texts: How to cite online-first published articles? Should you include link to earlier ArXiV version?

texts: When one cites an article which appeared online-first in a journal of mathematics, but which is not in print and has no volume number yet, I have read that one can just use the DOI instead. But do you think that in this situation it is appropriate to add the link to the arXiv version anyway?


texts: Negotiating the intellectual property of a (US) industry contract

texts:
I'm finishing a post-doc and possibly going (back into) industry, but with the intent to continue research and publish papers and FOSS software.

I know that hi-tech companies typically give you this agreement to sign about them having all intellectual property rights and you having nothing - a Properitary Information Agreement.

Luckily, in my case, I'm more-or-less the first proper hire of a professional employee (it's a start-up); and the company is positive about me doing research and about them releasing (some/lots) of FOSS. So that means that there's room for negotiations.

I haven't gotten a draft of this agreement yet, but I wanted to draw on people's experience and ask: What's important to put in, and to leave out, from such an agreement? Are there particular issues I should keep an eye for to not get "burned" by understanding things one way and the company understanding them another way?

Notes:

The field is applied computer science.
It's a US company, operating in Texas but registered in Delaware.


texts:
Which one is better? Taking an Exam with no preparation done beforehand or Skipping it altogether?

I have done the former (i.e take tests unprepared) a lot many times than the latter - so much that I have gotten sort of used to to it. I have observed that if I have insufficient time for preparing for an exam, I don't study as hard for it as I would have before adopting this practice.

My mentors are of the view that one shouldn't ever skip a test. That I'll learn more than just something at the cost of sitting through those hours of the exam.

Is this worth my current subconscious habit?Is it good to continue this if I find that the frequency of me taking half-prepared exams is increasing ?

PPS: I am talking about a Multiple Choice based exam with Negative marking present in it.These are sort of Practice tests for the main exam.

PS: This is NOT a debate or discussion. I Genuinely want to know which is better for improvement in academics.


texts: I am going to meet a potential supervisor for honours project in 1 week. Its first of a kind meeting for me. I would appreciate any advice on what to expect, would it be a formal or informal meeting and how I should prepare for it.? I am new to this forum, so sorry if this is a repetitive question.


texts: Matriculating as master's student just for credits, with the intention of dropping after a year

texts:
This is an unusual situation where I want to take classes and receive credit for my transcript at a particular university but I am not currently a student there.

At some point in the next few years I will applying for a program that I actually do plan to complete, either PhD or master's, but not until taking more classes at this university.

What are the considerations I should be aware of if I were to apply, be accepted, matriculate, etc and drop after an academic year, i.e. two semesters? I assume that if anything this would make it more difficult, from an 'ethical' standpoint, to be admitted to a program in the future if I were to explain my reasoning for having dropped out, but I'm not sure if it would be that important.

In particular, it will be clear that I matriculated and dropped in order to preserve continuity with my previous studies (just completed). i.e., it will be obvious to a program that I apply to in the future that I do not intend to matriculate and drop again as I would do here.

To clarify, I would not be transferring to another school, but dropping out entirely and recommencing my degree from scratch at another time, likely at least a year after dropping, but with the additional courses in my transcript.

EDIT:
I should also clarify that this university does not offer a 'non-degree' program so that is not an option.


texts: Been asked to peer review, unsure as to qualifications?

texts:
I have been asked to peer review a paper related to my field of expertise. My educational level is MSc, however I am published. I am referred to as Doctor throughout the request email even though when published, this is not how I refer to myself by any means. This has occurred before and I responded that whilst I would be willing to peer review, I was not a PhD, however they asked me to do it regardless (a different journal than the current requesting journal). I am willing to peer review again and am extremely thorough and capable of doing so, however I don’t think you could call me an expert in terms of years and years of papers and academia. I am not sure how to respond. Firstly how was I chosen, was it random or specific enough; it’s a wide field and even when honest about qualifications I was asked to go ahead. Anyone have any thoughts?

Just to add this is a journal under the same umbrella group that I previously reviewed for and one in all likelihood I will submit to myself in the future. Would refusing a request for per review then go against me?


texts:
My PhD supervisor and I didn't really see eye-to-eye on a lot of thing but I had thought we got along well anyways. I have graduated and have decided that academia isn't for me and I want to go into the private sector. I am having a very hard time finding a job, and I am not being picky. I am applying to industry scientist jobs and also for positions like sales reps or administrative roles. The truth is I am desperate.

Although I don't get many interviews one of the places I got far along with checked my references and said my PhD supervisor said she couldn't recommend me for the position, as I had problems with communications skills. It may be true that I am awkward, but I don't think that I am that bad. I also have my MSc supervisor as a reference and another professor in my department that worked on a group project. Now I have asked my department head to be a reference as he was also on my committee. Each of these people seemed happy to be a reference but so did my supervisor.

Is it a red flag that I don't list my supervisor? I can try to talk to her but I don't know what to say. I feel like my life is falling apart, I have to get my parent's help to pay rent and I'm worried my girlfriend will break up with me as it has been causing a lot of stress.

What can I do?


texts: Is it common for higher education institutions to offer sabbatical periods for administrative / support staff?

texts:
Occurred to me that some office-based private for-profit companies offer the opportunity of sabbatical periods to their staff.

Do most higher education institutions offer sabbatical periods for administrative / support staff?

Is the concept of sabbatical for support staff as well as for academic staff featured in your institution's HR policies as a matter of course ?

So here sabbatical is not about period off teaching and service duties for academic staff to focus 100% on research.

Sabbatical period would mean paid leave from one's usual role to achieve something different, like creating a business, or developing something innovative, to pursue one's creative talent.


texts:
In the past (historically), A+ was a bonus in transcript and had an effect on the cumulative GPA too, but it is no common these days (at least I do not see around). If some universities/colleges use A+ in the transcript, but it is equally considered as an A in calculating the GPA.

Is A+ obsolete in the US universities/colleges? or because they use it for rare occasions, we do not normally see it?

In other words, are there still universities using A+, and equaling it to 4.3 in calculating the GPA?


texts: Lazy/Busy Professor does not give me my confirmation

texts:
I have done a short summer research internship at a department of a famous University in Europe. Unfortunately, this was last summer and I reminded my professor several times now to give me some sort of written confirmation that I actually stayed at his department.(3 times per E-Mail and one time, when I left him). He always said that he will do it, but he always pointed out that he is very busy currently.

Do you think this sounds true? I mean, it has been half a year now and apparently there is not much to do about it instead of just waiting or is there? I also just asked for a few lines, not a confirmation letter of anything similar and I also told him that I would need this for my home university(Which was true)- but he did not really react upon that.

I do not want to pressure him by being more "rude" in my mails, this is not the way I deal with such situation, but I think his behaviour is very annoying and I want this piece of paper now.

How would you deal with that?


texts: Why does the UK produce so many research papers?

texts:
I was taking a look at Scimago Journal & Country Rank.

Is there any specific reason why UK produces way more research paper than that of Germany and Japan?

Note. kindly, don't bring up futile arguments like population doesn't really matter in case of research paper publication (e.g. India), etc.


texts: Does deferring admissions to PhD affect future (post-PhD) career path?

texts:
I'm currently in my final year of undergraduate study, and will be applying to physics PhD programs (for condensed matter theory) soon. Without going into details, I am convinced that deferring my admission for a year, i.e. taking a "gap year", would be beneficial for me personally, and it is my understanding that most schools permit a one-year deferral. I would most likely work in the tech industry for this time.

I am not worried about my physics/math abilities atrophying; I plan on actively keeping up with my studies independently during this time.

Assuming I am permitted to defer for a year, are there any negative perceptions related to time off before graduate school that might affect my future academic career, after the PhD?

Will some people in the community look down on me for taking time away from academia, or is this considered a fine thing to do? Could this hinder me in the future when applying for postdocs (both the year away from academia and the fact that I am probably finishing my PhD a year later than I otherwise would)?

I am asking about the general perception of a gap year as it pertains to and affects a career path, not about how a gap year impacts a PhD application (which is addressed in this question).


texts: Do people with masters degrees have an advantage over undergrads in PhD admissions?

texts: The pool of applicants for a PhD program consists of people applying straight after undergrad, and also people who have done masters programs. Do students with masters degrees have an edge over undergrads in the process? Do admissions officers judge undergrads and masters students differently? If undergraduate students have taken graduate-level courses (but perhaps not as many as a masters student has), where does that put them in comparison?


texts: Help me understand plagiarism concerning computer programming

texts:
My question revolves around "understanding of plagiarism concepts in and around the gray area of academic programming"

Suppose there is an assignment "A" which asks for a distributed application , say from .net . There are at max "2 correct solutions" for every task. so a student "A" decides to help is class-mate and the other student "understands" the solution and implement the same , Does it count as plagiarism or tutoring . Student B does NOT write in his submission that student A helped him.

Suppose student A does not know how to code in a particular "language".He deduces the logical steps required for the code (himself). he discusses these steps with a "person who is good at coding". the person tells him the libraries to use and discussions(no coding) . He does all that and takes his help for "debug" "when he got stuck" and writes in his own words but did not mention the NAME of this friend who helped him.

