and budget to do so (something he is still figuring out and things don't seem too hopeful). He has told me to proceed with the application nonetheless.
Should I go ahead with the application and continue waiting on the news about the funds, knowing that there is a good possibility that there wont be sufficient funds? Or would it be better to turn down the offer early on and apply for jobs instead?
I'm asking because I don't want to wait too long for something that might not work out, but the PI has gone through the trouble of working out plans to make things work and I feel really bad if I backed out now. Furthermore, I am really interested in the projects the group has to offer, and everyone in the lab were lovely. I've also heard many good things about the PI as a Phd advisor. So I was really looking forward to joining the lab. On the other hand, I feel that if I were to decline the offer, I should notify the PI as soon as possible so it saves the PI further time and trouble.

Thanks in advance for any advice!


texts: Appropriate attire for a graduate school interview in the US

texts: I was invited to interview at several graduate schools this upcoming February. All of the programs are in the fields of biochemistry and biophysics. What is appropriate attire for graduate school interviews? One of the schools mentioned business casual. Does anyone have any good suggestions? I thought about wearing a sweater with an oxford underneath. However, I will also bring a sport coat just in case.


texts: How to build relationships with colleagues as new faculty member?

texts:
I have just started a new job
as an assistant professor in a tenure-track position.

What are the most important things that I can do
to build good working and social relationships with my colleagues?
Related to the above question,
what are the tasks that require faculty members to work together,
and how do I work well as a member of a team in such settings?

Background
I felt that I did not do a good job
in developing relationships with other students during my PhD years.
I observed that other students seemed to go for lunch/coffee,
hang out together, go out to a bar or for a movie,
but somehow I did not participate in such social activities.
I hope that I do not make the same mistakes
as I start my new job as a new faculty member.

Clarification
in response to the question
How do we have to imagine that you did not participate in such social activities?

I did take part in some department social events,
e.g. a student retreat, student BBQs,
the intermural soccer team, open houses for prospective PhD students, etc.
I didn't join people for coffee
because it is not a habit for me to drink coffee.
Perhaps I should have joined not for the coffee but for the company.
As the stress oh PhD piled up I became more insular
because it takes energy for me to socialize with others
and I wanted to conserve energy.
Now that I look back,
I feel that if I had spent a little more time with other people,
I could find a happy medium where I am neither
too exhausted being with other people (too much social interaction)
nor feeling lonely (too little social interaction).


texts: Submit manuscript to tier A conference or wait and submit to A* conference?

texts:
Suppose you have a manuscript and you have just missed the deadline for an A* conference. Should I submit to the next tier A conference or wait until for the A* conference to come around again?

I am in the computer science field, hence the emphasis on conferences, rather than journals.


texts:
I am working on a "Handbook" on a technical topic I am personally interested in and I also need for work. To back up statements and provide reputable sources I try to cite everything even though it will never be published. Now I do not know how to cite this properly.

Example: I want to write about topic A. I have four books with multiple chapters that cover parts of topic A, as well as scripts from university, presentations and notes from seminars all around the same topic. Lots of them containing the same "premise" and common knowledge in the field. I now know quite a bit about this topic. I then write my own compact version of this topic A in my "Handbook".

How do I cite this? Normal "According to…" citing like in summaries does not work because every section is compiled of many sources. If I cite every source before or after every paragraph the thing becomes unreadable.

Is it acceptable to write something like: "Used in this chapter: Source1, Source2, etc." and when referencing to an specific statement or figure in a source using the full proper citation behind the statement or under the figure?

I have a book that does this. It just lists sources according to chapters in the back of the book: "Literature for chapter 1.8: Source1, Source2, Source3, etc." And cites only specific points in text.

I didn’t find a suitable example for this case in the citation guides I have and hope someone can help me out here. Thank you for your time.


texts: Is there anything that has been tried to stop publication shopping

texts:
I find it very annoying as a reviewer when I get asked to review a paper several times as it gets submitted to different journals/conferences or, worse still, I help send it to the reject pile only to have it published elsewhere with my comments ignored. I definitely get the impression that a small minority of authors "shop" their papers around too much, which wastes a lot of the community's time. Often these papers are completely unpublishable, but sometimes it seems the authors are just going down some list until they reach the appropriate "level", rather than submitting appropriately in the first place.

I often devise hypothetical schemes to prevent this. For example:

Require authors to pay to submit.
Require authors to disclose the submission history their article.
Have journals/conferences publish a list of rejected articles.
Calculate an acceptance ratio for authors, along the same lines as bibliometrics.
Somehow publish rejected articles too, so that they cannot be published elsewhere. E.g., have a journal that accepts nearly 100% of submissions, but includes a review or rating with each article, so readers know which ones are the good articles.

Of course, these are just wild ideas, many of which are impractical and would greatly annoy authors.
I'm curious to know if any such schemes have actually been tried and, if so, whether they seem to have worked. Surely, in some far-flung corner of academia, one of these ideas has been tried.

Question: Are there systems that have been tried by journals/conferences to disincentivize authors from submitting their articles to too many journals/conferences? If so, did they work?

I am only aware of one experiment along these lines: ICLR - the International Conference on Learning Representations. All submissions and all reviews are made public and they stay online even if they were rejected. I don't know what effect this system has had. I would like to hear other examples and also know if there is any evidence regarding the effect of such policies.


texts: To enroll in to a PhD Program at the age of 65

texts: As a retired school teacher, and to become a professor at a university. Is it okay to get into a PhD program at the age of 65 and complete it to become a professor? Or is it too late and I can’t get employed at a university?


texts: Fee discounts for full time PhD Students; is this discriminatory?

texts:
In computer science many conferences provide a fee discount for graduate students. This is ok, but many times these discounts are limited to full time PhD students, and not available for part time ones.

Now, part time students many times are less lucky than full time ones, as often they don't have any scholarship, so ideally they have less resources than a full time student; so why these discounts are only for full time students? It would seem more natural the opposite..


texts: Appropriate to meet with prof. to discuss low quality exam

texts:
I am in an MBA program and last week had a two part test for a marketing class. I was under the impression the first part was just analysis, essentially creating models and writing notes on trends so you can quickly and easily answer the questions on the test (take home, given 3 hours to complete during the regularly scheduled class time).

The first part was much more extensive and actually had 6 questions with 3 sub questions per question to answer and I would've liked to have spent 12-15 hours on it versus the 8 I allotted myself. Because of my poor planning, I produced incomplete work and the completed work was NOT up the quality I usually produce and expect of myself. I did email my professor to ask for a possible extension and explain my situation. He would take off 25% for turning it in the next day, I did not take this option as I felt I could do better than that turning it in by 11 pm that night.

I am embarrassed and humbled. My professor is a very nice guy and a great teacher.

Would it be appropriate to schedule a time to meet with him to discuss the quality of my exam and how I would have approached it differently?

I am not looking for brownie points or extra credit or anything of the like. I just can't stop thinking about how I would have approached some of the questions differently. My ego took a hit and I'm essentially looking for redemption in a way.


texts: Is it appropriate to ask a Professor to write a recommendation letter for applying to another university?

texts:
I am currently studying at an university in Europe (undergraduate, first year)and would like to transfer (next year or in two years) to an university in UK. UCAS requires a reference to accompany your application.

I have a very successful academic career, I have taken all exams of my year and also some of my next years, and have obtained the highest mark ("cum laude") in almost all of them. The reason for transferring, therefore, is to get into a more challenging university.

Is it appropriate to ask a professor of my current university for a reference letter, given that it will be used as part of an application to another university?


texts: What are the best questions to ask a PI upon the first meeting to join some of his projects?

texts: I'm planning to see a professor today, in our department, he is the director of one of the labs there and a PI of a couple of projects. I knew that, he's looking for some student to join his project/s. I contacted him, he told that he's a couple of funding projects and make an appointment for me to see him. So, I'm thinking what are the best question that I may ask during this first meeting.


texts: What are the potential pitfalls of having a PhD in machine learning?

texts:
This is a follow up question from this one. From what I read in that question I understood that in most cases the PhD is not a good idea to grow a good career in the industry.

However I contacted two people in the industry who have PhDs in machine learning and data mining and they work in Amazon Germany as machine learning scientists or data miners. They told me almost any job in data mining or machine learning requires a PhD.

My question is: do the same pitfalls for other fields also apply for PhDs in machine learning and data mining? If not, then are there still other pitfalls?


texts: Is an MLA citation needed for a broad description of a poem's theme?

texts:
I'm trying to figure out whether I need to cite these poems or not.

  “Out, Out—” has its morbid description of a young boy bleeding out and
  its underlying theme of death. “Nothing Gold Can Stay” has its
  pessimistic theme that nothing beautiful can stay beautiful.

I speak so generally that I

Have no idea if it's ethical or not to exclude citation
What I would cite were I to. Generally you cite poems by line numbers. If one were to cite a poem based on a description of its theme, doesn't that encompass the entire poem? This has more to do with the in-text citation part.