Is all well here?


texts: How to write a research proposal for a PhD position?

texts: I want to apply for a Ph.D. position in a group where there is only their research summary written on the homepage. An applicant should write a research proposal and if the PI likes it then they will offer a position. I have gone through their publications and tried to figure out what can be done more. This is a very big research group so the number of publications is huge too and they work on so many topics. Every time I came up with an idea I found that it's already done or other groups are working on that. Now I am wondering if I write the same thing, they might think I copied the idea when it is not the case. Also, some of the techniques I have done earlier and some never. Now while writing the proposal can I write some methods I never did? Can they ask questions like if you have never did it before how can you do it during Ph.D.?


texts: Do graduate schools care about published solutions of contest problems in Mathematical magazines?

texts:
The math club at my university spends its time solving problems from mathematical magazines (e.g. Mathematics Magazine). Let's assume I, as an undergraduate student, submit a solution to a challenge problem from such a magazine, and my solution is published. Is there any advantage to having one or more published solutions like this when applying to graduate school?

For reference, assume this is graduate school in math.


texts: Mentioning non-academic pre-PhD work on one’s website?

texts:
Does mentioning non-academic pre-PhD work on one’s website help or hurt one on the academic job market?

I’m a graduate student in political science approaching the end of my PhD and preparing to go on the job market next year.

When I began my PhD program I created a website, and in the personal section I briefly describe my pre-PhD work, which includes working for some well-known political figures in well-known organizations. At that time, I felt like my prior work was a big part of my identity and therefore included it in my bio.

I know this may be minor point, and the quality of my academic publications and dissertation is much more important than a paragraph of my website bio, but I’m asking because this could make a marginal difference when I apply for jobs.

For example (not real): Before starting graduate school, I worked for Bill Clinton as international policy advisor from 2006 to 2008. From 2008 to 2011, I worked in the office of President Barack Obama as multilateral affairs advisor.


texts: After how many years since its first issue, does a journal get its impact factor

texts: After how many years since its first issue, does a journal from a good publication get its impact factor?


texts: How to find collaborators for a research project(paper or a series of papers)?

texts: Recently, I have read new papers and seen new different approaches and the very interesting physical effects in alternatives to general relativity, and I think I see a bit of ideas for future papers, but I don't have any expertise in these approaches, I have published papers only in general relativity(from physics point of view). At my university, no one is interested in these topics(general relativity or alternatives, only on numerical simulations of hot plasma in accretion disks around black holes). I have proposed some ideas to some friends and peers and  although at first sight they seem to be very interested, after I send them the differential equations and papers to be studied everyone lost interest. The question would be how to find a collaborator interested in such a new approach that would lead to papers in good journals where I have published before?


texts: What is the meaning of signs and numbers appearing in scoring system of AAAI?

texts:
I've received the reviewer reports for a paper I submitted to AAAI (the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence).
I found their scoring method a bit confusing and I would like some help understanding their review of my work.

Each aspect is followed by a number and some plus and minus signs. For instance:

  8(+++)

Can any experienced reviewers/authors explain the meaning of these signs and the range of scores?


texts: Is it appropriate to ask a professor how my grade was calculated?

texts:
I took a graduate course (C.S) in a U.S university. We were not provided with any grading scale in the syllabus. I was assigned a letter grade but I have no idea how it was calculated. Below is an example of a grading scale from another course

If X is your overall course score, letter grades will be assigned
using the below scale. Scores will not be rounded.
100 ≥ X ≥ 93 A 93 > X ≥ 90 A- 90 > X ≥ 87 B+ 87 > X ≥ 83 B
83 > X ≥ 80 B- 80 > X ≥ 77 C+ 77 > X ≥ 73 C 73 > X ≥ 70 C-
70 > X ≥ 67 D+ 67 > X ≥ 63 D 63 > X ≥ 60 D- 60 > X ≥ 0 E

Can I ask the professor how my letter grade was calculated? if so, would something along the lines of "Could you please provide us with the grading scale used for the course or post it on Canvas?" be acceptable and non-offensive?


texts: Why do some academic journals requires a separate "summary" paragraph in addition to an abstract?

texts: At least in the field of biology, some academic journals have added a separate summary paragraph (for example: "Significance Statement" (in Journal of Neuroscience), or "Significance" (in PNAS), or "In Brief" (in Current Biology)) in recent years. Why do the publishers think an abstract is not enough?


texts: How much does having published in high IF journals as an undergrad counts in the masters admissions process?

texts: I expect to have at least 3 publications (2 as co-author and 1 as first author) at respected venues by the time I apply to grad school (Mechanical Engineering) and want to know how much can that impact positively my application to top schools (MIT, Princeton, Cornell etc).


texts: What effect does a journal having multiple ISSN codes have on reporting citations?

texts:
Recently, I submitted a paper into a general whose name also appears on the SCIE list of web of science. My paper got accepted. The journal actually has two ISSN numbers (one for print and the other for online). Only one ISSN (print) appears on the web of science list. I want to know what does it mean? Will my paper be included in print version or not? (The journal did not ask about this choice at any stage of the whole process.) If it is not included in the print version then can I write the impact factor of the journal next to the title of my article on my personal website?

I will be very thankful for clarifying my confusion.


texts: PhD: Accepted into another PhD program - should I finish the current semester in my old program?

texts:
As the title says - I've been accepted into another (better) PhD program that is far more aligned with my interests and will be a better place for my dissertation; should I finish out my current semester of doctoral coursework or just take the "W"s and be done with it (only my 3rd semester, not ABD yet)? I don't need these credits in my new program; further, finishing this semester is going to be a PAIN and will probably negatively effect my perfect GPA (it's a heavier than normal load + I got behind in applying to my new program). Will withdrawing mid-semester (I'm still within the window for properly doing so) have unforeseen consequences?

Thoughts? Advice? Public Bludgeoning?


texts: Graduate Admissions - applying math phd without outside experience

texts:
I am currently a senior in a somewhat big state school.

I am going to apply phd next semester for 2018 fall, looking forward to attend top 25.

My gpa is 3.86/4.00.
Havent took GREs, but i think I will do them just fine.

But heres the thing: Whenever I see posts from one who made it into top 25, most of them had at least one REU and had taken a few grad courses.
 None of them I have done, nor will I because next semester will be my last semester.
I am really worried that this lack of experience would make me less competitive for top 25.
How much would this lack of experience (REU or grad courses) make me less competitive for application?

One more question, actually I am going to take seminar class next semester. After first few lectures, each one of us will prepare for presentation about assigned textbook chapters. Does this class count as a research experience?
I know this question could be answered most clearly by my prof. I just want to listen your opinions.
Thanks for your comments in advance.


texts: Accepted article still not assigned a Volume or Issue number in a journal

texts:
One of my research articles has been published in one of the IEEE journals. The IEEEXplore page, the data of publication is mentioned as 29 March 2016, but the article has not yet been assigned to an issue. I enquired with the concerned people and below is the reply which I got from them.

  The Editor-in-Chief of the journal determines when a
  paper is included in an issue. You can contact him directly to find
  out when he plans to publish your paper. His contact information can
  be found on Xplore. Thank you. XXXX

Should I write to the EiC about the article or should I wait till comes?


texts: What licensing concerns are there for using content from Stack Exchange in an academic paper?

texts:
All content under Stack Exchange is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. Does this mean that any academic paper that uses content from Stack Exchange must also be licensed under said Creative Commons?

If not, what is the actual rule on this part?


texts:
I read an article recently showing research data of the average graduating GPAs for various majors. It was a discussion piece about whether or not humanities majors were more likely to have higher GPAs given the increased opportunity for professors to be subjective in grading. (Very interesting piece.)

However, I would like to know more than just the average of GPAs. For example, the percentile you would be in if you had x GPA in y major.

Does such data exist?


texts: What to do when an advisor repeatedly changes graduation requirements?

texts:
My friend is a PhD student in the "Jessica" computer science lab. Before beginning, he and Dr. Jessica came to a verbal understanding that he'd be allowed to graduate in time for a job offer scheduled to begin a few years after starting the PhD, but only if he passes his prelim and completes drafts of research papers covering all aspects of the prelim. No written records of Dr. Jessica's agreement exist, as Dr. Jessica was careful to organize only face-to-face meetings about this.

Dr. Jessica has reneged repeatedly on her promises and keeps upping the ante for graduation -- from having manuscript drafts to submissions and now to acceptances. Meanwhile, my friend has no written record of this and doesn't know what to do despite his job's start date closing in. He is not even allowed by Dr. Jessica to bring up the topic of graduation with his committee without her consent. What, if any, recourse does my friend have?


texts: How to network with people in virtual conferences?

texts:
After the coronavirus pandemic, most conferences have switched to the virtual mode and it is most likely that this will be the norm for some time now. I understand that networking will be much harder in this setting and that is a major let down for researchers/graduate students especially the ones starting out fresh.

What do you suggest are the best ways to optimize one's experience of attending and presenting in a virtual conference? If some of you have already attended any such conferences in recent months, it would be great if you could share your experience, preferably with a little more focus on the networking aspect of it!


texts: Permissions required for using an app for a study

texts:
What kind of permissions do I need to obtain from the developer of an app if I am planning to use it in a study?
The study primarily aims to look at how different students learn mobile games differently, and what factors determines their score.

Since it is relevant to the study, we would also have to analyse the game itself, quantify how the difficulty evolves over time, and what amount of randomness is involved in each gameplay (to get somehing like a stochastic index).

So, in case this ever goes to publication, would mentioning the app-name be necessary, since its characterisation would already be a part of it?
Do we need to obtain permission before even using it, since it is already a free app in the play store? Doesn't its free status give us permission to use it in a study (at least an unpublished one)?

There are no commercial interests in either of the cases. I am not sure if it is okay to mention the name here too. Sorry if I seem to be over-thinking but I am new to the world of academia! Any guidance is appreciated. (Unsure of the tags too)


texts: When should I get business cards and how much do they actually matter as a graduate student who has not yet built up their CV?

texts:
Context: I am a graduate student within the social sciences, who will be obtaining their Master's degree on their way to Ph.D. (hopefully by the end of this academic year). Though I have not yet published to any peer-reviewed journals, the work I do this year will likely be the foundation for my first publications and I will be attending conferences soon. That being said, I have had my fair share of networking at conferences (outside of my field) and been given business cards, but very rarely have I ever seen a business card from someone in my own field! My program encourages many strategies that will help fellow scholars find me online to contact me, but regarding business cards, I have been given various answers. Most of my mentors seem to think that surely business cards are important, however, it seems that they only become imperative after I have started to publish my research, i.e. give people a reason to need my business card.

As of now, passing out my card at a conference would only serve to introduce my research interests.. which have not yet been conducted and it will take 1-2+ years before I am out in the field, producing this research. Moreover, the conferences I attend within the next 1-2 years are geared towards introducing graduate students to panels and whatnot, and it is unlikely that their research interests will substantially align with my own. Even more perplexing - I have met students in my field that are far more experienced than myself but are not concerned with business cards whatsoever at this early stage of their career, but I have also met students with my same level of expertise who hand out their card often.

Provided this information, when should I start seriously considering business cards? To what extent would my business card matter to you personally, and if it does not matter much because I am so early on in my career, at one point do you suggest taking business cards more seriously? As of now, my business card would likely list my occupation as "graduate student" or "teaching fellow," which do not seem substantial enough to purchase cards in bulk.. especially when my occupation will change, as I progress in my program. Any and all advice is welcome, as well as personal anecdotes regarding one's experience with the timing of obtaining their own business cards!

Thank you!!


texts: Academic Statement of Purpose vs NSF Personal Statement

texts:
Beyond the obvious, that the NSF Fellowship Personal Statement is "Why am I good for the NSF," and the Academic Statement of Purpose on a graduate school application is "Why grad school and why  grad school?", how different or similar are the two essays?

Having already written an NSF Fellowship application, I'm now in the process of writing my Academic Statement of Purpose for grad school applications, and I'm trying to figure out how similar these statements are going to end up being.


texts: Changing the title of a research paper before the submission of the camera-ready version

texts: My research paper has been accepted for the IEEE ICCSE conference. I am planning to change the title of the research paper before the submission of the camera-ready version. This would be a slight modification which will not affect the context of my research. Would it be possible to do so? Is it okay if I request to change the title of my paper?


texts: Display of Publications for Personal Website

texts:
I've seen a number of sites and web controls for presenting a list of papers (e.g., in BibTex format) on one's personal website.  Some sites also allow you to manage your citation list, then link to a list of publications.  I was wondering about people's experiences with these different tools and the pros/cons.  While I've historically just manually dumped my refs in HTML format for my site, I'm looking to use something a bit more elegant and maintable these days.

Ideally, I would like it to have the following characteristics:

Easy to add/edit papers (e.g., generate from BibTex, Mendeley, online storage, etc.)
Splitting papers into groups (e.g., journal papers, conference papers, etc.)
Decent fallback display for users with JS disabled.  Ideally, no change at all.
Papers sortable by year
Can specify links or upload pre-print PDF's that users can download

Does anyone know how well existing solutions stack up on these?


texts: Including a joke in an otherwise correct exam answer as the student

texts:
I just read Ethics of awarding points for hilariously bad answers, and it reminded me of my Senior History exam in high school. I was confident in my knowledge and noticed that I had a lot of time left for the second half of the exam (the part where we were allowed to use our historical atlas), so during this second half, I often included a short joke comment between parentheses after the otherwise correct answer. For example, one of the questions I remember asked something about one of the European invasions of WW2, and after the answer itself, I joked about how it wasn't the first time they were conquered and listed a couple of other times they were conquered, like by the Greek, the Romans and a couple other groups I can't quite remember. I think I gave about half a dozen or a dozen jokes like that after relevant, for no other reason or justification other than because I felt like it.
My teacher afterwards told me she found it quite funny to grade my exam, though I cannot really remember anymore whether she adjusted my grades because of them. I don't think she detracted any points and while I can't remember for sure, I think she added a couple percentage points because I showed knowledge of the subject matter beyond what was required. Again, I just did it because I felt like it, though I'm uncertain whether I was influenced by remarks from a substitute teacher that they liked to laugh at absurdly bad exam answers in the teacher's lounge (again, high school, and in a special education school at that).
Now, obviously I didn't do this with the intent of getting a better score or something like that. I just did it because I felt like it, autistic brains are weird like that. But I'm wondering: Assuming an answer that's correct as far as you know, could it be a problem as a student to add a relevant joke to an otherwise correct answer? Could it impact the immediate and/or long term evolution of my grades, education and professional/academic life beyond just this exam, whether negatively or positively?


texts: What GRE verbal score is needed for a non-native English speaker to get into math or applied math PhD programs in the USA?

texts:
I am an international student whose native language is not English. I am planning to apply for a Phd program in math or applied math in US in the future and general GRE test is a requirement.

From most posts here, I know I should put more attention in related research experience and GRE test only matters when it's low. But I am wondering what it means exactly. I know most universities have a minimum score for TOEFL speaking session but didn't find any information about GRE general test.

My classmates told me that based on previous record, in order to get admitted by a top program (top10 or 20), both verbal (V) and quantitative (Q) can't be bad. For Q I should aim at 140 but they are not sure about V. I also checked some forums such as mathgre. I found a lot of local applicants got verbal score higher than 135. To achieve that, I must put a lot of effort which will reduce my time about research significantly.

Hence I want to know what kind of gre general score is acceptable for international applicants who plan to apply for top theoretical phd programs? Based on my understanding, most programs usually higher GRE subject score for international students, will you usually have different language requirements for local/international students (except toefl) when you review the application materials?


texts: Convince my supervisor for me to switch my research field to his major area halfway in my PhD

texts:
I am going to finish the 2nd year of my PhD and have been working in a field which is not the major research area of my PI. He promised there will be industrial involvement and collaboration with other professors so I agreed to work on this field, thought I have only a little bit background in the area. However all of these promises have just not been fulfilled (I did try to find collaborators myself as well). As nobody in my group is working in this field and my PI is not particularly knowledgeable about it, I feel isolated and helpless. Meanwhile, I am attracted to a field in which my PI is an expert, and several of my colleagues actively work on it.

I have mentioned this problem to my PI and he agreed I can get trained about the field which I am interested in, while continuing to work on the field I originally worked on. Recently I have found my 2-year results within my original field of study are invalid, and there are fundamental errors in it.

After learning the new field in which my group is much more active and becoming knowledgeable on it, I really feel passionate and motivated about this. It is a more difficult field but I am determined to spend time on it. As I am halfway into my PhD, how should I convince my supervisor that I should switch my research field to an area in which our group is more active and knowledgeable, while abandoning my initial field completely? I am not trying to avoid solving the problem I faced in my initial field and would not like my PI to feel that is the case. I just think working on my initial field here in my group is pointless as nobody is knowledgeable on it, nobody knows what I am doing so nobody is able to give me genuine comments, and most importantly, I am not enthusiastic about it. However I know my supervisor would like to develop this field as it is more commercially viable. I need to admit I am not genius in this field and can't just work on my own without any proper supervision.

Any opinion is welcome.

PS: I would not like to change my supervisor. This would be the last resort.


texts: How to write the Graduate Coordinator regarding admission

texts:
I have received an admission offer* from a US University for PhD program with full tuition waiver plus a TA offer. The deadline of accepting the offer  is April 15. Graduate coordinator  wrote me that

  Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or
  concerns. We are looking forward to your response.

I have applied few other universities too and have not received their decisions. How to write the coordinator in a best way that, I'm very  much interested but I would like to notify them (acceptance or declining) regarding admission offer around the middle of March?  Will they take my view in a negative way?