Thanks for any help


texts: Why do university campuses have glass blowing services?

texts:
I noticed that my university has a glass blowing service in the same building as the chemistry precinct, supposedly to make the glassware for the chemistry labs. At first I thought this was kind of quirky and I chortled to myself, "man, the chemistry students must break a lot of beakers."

Later I toured a campus overseas and noticed that they too had a glass blower. A quick Google search showed that many institutions have similar facilities. Most of them sell their services too. It seems to be more academically-focused than I first thought; it would be incorrect to equate it with the janitorial service or the on-campus bakery, presumably.

Why glass blowing and not another craft? I'm curious as to what separates glass blowing from other crafts and manual arts that warrants it a dedicated department in an academic facility.


texts: Is it appropriate for my professor to include gender offensive material that is unrelated to the class subject matter in the course notes?

texts:
My accounting professor created a large binder full of notes for us to use instead of an actual textbook. He created it, and since he's the head of the accounting department at my university, he has implemented it into all of the accounting curricula. In this binder, there are news articles and random cartoons which are almost entirely unrelated to accounting. For example, there is a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip on almost every other page and the content of the strips are not in the least related to accounting.

An exam is coming up so I started studying from the beginning of the section and I happened across an unusual piece that was photocopied into the notes. This piece is the Italian telling of "Sleeping Beauty". No explanation or anything saying what it is; I was only able to figure out what it is because I was so offended by it (read further for an explanation of the offense) that I researched what it was, so I could maybe develop an understanding of why my professor would dare to include this in what he is teaching us.

If you are not familiar with the Italian (arguably the original) telling of this fairy tale, it is rather simple, and goes as follows: A young woman is drugged; she appears to be dead to her family so they leave her body in peace in a cabin that they seal up. One day a rich king comes across the cabin and breaks in; he sees the YOUNG woman and assumes she is asleep so he rapes her because she's so beautiful. This young woman eventually gives birth to twins and through a series of events they wake her from her drugged and practically dead state. Skipping some information I don't think is necessary, the young woman considers her rape and rapist blessings and is thankful for said horrific rape.

Now, my question is that I want to know if this is acceptable? I was disgusted when I read it (while studying for an exam, mind you). I consider myself a feminist and as a woman myself, I found the story offensive in the extreme. I also feel that this is helping to perpetuate the belief that women should be thankful for their rapists because it is a compliment. Can my university (a state university) legally, ethically, and morally publish this to their students in a faculty made textbook? I want to take action but I am not sure if this is even allowed and do not want to make a fool of myself.

Update (posted in comments):

I have spoken with the professor who created this book (it is more of a textbook than lecture notes) and he admitted he was in the wrong for including this. He stated that he likes to include things unrelated to accounting in his book just because. There was no explanation about the story, no relating back to accounting or econ or anything.


texts: Does repeating a second course to bring my GPA up 0.05 points help or hurt for graduate admissions?

texts: So, I previously repeated an undergraduate course and I am graduating next semester with only two courses left to take. I recently realized that if I repeat another course from my first year, I can bring my GPA up from 3.85 to 3.90 and graduate summa cum laude, but I wonder if repeating too many courses for GPA (two in this case) would reflect badly, so is it worth it?


texts: My PhD situation is giving me anxiety attacks. Is quitting (and losing 2 years) my only option?

texts:
I am currently in my second year of my PhD and I am having a horrible time. I feel like I am not cut out for academia and I frequently have anxiety attacks. I would like to do something else, and if it was a normal job I would definitely start looking for another job.

I'm worried I'll lose my reference (And he's a good reference to lose :() and I'm also feeling guilty. I have taken two years of funding and now I just want to leave unpublished? Ethically I feel terrible.

The trouble is it is massively affecting my mental health. I have had to seek help from the student services with this. I cry all the time. I've lost my motivation. I'd really like a job in the charity sector or in health education where I can help people and feel like I make a difference.