*The official certificate of admission will come from the university, after all official transcripts and other necessary documents and test scores are received; until then, this offer is considered  unofficial. You will be contacted by the university with a request for documents and for other details, but in the meantime here are the specifics of this offer.
Students who are offered a graduate assistantship are required to accept or decline by April 15, 2016. This common deadline is based on an agreement of all institutions that are  members of the Council of Graduate Schools, as described in the April 15 Resolution, a copy of which can be obtained from http://www.cgsnet.org/april-15-resolution.


texts: Letter of Recommendation Etiquette: Asking Only for Certain Schools

texts: I have looked around at some of the questions regarding letters of recommendation and can't seem to find one specific to my situation. I am currently applying to graduate school in math, and some of the schools I am applying to require 3 letters of recommendation, while others ask for more. Is it considered rude to ask a professor for letters to the schools which ask for more recommendations and not for others? I don't want it to seem as if he was my `fourth choice' so to say. If not, what is the best way to phrase this to the writer? Thanks!


texts: Why don’t some PhD students publish their thesis works in a journal?

texts:
I want to know why some PhD students don't publish their works in a journal.
For example, I have seen many good, high level German theses which were written around 1970-90, but were not published in any journal.


texts: How can I make sure that the words I write are my own?

texts: Well, I don't know how to confirm to myself that the words which I'm writing are my own words. Now, maybe those words are based on what I have read recently because if not there won't be anything to say. Should I for example just comment in what other researchers say which I'm paraphrasing what they wrote or can I also write as if I was talking (words which are based on what I have read)?


texts: Is it possible to be admitted to graduate programs in subjects one minored in in undergraduate?

texts:
I'm currently studying electrical engineering and considering on getting both a physics and math minor. I'm wondering though, is it possible to get a Ph.D. or a Master's degree in Physics or Math when I only have the minor and not a real degree?

Is it likely at all to be admitted into a graduate study with only a minor? I'm wondering because I don't know whether or not the minor is actually worth it if I won't be able to pursue a graduate degree later on with my credentials.

For reference, a math minor at my school typically means 3 extra upper-level math courses (300-400 level), and only 2 more physics courses (one in waves + light + thermodynamics; the other which samples different fields of modern physics, all required for the degree program)


texts: Can students apply for Research Grants (US)?

texts:
I know you can apply for fellowships for individual students, but I'm not talking about funding only for one's self. Let's say I noticed a grant that was solicited on grants.gov and I wanted to apply for it. Can I do that?
The nature of these grants is to supply the awardee with funding for experimental set-ups, student funding (undergrad/grad), and other various research supplies.

& As a follow up question, is it possible to apply, if your PI is applying for this funding as well. Basically, could I send in a proposal and my PI could as well? Are there some restrictions here? I've read through the solicitation's eligibility and couldn't find anything about multiple names being on different proposals, or if we were to apply separately, then having the funding go to the same group under different names.
Just curious if anyone knew.
I'll write back, if I find more info.


texts: I recently enrolled in masters in AI after doing my bachelor in CS, I'm overwhelmed how to start research

texts:
So as someone who started  aiming for PhD and enrolled in masters , I'm really confused with how someone could move in the AI/ML research domain... I see outstanding papers published round the clock and it really makes me feel how anything I would do would even match the lowest standard worthy of publishing, not to mention the single biggest problem I don't have a problem in hand.
It increasingly looks like to me that I'll publish a review paper instead because I feel I'm decent enough in doing literature review (which really helped me with previous publications), but it feels like a shortcut, that I am not doing actual research and I am nowhere good to warrant a publishing.
PS I had some experience of publishing papers in my bachelor and know the general process followed in the academic writing, but these were often papers I really think were not worthy enough to be published. They had stemmed out of mostly the project I was involved in undergraduate.


texts: Grad school admissions - I am going to apply to both Physical therapy and Occupational therapy masters - need advice

texts:
I have a 3.1 gpa from UW Madison with a BA.  I did go to two schools before this. I did really terribly at the first school as I was depressed. I came away from that first school with a 1.3 gpa.  This first school was 19 years ago - literally 19 years ago.

The school says I need to input all of my transcripts.  Could i get away with not inputting my transcripts from that first school? Is the process of sorting the transcripts really meticulous?  would i get caught?

I actually applied and got into an accounting masters program without inputting all my transcripts before(never finished the program)... But these OT and PT programs are really competitive and I'm more worried they go over the transcripts with a fine tooth comb... any one with experience in college masters admissions - advice?


texts: Writing ads to attract female PhD candidates

texts:
As a researcher in computing science in Western Europe, I get depressed seeing the number of female students in our department. (Hint: near-zero.)

I recently heard that certain words in a PhD candidate ad seem to "scare" female applicants off, for example, "excellent", "commitment", etc. (I got my information from our anti-discrimination representative and a female researcher. I did not check the information myself. The latter claims having spoken to students herself. I agree that the ad is not the only problem with skewed gender distribution, but if this contributes to the problem then I definitely want to eliminate it.)

Is there a list of DOs and DONTs when writing ads to ensure that female students are encouraged to apply?


texts: How should a student with no research background write a research proposal?

texts:
I am applying for Master's degree and I am being asked to make a research proposal. I am having some trouble with this since I don't have any research experience at all. The University I attended was a "No Thesis" University and there are no advisors for research there.

I have thought about wanting to do my research about Multiculturalism in Japan: how it is denied, how they say they are a homogeneous society and how this affects international minorities living there.

However... that's as far as I have gotten, I don't know how to continue.


texts:
I am considering buying an e-reader and my friend lent me a Kobo to have a go (and buy if I liked it), but I found I could not highlight PDFs.  Clearly that is useless to me. I see Mendeley has a Kindle sync. Does anyone have experience with this?

I wonder if I am better off with a tablet despite the eyestrain.


texts: Should I tell a PhD student's supervisor about a lack of understanding and somewhat ethically dubious conduct?

texts:
Background to the question:

A PhD student who I worked with during my masters' recently sent me a coauthorship statement for a paper I published whilst I was a member of that group. We started in that group at the same time - he as a PhD, me as a masters' student, and he is now coming to the end of his project. The statement claimed he had a leading role in the project (he didn't) and claimed that he contributed significantly to the manuscript (this is somewhat arguable, but he certainly wrote some of it). I signed the document because I assumed that this was just some formality that he needed to graduate, and I wasn't prepared to cause a fuss over the wording in a document that I didn't view as important. Plus, the form has my former supervisor's signature so he presumably agrees with what was said.

However, now it turns out that he needed this agreement because he wants to write a chapter about my work in his thesis. Furthermore, he is asking me questions about the paper that are extremely basic. I don't want to come across like I am exaggerating, but the questions he is asking me are the sort of questions that are covered in first-year undergraduate chemistry courses - not the sort of thing that should be being asked by a PhD student about to graduate.

Actual Question:

The questions he has asked show such a lack of understanding of the topic that I really do not see how he can possibly put this in his thesis - let alone write a thesis on this topic. However, I am thinking that I should tell his supervisor about the things he's asked me. Given this, what would people advise?


texts: Publishing to arxiv after submitting to conference while paper is under review

texts:
The conference policy states that they accept submissions that have previously been posted on arXiv. However, there are no clear rules specified if the paper can be submitted to arxiv after the submission to the conference has been made. Can the paper be submitted to arxiv while it is under review at the conference?

The rule is stated as below:

  Submission is permitted for papers that are available as a technical report (or similar, e.g., in arXiv). In this case we suggest the authors not cite the report, so as to preserve anonymity.


texts: How to deal with a student who insists on getting a higher grade?

texts:
Student presentations were a part of my grading policy in one of my classes. I had a student who tried hard to get a higher grade in the class. But after his poor presentation, he persistently asked me to give him full credit on his presentation. I told him that his presentation was not good enough to get full credit. But he has persisted and persisted in asking for full credit.

The student told me that this is what he does in all of his classes. How should I deal with this behavior? He does not deserve the full credit he says he needs.


texts: Review process for comments on an article

texts:
Recently I have submitted comments on a article to Elsevier journal. These comments include rectification and proper implementation of certain technique. The editor of journal told me that, they will first send my comments to author of article for response and after that my comments will be sent for review.

  Now my query is, why and for what purpose they are seeking response from author of paper ? Although I have no problem with that but I am curious to know,  how that author would responds to my comments on his/her paper ?

PS. I have checked similar question here but I find this question not so useful.


texts: What do the anglo-saxons use as "soggettario"?

texts:
A soggettario (in Italian) is simply a list of subject headings: it's a kind of thesaurus, used both as manual/tool for cataloguing and for browsing subjects and finding all books in a certain subject within the catalogue.

For instance the LCSH or the Nuovo soggettario. I can search a topic, browse the hierarchy and end up in the OPAC listing the titles.

So, does this whole thing have a single name in English? Do you use it?


texts: Whether to seek correction after my paper is published when the order of my first, middle, and last names is incorrect?

texts: My article has just been published in a reputable journal. I discovered that my name is in Last, Middle, First order e.g Bagud, F.M instead of Bagud, M.F which doesn't go with APA style. Do I need to raise a corrigendum or should leave it? Actually, the name was written as Bagud, Meas Ford and the copy editor asked me to identify the surname among the three in which i chose Bagud. Thereafter, my name appeared as Ford Meas Bagud (Bagud, F.M) in the published article.


texts:
If I were to apply to a Ph.D. program for mathematics and in the application mentioned that my intended field of study would be something in algebra, would the admissions committee be interested in a paper on graph theory that I wrote and gave a talk about at an AMS conference for undergraduate research?

I think I did some good work (for an undergraduate), but I don't know if application reviewers would value work in graph theory for somebody looking to go into an algebra related field. If it matters at all, the paper was on various forms of dominating sets.


texts: Reapplying for a PhD position at another institute after failing the qualifying exam

texts:
It's embarassing, I failed my quals (in PhD ECE). The school is going to give me a terminal masters (w.o. thesis). My gpa is also not that stellar (3.4+), from a mediocre school. But I have a strong will to do a PhD (I enjoy doing research).

My supervisor (along with other co-authors) are supportive in the sense that they are willing to write good letters (i.e. I have a quite decent publication record). So, I am planning to apply this year, my specific queries are --

Is it really worth a shot? as I have a "bad record" now (although my transcript will not convey such information, but I am not willing to hide it either)
If no.1 is "yes", then how should I justify this to the adcom ? For example, explaining my financial and family problems that I faced during my last years (probably in the SOP)?
Is it possible to go to a better school/lab compared to my current one ?

Some particulars:

I am an international grad student in the US.
I have a 3.8+ undergrad score from south-east asia (used to be a class topper, if that helps)
My GRE was also decent.


texts:
Due to covid, I had to extend my current postdoc contract till mid of next year. My postdoc albeit with my PhD supervisor, is on different topics and in collaboration with other groups. My advisor offered me to extend it till end of the next year too.
I am starting to search for other positions in my current country of residence and also other places. But, I am starting to feel comfortable here which is killing the drive to move to new country/place.
I am single, and want to try for academia (tenure track positions) in my home country in a year. But it seems, my motivation has shifted since I graduated my PhD in February 2020. I am two mind about what I actually want to do.
How do I come out of this comfort zone and make rational choices? I am probably digging my own career grave here. I want to stay in academia but I also don't want to leave my current position this or till mid of next year. And I know that doing a postdoc with PhD supervisor is looked down upon in academia. So, I am already in a bad place career wise.


texts: What is the average teaching load for tenure faculty in mathematics?

texts:
I am interested in Math, specifically pure Math, in the USA. I will be on the job market soon for a tenure track position and mathjobs ads usually do not specify the teaching load.

What is the average teaching load of tenured faculty (in pure math say) at a research university? (and let's say we are talking about faculty members who are still very much research active)

I've met faculty who teaches 1+1 (or even 0+0...), 2+1 or even 2+2. But I don't have a good general picture of how much teaching is done (partly because I haven't studied in the US).


texts: Should patents be included in review articles?

texts: If so, then how should one reproduce the patented drawings in the review articles without any copyright (IPR) violation ??


texts: What do I do if a teacher fails me after they said I'd pass?

texts:
I just failed a university-level course that the instructor assured me I was passing.  We've discussed my grade in emails but we continue to disagree on how it should be calculated and even on what assignments should count. (The instructor did not adhere to the grading policy in her syllabus - this is a passing/fail issue.)

I have proof that I did enough to pass.  Grades are in and the school is out for the holiday break, but I feel like I need to do something before this becomes permanent.  What should I do?  As a student, how do I challenge a grade I think is unfair if can't resolve it with my instructor?


texts: Review or research paper for junior undergraduate students

texts:
I am a junior (year-1) UG student, I have noticed that there are 2 different types of papers / publications, research and review papers. I would like to ask as a total beginner in reading papers, if I am interested in a particular topic (for me it is organic chemistry, biochemistry and cell biology), which type of papers is better, as to understand deeper into the topic and the general paragraph structure and uses of words in a formal paper?
Thanks.


texts: Should I provide my current phd transcript to new application of phd program?

texts:
I was not able to finish my Phd in the US (due to toxic prof relationship) so I am applying to new phd program at another university in different country (my home country). Should I include my phd transcript or will it hinder my chances into getting to the new phd program?
I do have a master degree completed.


texts:
Master studies start per semester, and in some places PhD studies do, too.
What about post-docs or other positions that do not heavily rely on teaching?
Does the time of year make any difference for openings?


texts: How do I check the ranking of an engineering conference, and determine whether presenting there will be useful for my CV?

texts:
I am a final year student of engineering. I have submitted a paper for presentation at IEEE Power and Energy Conference 2016 - Illinois USA to be held on 19th and 20th February 2016.

The paper has been accepted and I am excited about the same. I am in the planning stage of going and presenting the paper at conference. My departments HOD and most of my teachers are supportive and have encouraged me to attend the conference.

One of my seniors has however commented that I must check the ranking of conference before deciding to attend.

How do I check the conference ranking?? If I find that the conference is not ranked how does it affect the importance of presenting at IEEE conference and addition to my CV.

I am planning for a career in research and in the process have applied to some US universities for PhD. Will this addition to my CV be useful??

Awaiting a reply before proceeding to book tickets and apply for visa.


texts: What is the difference between a "research plan" and a "research proposal"?

texts:
Online sources often use "research plan" and "research proposal" interchangeably.

Two months after getting accepted into a PhD program, I was asked to do a research plan.  Is this the same as doing a research proposal?


texts: Phd admissions with strange academic record and multiple schools?

texts:
I am an undergraduate in my fourth and final year of getting a bachelor's degree. Next year I am thinking about applying to Phd programs in math (in any case I want to take a year between undergrad and grad school). However, I have a very questionable academic record in some respects.

My first year of college, I attended a liberal arts college known for its academic excellence. I did reasonably well the first semester, but the second semester I began to fall into a hole of depression and anxiety brought on what I will call a collision of being overwhelmed with coursework that I had never really been challenged by before and untreated brain stuff. I stopped going to class, stopped getting out of bed, and eventually ended up failing all of my classes that semester (like F fail).

I went back home and went to community college for the next year, and I got on medication for my brain stuff which, and this is not true in general but was and is true for me, was essentially a silver bullet that cured everything that was wrong with me and also unlocked a level of academic focus and ambition that I had literally never had before.

I was able to transfer to a state research university after one year of community college, and that is where I am now. I have a pretty/very good GPA, I have taken a lot of classes in the past two years because I keep on getting excited about things and I am on a very limited schedule (I have taken ~2 times the normal course load per quarter over the last few quarters). I have developed good relationships with faculty and have taken a couple of graduate classes, and I have taken or am taking pretty much the entire pure math undergraduate curriculum with more classes then required for the major. I haven't been able to take grad classes in math because I only have 2 years here though- the ones I have taken were in applied math and CS. I have the expectation that my GRE scores will be good enough, as I have taken a few practice tests and I am generally good at standardized testing.

Now to my actual question: how disqualifying is my first year of college, and do any of you have any suggestions as to how I would explain what happened, or even if I should attempt to explain?

I am willing to bite the bullet, but I will also say that I tend not to talk about that time in my life, or even really think about it. I am not the type of gal to dwell, and I thinking back to it is rather psychically painful. I have actually not mentioned the fact that I even went to the aforementioned liberal arts college to anyone at my current university as I have no interest in explicating the circumstances surrounding my exit from it. That is not to say that I feel that I am in danger of falling back into the same hole, just that I do not like to be reminded of my worst moments.

Thanks!


texts: What can one do when emails to the editor go unanswered?

texts: I submitted a research article to a reputable mathematics journal in May 2014. The status of my article is still "under review." I have contacted the editor at least three times regarding the delay but have not gotten a reply to any of my mails. Under such circumstances, what can I do? It's really very troublesome and painful for me to bear this.


texts: Should I cite Papers to acknowledge usage of tools?

texts:
I've found that a few tools uses in scientific research, request that if you use them,
you add the paper they were discussed in to your bibliography.

For example:

Theano requests you cite: "“Theano: A CPU and GPU Math Expression Compiler”
Scipy requests that you cite it as a misc reference.

Is this common?
Is it reasonable to cite a paper (in Theano's) case, that I have never read, because I have used the tool?
Is it ethical?


texts: How to deal with lab meetings with a difficult advisor while being depressed?

texts:
This is the third installment of the series (click here for part two: What can I do if my advisor wants me to keep working, even while I'm on medical leave for severe depression?)

I'll try to make it short: I will have a lab meeting with my advisor and my colleagues in a couple weeks to show my preliminary results. However, I was on sick leave for a long time and I didn't do half of the work that I should have done (I have little data). My advisor is known to say "mean things" when we don't fulfill his expectations at those meetings.

I think I'm going to be humiliated in front of the entire lab. I don't want to make excuses about my poorly made work, but I was sick and I am still very very sick. I thought about changing advisors because of the previous incidents, but I didn't have time for that. Sometimes I feel I've lost the will to live.

EDIT

If my advisor starts being rude and agressive towards me at the lab meeting, how should I respond?


texts: Can free plagiarism tools cause plagiarism false positives when students upload content checked with free tools to the Turnitin?

texts: As a lecturer I have advised many students to use a free plagiarism checker tool and get verified your work is plagiarism free, when they don't have access to a widely-used paid tool like Turnitin. I encountered a questionable issue related to this in a discussion today. My question relates with below scenario. When students do not have access to Turnitin, they can use any free plagiarism tool. Then they upload as small document or(below 1000 word document) they copy and paste the text and check for plagiarism using any free plagiarism checker. (I do not mention names here, most of the free versions allow only 1000 words.) When students upload their whole document to the university portal(UK universities Canvas or Blackboard ) automatically it will check with Turnitin, if the portal is supporting Turnitin access for student uploads. In this type of a scenario, will it be shown as plagiarised work or not genuine work as part of the document or whole document of student has been uploaded in free tools. (if the free plagiarism tool has stored (I do not know whether the free tools are capable of that or not.) this work just like the way Turnitin works with student repository). Can it happen? (The scenario I mentioned above)


texts: I'm currently doing a reading project under a PhD student.  It's a fairly advanced topic that isn't taught at the undergraduate level. (For more context the project will be on the basics of "The General Theory of Relativity" which is usually a first or second semester subject in masters) We're doing a series of lectures + problems. If I mentioned this in my CV/SoP/interview will an admissions committee view this in a positive light? Will this be a good addition to my CV?


texts: Should I mention professors in a Masters application?

texts:
I am wondering if I am supposed to mention in my statement of purpose/research objective/reason for the masters program that I like the research of Prof X.