The trouble is I don't imagine quitting a PhD or considering leaving a PhD looks particularly great on a CV. I have so many reasons to leave and so many to stay. Any advice?


texts: How to deal with two students who potentially colluded when one is unavailable?

texts:
We have two students in my department who handed in identical essays. As per our policy we scheduled independent meetings with both students to determine what happened. Going into these meetings our primary objective is to figure out which of the following 5 possibilities occurred:

The students worked jointly and wrote one essay
One student wrote the essay and knowingly allowed the other student to copy the essay
One student wrote the essay and the other student copied their essay without the first student's knowledge
The students worked independently and managed to write word for word identical essays (this seems unlikely)
The students independently copied the same source

One student is on medical leave and was therefore unable to attend the meeting. The student who attended the meeting showed us drafts of previous essays which have convinced us that neither (4) nor (5) occurred. Further, when we exclude the other student's essay, TurnItIn doesn't find anything of concern. We also are confident that the student who attended the meeting did not copy the essay from the other student. This leaves us with possibilities (1), (2), and (3).

Our policy states that both students would be punished for academic misconducted if either (1) or (2) occurred and only the other student would be punished if (3) occurred. It seems without talking to the other student we cannot really come to a fair conclusion. Without a decision the student who attended the meeting will have neither passed or failed the class and therefore is not eligible to retake the class nor take any class which has the class in question as a prerequisite. It is unlikely the student on medical leave will be back in time to make a timely decision. How should we proceed?


texts: What's the meaning of Visiting Researcher / Ass. Professor?

texts:
I want to know how actually (and on the basis of what) visiting researcher (for PhD students) or visiting Ass. Professor (for lecturers) opportunities are offered worldwide (especially for USA/Canada) ?
Thanks !


texts: Citing oneself in PhD application documents: Good or bad?

texts:
Some PhD applications I've gone through involved submitting a research proposal, statement of interests and/or a sample article review (e.g. of a specific, pre-determined article which has relevance to the position being applied for). Naturally, when writing proposals and critiquing people's work, I will naturally have my own (ideally similar) work as a reference to compare it to, naturally knowing my own work quite intimately. However, is explicitly referencing one's own work in such contexts a good idea or a bad one? For example:

  Review: McMahon et al. 2012. "How to raise gerbils on Mars." Gerbil Fancy, vol. 14, no. 3.

  Reviewer McNotyetdoctorface

  Swiss Naval Academy

  Bern, Switzerland

  ...

  McMahon et al. reported poor results in estimating the nutrition requirements of gerbils in low-gravity environments. These results could have been improved by conditioning for effects of gerbil Earthsickness as witnessed by McNotyetdoctorface (2011) during his similar work on the moon.

For

One positive aspect of mentioning oneself which I could imagine is displaying the ability to create a "narrative" of one's own work over time and to relate it to other works in a constructive manner, and it also subtly "shows off" one's previous work to people who may have overlooked it or at least overlooked its relevance to the position at hand.

Against

On the other hand, I'm not sure if PhD application materials are intended to be either "anonymous", "unbiased" or both: If they are anonymous, then no one will know that I am in fact Reviewer McNotyetdoctorface, so there would be little benefit. However, I obviously think my own work is fantastic, and so citing it in an application might backfire in that the people reading it may think: "Well, he really likes tooting his own horn; Does he ever think that other people's work can be better than his?".


texts: Future prospects after Phd in Robotics from Australia?

texts: I am looking forward to having a Phd in Robotics from UNSW Australia. Currently, I am working as a robotics Engineer and was wondering what are the prospects in Australia after getting a doctorate. Is it a wise move to leave a stable job and go on to earn a doctorate or just stay in the field get experience and climb up the ladder. An answer from someone who has been through these stages would really help remove my confusion. Thanks


texts: Concerns about the value of the research domain

texts:
I am a PhD student in applied computer science methods, halfway through the program, and the question that is in the title is what have occupied my mind almost from the beginning of my study. I can't find much help from my supervisors, and this is putting the whole pursuit of my degree under question.

I have read some literature in the domain of my research, and most of the time my critical thinking is not satisfied with what the authors have achieved in the end of their work. Somehow, the conclusions do not seem convincing to me. In my understanding, the idea of a scientific article is to be useful, but what I see in my field of applicational studies is that the articles suggest no real applications, rather some dull scientific examples, saying that it demonstrates its usefullness. Applicational studies should have real applications, not examples in a vacuum.

And it is the same thing, if not worse, in almost all the articles. It gets worse if they start to overcomplicate things, adding one method on top of another to achieve no evident benefit at the end. For me, such research seems like they cannot find a good problem.

Is it just an impression of a sceptic, or could it be that my subfield of research has reached the point where it has closed on itself? I mean, producing papers not to investigate real problems, but just to keep the field afloat, although it has no potential for anything innovative.

I am just starting to doubt that research itself has some special value, as it seemed to me in my idealistic view when I just started my PhD. At this point, I am overwhelmed with the thought that the years that I am spending on my PhD eventually will result with a similar contribution: It will have no use or value. Maybe except to support my supervisor's career and add to the mess of the literature of my domain, where I already have sunk.