Lets assume for example a Master in Computational Science Engineering. The area is relatively specific: stochastic, machine learning and a bit of other stuff. Should I still mention a professor and his work, or does it not matter at all for the application?

However, if I would apply for a "regular" masters program where I have to choose a department that I prefer, should I mention a professor and some of his work in this case?


texts: Estimate of travel expenses for a Colloquium abroad - what does this include?

texts:
This summer I will (hopefully) be attending the Logic Colloquium 2015, as a Ph.D student in Logic. The organizers will make available Travel Awards for grad students, and I would like to apply. One of the requirements is an estimate of my travel expenses.

My question is: what does "travel expenses" usually include in this situation? I imagine airplane tickets and accommodation expenses are included. What else could reasonably be included in my estimate?

Thank you.


texts: What to do if assignment is against student's religion?

texts:
What is the proper course of action if while teaching an undergraduate or even secondary school course an assignment violates the religious beliefs of a student?
For a more concrete example of where this might happen, let us consider an art class with a Muslim student (Disclamer: I am not an adherent to, or scholar of, Islam; please forgive me for any misunderstandings this post might contain):
Within Islam it is considered haram (forbidden by God) [1] to produce images of non-plant living creatures (including humans), this is called tasweer.[2]
Now if I were to assign a portrait of a person to the class as an assignment, what would be the most ethical option, should a student raise a concern to me about this? Would it be appropriate to assign an alternate assignment?

[1]: Similar to a christian sin, but with a stronger connotation from what I can tell; literally: taboo.
[2]: I believe this is from a hadith, but one that is deemed to be the most accurate/reliable.


texts:
Recently, I have been interviewed for swedish phd and I have gone through several skype interviews and  writing task. They have send me an email that I am a strong candidate. Now they are asking for visit the university for couple of days and see the laboratories.
Since I am a foriegn national, they will paid all my travel expenses and etc. I am wonder why they are doing this? Have they intrested in offering phd for me?

Anyone have same experience?


texts: How good is the Google Scholar search Engine?

texts:
I've been using Google Scholar search engine for a while in order to find scientific articles for my master thesis, but I've come to notice that the search algorithm is not as good as the real google search engine.

I feel that Scholar requires quite specific search terms in order to find the right articles. Does anybody share my experience and is it true that the Google Scholar search engine is worse at searching than the main Google Engine?


texts: Is it possible for an editor to review the paper directly without inviting another reviewer if the editor feels familiar with the content studied in the paper?


texts:
This is my first time that I am asked to evaluate a master thesis. I  would appreciate if some one  can give me some tips in this manner:

Should the thesis contains any new results (NEW = Something that has not been done before).

How thoroughly should the literature review be?

what dificulty level should I consider while asking during defense?

Thanks you in advance.


texts: Grad Application: Does a bad exchange semester matter?

texts:
My grades in my home university are good but I went to a top university in Europe for exchange during spring term in my junior year, and I did a poor job there. I took four courses at graduate level and I failed several. The courses I chose were probably too hard for me and I was not aware of that at the beginning (after all only graduate level courses there are taught in English).

I would like to know if I should submit my exchange transcript for my graduate application in the US (MS, phd/Ms)? I know some universities like Stanford only require transcripts from universities you attended for at least one year.

Another problem for me is that I have only one hardcopy official transcript from the university I went for exchange, and it is not likely that I will send it out for application purpose. Of course I mentioned this experience in my CV and SoP.


texts: Potential PhD supervisor replied short but expressed interest, what to do next?

texts:
I wrote a relatively long email to a potential supervisor and they answered quite short, saying that they are delighted to hear of my interest in the program and they would be happy to work with me. I do not know how generic this answer is, but can you tell me what would be the good next step? Should I ask them for a skype meeting?
Thanks!


texts: Can I be a lecturer without doing research?

texts:
This is probably a question quite opposite to the general vibe of people in academia, but oh well.

I am a UK-based PhD student and as I progress through my programme I notice more and more that my tutoring duties bring me a lot more enjoyment and fulfilment than research. Thus I started to wonder if there are ways of becoming a university lecturer without actually pursuing research.

I am observing many researchers who are, honestly, quite appalling lecturers and are quite vocal about not enjoying working with students anyway. At the same time, however, it seems that UK universities don't hire people who don't do research - at least I was unable to find any.

Most jobs I looked at involved research and, obviously, usually PhD-level jobs assume at least some level of research duties in them. At the same time I wouldn't want to be a teacher at a level lower than university, since I enjoy talking to students who chose the course more than to people who were forced to take it by the general curriculum. I was also a little bit afraid that in the academic world the job of a full-time tutor may be in the long run frowned upon, as  "They is doing everything you are and ALSO doing research!"

So I guess the tl;dr version of my question would be:
Is it possible to have a career as a full-time university lecturer in the UK without research activities?


texts: How would you, as a teacher, decide if a particular topic/ concept should be tested as multiple-choice questions or as free-response questions?

texts: This is probably a very broad question. It might be difficult to find one answer across all disciplines. If anyone could share their personal experiences on how they have designed tests and the thought process behind it, I would really appreciate it.


texts: How should I give a talk about my paper if I know it has a significant weakness?

texts:
One of my papers was accepted to a conference.  There is this one thing that everyone asks about, including more than one of the reviewers, and other people I've talked to about my work.  The answer to the question is sort of disappointing, and substantially deflates the balloon of my work.  What is the best way to approach the question when people inevitably ask about it at the conference?

I don't think my advisor wants to talk about the thing, and he doesn't want to incorporate the reviewer comments that were about the thing, either.

Edit: To clarify, the question that people ask is something that most people ask out of curiosity, and it doesn't seem like a weakness until they know the answer to the question.  I think if they knew the answer to the question, the paper might have gotten rejected.


texts: Can I write the same text in method section in two different project?

texts: I am working on two projects now and both of them have similar methods. What if I write the same text in the method part? Will it be count as plagiarism? I am almost finished working on them and both of them will be submitted in a different journal(one already accepted; under review, another one will be submitted soon)


texts: What is the explicit meaning of “corresponding author”?

texts:
Problem

This question was triggered by the comments on this discussion, but comments and answers on these
questions
confirm the existence of conflicting ideas.

There seem to be two prevalent interpretations of the word corresponding author:

The corresponding author is the one who corresponds the (unpublished) paper to the journal, i.e., who performs the technical process of submitting the paper, is available for requests on the review and publishing processes, and so on.
The corresponding author is the one who corresponds on the (published) paper with anybody who likes to do so, e.g., because they found an error or like some clarification.

What I found out so far

Until today, I was only aware of the first interpretation, which was confirmed by my experience: For all papers I submitted, I automatically became the corresponding author and cannot remember that I could choose one of my co-authors for this role. Some of these journals do not even indicate a corresponding author to the reader. Also, there already is a way to indicate that an author is available for questions on the paper (interpretation 2): stating the e-mail address.

On the other hand, other journals do indicate corresponding authorship, which makes little sense for interpretation 1. Also, the value put into this role by some funding agencies for its implied meaning makes more sense for interpretation 2 (not that I completely agree with it).

Looking for some guidelines from publishers covering multiple fields, I found the following instructions on denoting the corresponding author from Elsevier¹, which kind-of covers both interpretations:

  Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication.

While there are other questions on this site touching this issue, they focus on consequences of the interpretation, such as
how to assign corresponding authorship,
the implications of corresponding authorship, or
whom to address with a request.

Actual question

What is the explicit meaning of the word corresponding author? Interpretation 1 or 2 as listed above, both, something else, or is this an extreme example of academia’s inhomogeneity and the answer depends on the field or publisher? Please answer only if you have more to offer than personal experience and individual journal guidelines. In particular, please address the possibility of a varying meaning.

¹ which is separate for each journal, but seems to be identical in content for many journals


texts:
I was reading Clinical Chemistry Guide to Scientific Writing Series. One of the articles is titled: “If an IRDAM Journal Is What You Choose, Then Sequential Results Are What You Use”.

I have encountered this term in this site also. Can anybody explain this term?

A Google search asks ”Did you mean: IRDA Journal”

In the article I linked, it is explained as "Introduction, Results, Discussion, and Methods".  I understand its meaning as this readily. What I would like to know following points.