So my question for you is: What does motivate you or give you certitude that the things that you work on do have impact, and the work is worth working on?


texts: How might I improve my math department as an undergrad?

texts:
I am an undergraduate math major at a small state university in the US. Our math department has about 20 tenured/tenure-track faculty, including applied mathematicians and statisticians. We have only 3 current NSF grants, two in statistics and one in biomathematics. According to MathSciNet, only 4 of our faculty have published something this year. Additionally, our current department head mainly does applied interdisciplinary research, but I suppose it is not rare for math department heads to be in some kind of applied math field. To be fair, my university was founded less than 50 years ago, but I still want my department to become better.

Is there anything I could do as an undergrad to help improve my department? It's hard to say exactly what would make my department "better", but to be somewhat vague, I would consider research productivity and funding to be important factors to improve on.


texts: How to get the most benefit out of a teaching consultation?

texts:
I have requested a teaching consultation from my university's Center for Teaching & Learning. First I'll meet with a couple of consultants, then they'll observe my regular class, and then they'll meet with me again to give me feedback on the classroom observation.

I'm not a very experienced teacher, I don't really know what I'm doing right or wrong, so I don't know what to ask the consultants to focus on. Except for one or two things related to challenges I'm having with the particular class I'm teaching right now, I don't have anything specific in mind to ask them about.

Does anyone have any suggestions for making the most of a teaching consultation? Anything specific I can ask them to focus on that might prove especially useful?


texts: Do they really mean "in all areas" and "will continue to be accepted until..." in Computer Science faculty opening ads in the US?

texts:
The following is an extension of the question Job applications reviewed "until the position is filled" (i.e. soft deadline): What does that really mean?.

In most US job announcements of faculty openings (of any rank) in computer science I've seen no hard deadlines for applications and no hard subdiscipline designations. (In Europe, this is different: the deadlines and the subdiciplines are typically hard restictions.) Most of the time, we see sentences such as

  The search will focus on candidates in the areas X1, X2, and X3. However, outstanding candidates in all research areas will be considered.

and

  Preference will be given to applications submitted before Date Y, but we will continue accepting applications until the positions are filled.

Wee see such phrases way too often and may consider them boilerplate in the meantime.

Does the search team actually sometimes look at applications outside of the mentioned areas (X1, X2, and X3) and at the applications submitted after the deadline? Or are the above phrases introduced for some other reasons (legal, politics, ...), and the search team never looks at anything beyond the mentioned subdisciplines or anything past the deadline?
Has anyone already been hired despite being outside of areas X1-X3 or beyond the date Y?
In practical terms, if the applicant is a normal scientist but has missed the deadline, how long after that he/she should apply?
In practical terms, if the applicant is a normal scientist, is on time, but the subdiscipline is slightly off, should he/she still apply?
In practical terms, if the applicant is a normal scientist but the subdiscipline is slightly off and the deadline has passed, how long after that he/she should apply?

(An aside: Assume that the applicant cannot get this information directly by asking, e.g., due to the absense of contact data, and that the applicants network, including that of the supporting advisors if there are any, does not cover the location.)

This question seeks answers from folks who have participated in search committees, have supervised their work, or have received feedback as applicants. If it is the case for you, say so.


texts: "Dressing down" to impress in academic settings

texts:
I came across this highly-upvoted comment on reddit (15,300 karma) by /u/Semi-Hemi-Demigod

  The CEO of the company I work for said that it's not uncommon for
  programmers to be asked to dress down for important meetings.
  Apparently investors don't think programmers who dress well are good
  programmers.

I was wondering if this logic applies to academia, particularly in fields like math, computer science, and philosophy where stereotypically many top people  dress sloppily. In other words, are there academic contexts where dressing badly will make me seem more competent at my job?

Perhaps this would be an interesting social science experiment to perform, if it hasn't been done already!


texts: Is it normal for a PhD advisor not to read a student's thesis?

texts:
I am scheduled to defend my thesis in February.  I've been sending my advisor bits and pieces of my thesis, but he hasn't been replying to my emails.  Is this normal, and can I still graduate even if he doesn't read my thesis?