Which type of journal articles are suitable for this style?
Which branches of academic endorse its usage?
Are there any other such styles exists?
Are there any other abbreviations exists?
finally but not least, why should I follow this type of sequence?


texts: What is the policy on publishing work in academia that may have already been done (but not published) in industry/military?

texts:
I am interested in pursuing an area of computer security that is very likely already being studied by security professionals in industry and perhaps the military as well. Some of it is published, but I imagine some of it could also be unpublished work that companies and the military might not want to share with the public.
I could see my research group independently developing some unpublished techniques that probably are already in use in some form or another by existing companies who don't wish to share those to the public. In this case, is it acceptable for me to publish this as my own research, given that I have no affiliation to the company in question (assuming such a company does exist, which could very well be the case)? If I do publish, can I be in trouble for publishing work which these companies/military don't want the public to be aware of (but which I developed independently)?


texts: Forth year PhD student having trouble with his supervisor

texts:
I am 24 years old, studying electrical engineering. The major is communication systems, which mostly working on wireless problems. I came to grad school in 2015 directly from bachelor. I had an advisor from beginning and I did my masters thesis under his supervision. I graduated in 2017, and started the PhD program, again under his supervision. Let me describe him a bit.

He was not pushing me at all. He was paying my tuition and stipend. He literally did not have any plans for the research we are doing.

It is my 4th year in grad school, and I have zero publication. We did several projects, but all of them failed. Either the reviewers said it doesn't have that much contribution, or I ended up in a dead-end situation where I had no idea what to do. He was supposed to guide me and advise me(as an adviser), but every time we had a meeting, he was like what do we have. what are you going to do. Even when I was facing problem, he was asking when can you think you can solve this.

Anyway, suddenly he became aware that this is my 4th year and he is telling me that he's graduating me next year in 2020 and I need to publish. But I don't know where to start. He thinks he is pushing me but honestly I have no idea how to research. I feel dumb. I am seeing my friends that publishing papers, but I'm not capable of publishing even one! And because I don't know what to do, I always try to avoid the work and waste my time on the internet.

My advisor asked me what I am going to do on the Christmas break and I had no idea. So I made up something to tell him. So he is expecting me to do some work on the break, and I am LOST.

(All people have told me that my advisor is perfect because he is paying me, so I don't need to be TA and he is giving me freedom to do whatever I like, But tbh this behavior made my the laziest version of myself.)

I hate this life that I gradually made for myself. I was wondering if anyone could advise me what to do?

I really appreciate your answers.


texts: Should I put my supervisor as coauthor of a paper?

texts: I was working on a problem in the field engineering. I have used one approach and it turned out that it does not work well. After that I got into conflict with my supervisor, and realized that it will be hard to publish the original paper with him. So, I have redone everything with another approach, wrote a paper, submitted it and at as soon as my paper have been almost accepted, my supervisor wrote to the editor claiming that he also should be an author of the paper. He haven't even seen the new paper nor haven't analysed or interpreted the new results. What should I do in this situation?


texts: APA location/address of publisher vs location of conference

texts:
I need some clarification of the parameter location specified in the APA manual regarding papers published in the proceedings of conferences. Virtually all online data banks for papers that I came across give the location where the conference took place but not the location of the publisher. Some times I have a hard time finding out what the latter is sometimes I can't find it at all.

The manual gives this example:

  39. Proceedings published in book form

  Katz, I., Gabayan, K., & Aghajan, H. (2007). A multi-touch surface
  using multiple cameras. In J. Blanc-Talon, W. Philips, D. Popescu, & P.
  Scheunders (Eds.), Lecture Notes in ComputerScience: Vol. 4678.
  Advanced Concepts for intelligent Vision Systems (pp. 97—108). Berlin,
  Germany: Springer-Verlag. doi:
  10.1 007/978-3-5407460729

Does location really mean the formal/legal location of the publisher? What if I can't find out what it is because the publisher does not mention it on their website?


texts: When a STEM research topic can be studied experimentally, computationally, and theoretically, do PhD programs typically focus on only one approach?

texts:
In American universities, when a STEM research topic can be studied experimentally, computationally, and theoretically, do PhD programs in this research topic only focus on one of the three approaches or a combination of the three approaches?

For instance, consider physics.  If I find a PhD program called "Experimental Physics PhD" at University X, and if I get accepted and go there for my PhD, will I miss out on computational physics and theoretical physics training...and be trained only as an experimentalist?


texts:
I acknowledge that this is by no means a productive question, and I ask it for purposes of humor. Still, if anyone is aware of amusing / clever paper titles, it could be nice to make such a list.

-- Edit -- It may in fact be off-topic, as suggested by some comments. I am open to suggestions for more appropriate venues for this question.


texts: Which undergraduate research experience will help more for graduate admissions in mathematics?

texts:
I was recently offered a six-month undergraduate thesis at two places. Let us call them A and B.

I am looking to apply abroad for my Masters in pure math next year. Hence, recommendations are important to me.  I am not sure which offer will yield a more useful recommendation.

The professors who have accepted me at A and B are both the leading experts in my field of interest (Algebraic Geometry), and have won the highest honour given for Mathematics in my country. The professor at B seems vey encouraging and helpful, and has found the time to go through my math blog and offer feedback, while the professor at A has a reputation for being abstruse, and hence perhaps not ideal for a person not experienced in research. However, A is a much more reputed and well known school than B.

Should I go to A or B?

Will a recommendation from a well-known professor from a less well known school matter as much as one from a well known professor from a well known school?

Should my personal equation with the professor be the most important factor for me?


texts:
An undergraduate course that I teach has roughly 50 first-year students, and without trying I noticed several egregious examples of cheating, both on assignments and on a recent midterm exam.  Given that the students have only very recently entered university -- they occasionally behave as if they were still in high school -- I'd like to have a discussion with them about academic integrity and cheating.

Has anyone else here had such a conversation with a class of theirs, and would be willing to share some advice?  If the above-referenced incidents had been referred to a university committee on the matter, the students would almost certainly fail the course, or perhaps suspended.  The department, however, gives the faculty some flexibility in deciding whether to refer particular cases to this committee.


texts: How to reference original paper in expanded journal version

texts:
Many journals allow to submit an extended version of a conference paper as, for example, Springer:

  Expanded versions of papers which have previously appeared in
  conference proceedings will be considered and this request must be
  made at the time of submission; the authors must clearly state the
  conference publication and provide a statement of revisions/updates
  that have been made to the journal paper.

When writing such an extended version how do you reference the conference paper? I can imaging several possibilities:

Treat it like every other paper in related work
Ignore the conference paper completely and present all results as if for the first time.
Clearly indicate that you wrote the conference paper as "... in [1] we showed that and shortly review the approach ..."

What is correct way to write an extended journal (in CS)?


texts: Phd program @Harvard when my '''education''' didn't go beyond highschool?

texts:
Would I be accepted at a Phd Program @Harvard when my '''education''' didn't go beyond high-school? I have however done lot of self-study after graduating from high-school by studying:

Electrodynamics.
General Relativity.
Quantum Mechanics ...

and all the maths that is related to those physics areas.
So do I have any chance?


texts: In case I upload an unpublished conference paper or technical report of mine to Academia.edu is it protected from plagiarism?

texts:
I would like to know if an uploaded unpublished paper of mine it is safe from plagiarism, including just parts of it (e.g. title).

I meant that if somebody copies part or the entire unpublished, but already online, document and publishes it, is he/she then liable of plagiarism?


texts: How many words is a typical scientific publication (particularly in biology)?

texts: I've heard anywhere from 2,000 - 10,000 words is typical for a publication in an average journal. What's your experience?


texts: Complete stranger asking PhD student to review paper before submission

texts: I am a PhD student and I have been contacted today by some other PhD student with a very odd request. He is from a different university in a different country and I don't know him at all. He is asking me to review his own paper before submitting it to some journal. Is this a common thing to ask? What is the best response in this case?


texts: Planning a local conference: looking serious academic partners

texts:
The computer science department of my university plans to organize a scientific international conference.

In order to increase the credit of the conference, I mean in order to make it more attractable to worldwide scientist we would like to affiliate the conference with a well known and serious organization such IEEE or ACM or Elsevier. That could make the conference more confident for the university partners. We just need the conference articles to be reference by a serious and international journal.

After contacting both IEEE, ACM and Elsevier, I got the information, about ACM requirements that «Benefits will accrue to the technical meeting because of the cooperation of ACM. Benefits will accrue to ACM because of its cooperation.» At the university, we don't agree that all the benefits of the conference will go to ACM as we also need the benefits of the conference locally.

Is there anyone or any university who has been in the shoes of my university?
Do you have any information, advice to give us? Thank you.


texts: Why don't most academic conferences make their budget publicly available?

texts:
I wonder why most academic conferences don't make their budget publicly available.

Making budgets publicly available could help explain high conference fees (which attendees often complain about), help other conference organizers, receive feedback to be able to improve, improve transparency towards the taxpayers since they fund most of academic research, explicitly mention what the private sponsors are and to what extent they are involved (e.g. to detect conflict of interests), etc.


texts: How to write a decent report introduction on work you have created?

texts:
I'm finding it quite difficult to start off a report I have to write. So to write a report you will probably know that you are not allowed to write in first person. But the problem I'm having is writing an introduction not in first person, as the report is to be on the topic on two websites that I have created, one using web standards, and one with a content management system.

I just can't figure out what to point out in the introduction, as there isn't a problem involved, it doesn't really cover a specific question, it's just two websites I have made, that's it.