All of the papers in the thesis have already been written, so he knows what's in the main body, and I've just been sending him parts of the introduction/literature review.


texts:
In many manuscript preparation instructions there is this line in the instructions for notes:
"...A source reference note should be indicated by means of an asterisk after the title. This note should be placed at the bottom of the first page."
Anyone knows what a "source reference note" is and maybe have an example?


texts: Where can I study what I really interested in as a postdoc researcher?

texts:
I am a postdoc researcher in AI field. I was hired as a lead scientist in governmental project (named project A). I need to work on it at least eight hours on week days.

Apart from the study in the project A, there is another topic which is really what I'm interested in (named project B). I started the project B last year, and since then, I studied it after business hour every day with several researchers.

The progress of the project B is somewhat nice and we'll submit a paper by this summer. I'm totally fascinated on the project B. I wish if all of what I have to do would be only the project B.

But it was OK. The project A is also interesting and I can write many paper thanks to the project A and B. Moreover, there are a lot of nice and intelligent friends here.

However, recently, PI assigned me to another project (project C). The project C is totally out of my interest and expertise.

I feel it might be time to leave. Unfortunately, I've not had enough record to get tenure position (but tenure track might be OK). I can go anywhere if I can focus on the project B. Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, it's very difficult to study what he/she wants as a postdoc researcher in CS field.

So, my question is if there is a position allowing me to bring my own research topic and focus on it?

For instance,

applying for tenure track in some country
going to private companies to raise money (like sales person)
spin out and become CEO of startup company (don't laugh at me...)
persuade the PI to allow me to study the project B (0.01% success rate)

I can not open the location of my work place, but here is one of the worst competitive country on the planet to get tenure due to a low birth rate and long long economic depression... I guess I need go somewhere outside this country.


texts: Are Undergraduates allowed to collaborate with other students for their dissertation research?

texts: I'm not sure if this is common practice or not, but much like how we see co-authorship in research papers, I was wondering if an undergrad would be allowed to collaborate with other students (possibly from other institutions) for their research project?


texts: What should I do if I'm on the waitlist for a PhD program?

texts:
I'm on the waitlist of a top 2 program in my field which has a good track record of accepting waitlisted applicants. They told me to wait until April 15 and then I would hear from them. Interestingly, I got rejected by every other program I applied to, so I have no other place to go to. This is my second admissions season - I applied to PhD programs last year as well, got waitlisted from a couple top programs but it didn't work out.

I'm going to give up after this season if this waitlist doesn't work out. Is there anything I can do to maximize my chances of being admitted off the waitlist?

I don't want to seem obnoxious when I email the director of graduate studies at the university, so I don't want to talk about how I don't have any other plans or something like that, but what else can I do?


texts: Almost everything we know is taken from someone else, so what do I cite in a paper?

texts: My professor commented that I should have cited more on my paper. I received 132 out of 140 points on the paper for the error. I'm studying history, so being a learned subject, isn't everything we know about it taken from someone else? How would I cite everything I have ever learned over the years dealing with history through conversations/ TV/ internet/ from childhood? I didn't know when I was a child that I needed to remember who told me that Rome was a global power back in the 1st century :) How far do we go with this?


texts: Is it bad to withdraw a manuscript one day after it has been submitted?

texts:
I submitted it yesterday, after sending it to a repository. Then, a colleague gave a quick read and found some narrative issues, i.e., our abstract seems to be claiming something we did not do and we did not give much importance for some classical results in our introduction. He pointed out that any reviewer who knows those classical results will raise a red flag when reading our paper. So, I want to withdraw it, if possible, change the text and re-submit it to the same journal. How bad it is to do that?
Just another question:

How bad it is to simply e-mail the editor asking for a chance of re-submission due to some issues with the paper itself?

It is a mathematics journal and the status is currently "with editor".
Thanks in advance!


texts: How much professional assistance can I receive on an undergraduate capstone design project without cheating?

texts:
I'm taking the undergraduate capstone design course in electrical engineering at a university in the U.S. and I've been receiving some programming help from a friend who is not, nor ever has been, a student at the school. I understand that a certain amount of professional assistance is acceptable, however, there was a significant programming snag that I encountered that I would not have been able to solve on my own without this person's help. I have not asked my professor directly about this yet (there's still time, though!) since I've been afraid of self-incriminating and that I may be asked to remove the code which would put me back to my major snag that I can't solve. At this late point in the course, this solution is essential as removing it would likely force our group to alter direction/scope. This is a design project and not a programming project (I'm currently using plenty of acceptable open-source code from GitHub) and I feel my group has legitimately created original design work. Obviously, I have no problems at all citing any sources I used for the project as my goal is to avoid cheating.

My question is this:

Can I use code that was created specifically for my capstone design project by a knowledgeable person (with my assistance) without cheating if I cite the source? Would it make it more acceptable if this person posted this same code to GitHub as well since other GitHub resources have already been deemed acceptable?


texts: Uploading paper drafts before first-time publication

texts:
I am half-way through a Masters degree in Logic and Philosophy of Science following a BSc in Astrophysics. Although I've dreamed for years about getting a paper published, I still haven't submitted anything for publication. The reason why I hadn't submitted anything was very clear to me as an undergraduate: I chose to pursue theory over experiment right off the bat and, although I got to fiddle around with very ground-breaking mathematical techniques, I quickly realized that my knowledge of modern physics was not up to par with the foundational work I was pursuing. I intend to pursue a Ph.D. in theoretical physics focusing on quantum gravity and want to wait until I have taken the relevant courses in particle physics and general relativity before putting my old research results in the context of the current consensus view.

In the meantime, I pursued a detour into the philosophy of science because I am fascinated by and very passionate about the foundations of physics. My experience in philosophy has been remarkably different. Besides my application essay, I have written two term papers that I am very proud of. I deem them to be of publishable quality because I went beyond the mere expectation of "meeting the examiner's criteria" and actually took a deep dive into the literature to produce novel research. I think they are ready for the peer-review process, but am hesitant about what to do with these drafts.

I first came across ResearchGate, and later Academia.edu, while doing literature searches, but quickly realized that a number of my current and former professors are active in these sites. I've been seriously considering uploading my drafts namely because I feel that I've been too secretive of my ideas for too long and it's time to get them out. I do, however, have some reservations. These lead to my question:

Would uploading my papers to "social media sites for academics" interfere with the peer-review process of reputable publishers? (e.g. Elsevier, Springer) I understand the purpose of these sites is to share ideas with as broad of an audience as possible, but they do not carry the weight towards career advancement that a publication in a "good journal" gets.

There is also a related follow-up question:

Is there a right time to get out a first publication? I used to be intimidated by people who published one or two papers during their undergrads, but these were mostly collaborations with an established research group. Conversely, I have friends who didn't publish their first paper until they completed their P.h.D.

Am I overthinking all of this?

Thank you so much for your time.


texts: The best ways to cite a theorem whose assumptions/conditions are written earlier in the source?

texts:
When one cites a theorem from a source in mathematics, the following problem usually arises: some assumptions/conditions of the theorem are written much earlier in the source, which do not appear in the statement of the theorem.

What are good strategies to solve this problem so that the writing could be more reader-friendly?

On the one hand, citing the theorem simply as "By theorem 3.1.4 in [Fang 2013] ..." means the reader may miss some of the conditions of theorem 3.1.4 if they appear earlier in the source.

On the other hand, yes, restating all the conditions of the theorem is considerably the "best" way. But if one has to cite a lot of hard theorems in a proof, restating everything may distract readers from the main issues.

Let me construct an example: if a chapter in a commutative ring theory book begins with "All rings in this chapter will be Noetherian", any theorem containing the word "ring" in this chapter would not include the word "Noetherian". If I cited one theorem in this chapter merely by its "number", a reader may be easily misguided if he/she directly read the theorem without reading the first sentence of this chapter.


texts: When should one apply for a PhD in the UK?

texts:
In September 2021 I will be starting a Master's degree course in Economics, and I want to pursue a PhD after its completion. The Master's course finishes by September 2022. However this raises a problem. If I want to start the PhD course in September/October 2022, I would have to start applying/searching for funding for the PhD right as I begin my Master's degree, this September. At the same time, if I decide to apply for a PhD only after finishing my Master's degree, I would probably start the PhD in September/October 2023.
On the one hand I would prefer to start working on a PhD programme as early as possible and it would feel like I have wasted on an entire year just for applications if I were to start in 2023. On the other hand, if I start applying this September (for late 2022 entry), I feel like my chances of securing funding or making a good proposal could be lower since by that time I would only be starting on my Masters course, and so would not even have a thesis continue my work on.
At this point, I am open to all advice or experience that people have with this issue. I hope everyone is well and thank you very much in advance for your time, advice and kind consideration. Sorry, if my explanations are a little unclear due to the dating.


texts:
I am wondering about the cv format for PhD application. In professional setting, for example, in the research experience part, I write a lot about what I did in my research rather than doing so in the cover letter. The cover letter on the other hand should be short. This is recommended by the career service center.
Should I do the same for PhD application? Or maybe I should write about my research in my cv and repeat the same thing in the cover letter?
Thank you!


texts:
I am a college student in Rajasthan. I had a chance to address a large group at a college function, and in my address I said unfavorable things about professors in the college. Since then, I believe their behavior towards me has changed, and that they are personally targeting me.