I don't really know how to explain my problem very well, but hopefully you will understand what I mean, thanks for the help.


texts: How to write a personal statement for a dissertation fellowship?

texts:
I'm writing an application for a dissertation fellowship, which according to the application is "to a truly outstanding doctoral degree candidate in the last semester of residence".

I need to write a 'personal statement' which is only described as follows:

  a statement of how the fellowship will facilitate the completion of
  the doctoral degree by May 2015

That's it.  No other guidelines are given to describe how to write this personal statement.

My research is theoretical, and does not require the purchase of any special equipment other than pencil and eraser.  Thus, my naïve, simplistic answer this question is:

"I need the money so I can pay for tuition long enough and buy enough food to keep my brain cells alive long enough to graduate".

Obviously, I know this is the worst possible way to answer this question.  In all honesty, the way this fellowship describes how to write the personal statement is rather limited.  Other than writing a more eloquent phrasing of "give me money so I can eat", I can't think of anything else to write in it.

What do personal statements generally contain for fellowships like this?  Are they usually as limited as this?  What other points can I bring out in this statement other than "I need to buy food and pay for school"?


texts: Postdoc interview follow-up: HR or PI and how should I approach the conversation?

texts:
I had an interview about 4 days ago for a postdoc in Scandinavia. The interview went well, from what I could tell, and the committee seemed approving and pleased with my answers.  I am thinking of following-up tomorrow, requesting info on the timeframe for a decision. Should I contact the PI or HR rep who was there for the interview as well? Any suggestions on content?

I know they are choosing between 2 candidates so is 5 days too early? I already attached support letters so I'm unsure what happens now in the process. Every day that passes, I get discouraged because this is a project I'd really love to work on.

I would appreciate details regarding the post-interview etiquette and process and usual time-frame in Scandinavia. Thanks in advance!!


texts: Will turn down a graduate (Master's) program have effect on my application for the same program?

texts:
I have asked a similar question.

Is it bad to apply for the same Master's degree program in consecutive years?

  If I failed the first year, will it be a negative factor for my
  application the next year (say if I could been admitted originally,
  but because I failed the last application the year before so I am not
  accepted)?

But what if it is the other way around. I turn down the admission to do a gap year thing and reapply the same program the next year. Will my rejection in the first year be bad for my application for the same program the next year?


texts: How common is it for a professor to require students to work for him?

texts:
I'm in a computer science master's program in a university in asia.  It's a three-year program, and halfway through our first year, our professor told us to come work for him at his company during our free time.  I thought it would be a good way to get some experience so I went along with it.  He gave us a little bit of pay but it was irregular and we never knew how much we would get.

After a while, he said we should come work for him at his company everyday unless we had class. My classmates and I didn't want to go anymore, because the work was only vaguely research-related and completely unrelated to our desired thesis topics.  At this point, we were all uncertain if whether what we were doing was just research or actually a job. There was no contract or anything.  One classmate said he wanted to stay on campus to focus on his research, and our professor belittled his research ideas and told him that working for him would be much more valuable.

At the end of my first year, I got a great offer for a part-time internship in another company. When I told my professor that I wouldn't be coming to his company anymore, he was not pleased.  He told me he wouldn't be able to help much with my thesis.  Eventually he gave me permission but it's most likely because I'm American, and I get treated slightly better than my local classmates.

When another classmate tried to leave, our professor gave him a very difficult software problem and said that if this student could solve it, then he could leave the company.  The assignment was in an area that this student has no prior experience in, so he was unable to solve it and was too afraid to try to leave again.

From what I've heard, this is a common situation in our department and in other universities in the area.  Since I've never done graduate school in the U.S. or anywhere else, I don't know if this is accepted behavior or not.  I want to inform my classmates of the choices they have. So, on their behalf I want to ask:

What kind of position is this? Would this be considered an internship, research assistance, or just research?

In the global academic world, do professors have the authority to require their students to work for them? Should my classmates have the option to do something else?

Related:
A while ago I read this question about masters students working for a professor's profit-making company.  I can fully understand the value of turning research into commercial benefits. I have no problem with this part.  However, in this answer, someone asks if the students feel coerced into working with him. In this situation, I believe the answer is a yes, and basically I'm wondering what to do about it.


texts:
I'm a PhD student that is finishing up, and I want to do a postdoc. Yesterday I went to a lecturer's house (he was above 60 years old) and I was really shocked because it is not what I expected.

Right now I live in student accommodation where I pay about £500 per month (without bills) and it is decent. But now I am really worried and sad because I don't want to be a poor academic having to live in some little awful house just to make ends meet... I want a nice house (though it does not need to be huge).

Am I worrying for no reason???


texts: What should I do if a coauthor, who has contributed the most among my coauthors, declined to be listed as a coauthor?

texts:
For a paper with coauthors, what should I do if one coauthor, who I feel has contributed the most among my coauthors, declined to be listed as a coauthor and wished only to be acknowledged in the acknowledgements? The reason he gave for declining was that he did not think he has contributed significantly. The other coauthors knew this, but didn't say anything.

This happened once in the past, and at that time I did as requested by the coauthor, i.e. I removed his name from the list of authors and acknowledged him instead. The other coauthors still had their names as authors of the paper. I felt uneasy about it because I didn't think that it was right. I mean, if my second author did not think that he had contributed enough, why should the third and fourth authors stay? Of course the reader wouldn't know this, but I knew, and my third and fourth authors knew.

Now I am facing the same situation again.


texts:
I'm an undergraduate student. I used to think that a PhD certifies a person as an expert in a specific topic of a specific field. I've now been told that while that's true, a PhD most importantly proves that you are capable of independent research in general.

A professor of fluid dynamics told me that if he wanted to shift his research to an unrelated topic like dog anatomy, rather than getting a second degree he would seek out successive projects that get progressively closer to his research interest (e.g. a project on modelling blood flow in a dog, etc.), until eventually he is working on his originally unrelated research interest.

Is the above approach generally valid? If it works, then what legitimate reason is there to get a second PhD?


texts: Is it appropriate to cite a paper in a language I don't understand?

texts:
Some months back I got into a situation where a paper with information that I considered important to prove a point was in a language I cannot understand. Since it was important but not crucial, I ended up not using the paper. Except for its abstract, which was in English, the entire paper was in this other language. It had graphs and images that I could understand without knowing the language.

At the time, I was tempted to use Google Translate in order to get the general idea of the paper  (in more detail than what is given in the abstract), while not necessarily trusting on the specific information that the translation gave me (it can give faulty results at times). Since this would still leave me with some measure of uncertainty — there was no way for me to be sure exactly what it was saying — I thought it better to just let the paper go.

But say that in a future situation I find a crucial paper in a language I don't understand: if I use Google Translate, using the paper in a situation that does not require specific information but only it's general gist, would citing it be ethically acceptable?

(It's almost the same situation as this question, but I'm not concerned with translating the entire paper, for this would take time/resources that I simply don't have access to.)


texts: Are there grants that sponsor transition into faculty positions (K99, etc) in not biology-adjacent fields?

texts:
In my field (biophysics), I know of a few grants that can be received as a postdoc, which provide funding both as a postdoc and as a new faculty member.  One example is the NIH K99 "Pathway to Independence" award; another is the Burroughs Wellcome Career Award.  These can act as hiring incentives, and in some biology fields, the K99 is seen as a near-guarantee of finding a faculty position.

Are there similar grants for other fields, or is this a quirk of the bio-adjacent world?  How are these sorts of grants viewed in other fields?

EDITED TO ADD: To my knowledge, there is no such grant for the NSF (the most obvious source).  A few ones I hadn't mentioned are listed here, but they are all biomedical: Ohio State .


texts: Using Others Work - To What Level Is It Okay?

texts:
From September I will be starting my final year project at a UK university.

I will be developing some software. However the software I wish to create has multiple "modules" to it. Approximately 16 modules for 16 different functions.

A fair few of these modules have been created before by various people and the code is completely open source with no licensing restrictions.

I will be writing a lot of the code myself, but I do not see the point in "re-inventing the wheel" by writing some code which will do the exact same thing as some software already out there.

Is it okay to re-use their code in my project? To what level is it okay to do this? 2/16 modules? 6/16? I do not want to go over the top into the plagiarism world. Obviously all work would be credited etc.


texts: Are NSF GFRP recommenders updated on the status of the application?

texts: I applied for an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, and was curious if my letter-writers will receive updates of my acceptance or refusal at the same time I do or if they hear anything at all after their letters are confirmed.


texts: How does your area of research affect your chances of getting job in academia?

texts:
I've heard that the trendiness of your area of work is one of the important factor that has am impact your chances of getting job in academia. How far is this true?

Also, how do I decide what areas are trendy and what areas are not in the field I'm interested that is mathematics?


texts: How to cite a reformulation of an older theorem?

texts:
I'm currently in a position where I need a result from a paper where the formulation is a little unwieldy, in that it depends on some notations and concepts that aren't useful to my work. I found a reformulation of this result in a book (not a new result, just restating the same theorem in different words) that uses different notations and is easier for me to relate to what I'm doing.

Is it appropriate in this situation to cite both the original and the reformulation like this:

"Theorem X, formulation from Y, based on Z"?