I want to know what steps we can take against:

teachers scoring us according to some personal vendetta,
extremely rude language/behavior,
unnecessary targeting.

What laws exist in India to protect students from harassment by teachers/professors?


texts: How should I phrase a question about an *ordinary academic matter* to a Professor?

texts:
Question: Suppose you need to communicate with an academic about some ordinary academic matter that falls within the scope of the ordinary activities of an academic.  Perhaps this is a standard administrative or pedagogical matter that academics deal with commonly as part of their job, or some other question that would not be regarded as being out-of-the-ordinary for the academic you are dealing with.  Examples of the types of matters I have in mind are the following (non-exhaustive list):

Asking for advice on an academic topic;
Asking for a review of my mark in an assessment;
Asking an academic to teach me something in their field of expertise;
Asking to apply for/withdraw from some academic program or course;
Asking about the present status of an application or assessment task;
Asking if an academic is interested in research collaboration;
Turning an academic down for a position/research topic, etc.;
Following-up on a matter where we have already had previous contact; or
Thanking an academic for their help on a matter.

We all know that academics are basically demi-gods, and so communicating with them requires adherence to strict protocols, similar to kowtowing to an Emperor.  With these kinds of examples in mind, what is the method of communication and the magical words to use to prevent a major diplomatic incident when communicating with a Professor on a common academic matter?

Note: This question is a variation of this canonical question about how to ask a Professor a question.  That question is presently used as a duplicate for many questions on Academia.SE, but it is not an ideal duplicate for questions about matters that are ordinary academic matters that fall within the scope of standard academic work at a university.  The present question is designed to give a canonical question about communicating these matters.


texts: When is a good time to go visiting potential post-doc opportunities?

texts:
I am in my last year of graduate studies. I have lately started networking for post-doc opportunities with some of the prominent people out there. I believe I have done a decent job in presenting myself so far, and I have gotten some people interested in discussing it further. The typical scenario would be to initiate formal contact by email then, if both parties are interested, pay a visit to the lab and talk with the people working there.

Now that I am starting to plan these things, I am wondering if the timing is optimal and if not how I should be putting them. I like planning these things in advance and not having to end up stressing about it all the way in the end. Heaving a big margin also provides time for project planning, as well as finding and applying for post-doc grants.

On the down-side, this last year is all I got to finish my projects, get papers out and also write a good thesis. All of which, I am sure, will take a significant amount of time. Ideally worrying/planning about the next step, should not prevent me from progressing as efficiently as I can.

So, in general, when would be a good time to take active and serious steps towards the next employment after graduate studies?


texts:
How can a researcher (be it professor or student) combat the pressure to get published? I know that the academics these days are extremely competitive. I feel that many research work now-a-days are driven to get published (It is not a fact just my feeling. I may or may not be right). Not all research work can produce successful results. You either succeed or learn that your approach/method/theory doesn't work (see this).

Also, consistent and frequent publications lead to a successful career even though the research itself may not have much impact in a practical situation (See this).

Is research not about the search for truth anymore? Has it been reduced to number of publications and impact factor?  Is it possible for anyone to have a successful research career and at the same time publish(only those that they think are worth publishing) less often?

Edit: I have found a brutally honest answer in another part of this community.(see JeffE's answer)


texts: Accepting an Assistant Professor position at a low ranked university

texts:
I recently completed a postdoc at a prestigious R1 university, in a high profile lab. My publication record is not prolific, but those that I have published as first author are well respected journals, and a handful of middle author publications in top journals as well. I have a consistent teaching record throughout my graduate and postdoc training as well.

I applied to faculty positions at ~30 schools over the past two years, including several that I was not very excited about, but were in my target location and had open positions, so I applied. In total, I've had two on campus interviews and have been offered a faculty position at a low ranking liberal arts university (awards Master's but not PhDs) that seems like somewhat of a good fit for me personally in terms of the teaching I would do and the research interests of the other faculty, but lacks the prestige and resources of larger/more research intensive schools.

Would it be wise to take this position in the hopes that several years of faculty experience will allow me to jump to a different college/university that is a better fit for my professional goals (i.e., more research, higher caliber students, more resources for faculty)? Does this happen often, where someone takes a "starter" appointment and moves to a more fitting situation when it arises, somewhat like a Visiting Assistant Professor position?