texts: A PI gave me 2 days to accept his offer after I mentioned I still have another interview. Is this normal?

texts:
Last week, I had a postdoc interview for a "senior" role. They call it senior because they've asked me to lead on a (perhaps the) research problem. For the interview, they asked me to prepare a 10 minutes presentation where I propose a research plan. My presentation focused on a particular case with a detailed plan. I proposed to work on a particular case simply because it's all I can do at the moment (in terms of my current knowledge and research experience from my Ph.D.).
They complimented my presentation and the fact that I have a clear plan. But they did say that they want someone to work on the research problem from a general perspective and then perhaps at the end, target a particular case. The researcher is also expected to show leadership during his research when working on the project. The issue is the general case will require a lot of reading. The interview was really good and I have answered all of their questions. But they didn't ask much to be honest (I guess it's because my presentation was technical and focused on the particular case and not the whole problem). But I wasn't expecting an offer because our research goals weren't the same.
Now that I gave some background to why I am hesitant, I will get to my question. The PI sent me an informal email just two days after the interview, saying that I did a good interview and I should expect good news. The next day, he did say that he's going to offer me the position (again informally) and that I need to accept so he can send a formal letter. I told him that I am interested but I have another interview next week in which I've confirmed my attendance. I said that we can start the formal procedure next week after my next interview. He basically said that you have 2 days (before my next interview) to accept otherwise he will move to the waiting list. It's my first time receiving an offer, is this normal? To give 2 days as a deadline knowing that I asked for more time for my second interview? Note that a 5 day-deadline is more than enough to have an idea about both postdoc positions!
Update
I want to thank you for answers. Really good points were mentioned that help see things from both sides (candidate's and the PI's point view). For this particular case, I decided to quickly decline the PI's offer informally.


texts:
As a phd student I am wondering whether or not to list supervised students on personal website (I am tending to a "yes"). Would you only list masters/bachelor student or also other student projects?

I am also not sure, how much information is reasonable. Just the name/title? Abstract? Current position?

Are there any legal issues I should keep in mind?


texts: What does "pers. commun" stand for in academic papers?

texts:
I have encountered  "pers. commun." in some academic papers when referring to a source or reference . Like in :

  Authors also made sure that they covered the range of self-focused and symptom-focused constructs (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2001, pers. commun.).

  Attempts at using nutrient-solution culture for screening have been unsuccessful ( M.E. McDaniel, 1989, Texas A and M University, pers commun.).

What does it stand for?

I looked it up in some dictionaries but couldn't find anything.


texts: How to find PhD students interested in 6-months paid exchange visits to work on a supervised project?

texts:
I am a junior research fellow with a bit of a luxury problem. I am in a field with many good, open problems. I have a grant which could easily support salary for a couple of exchange PhD students for say, six months, to solve some of those under my supervision - but how do I find those?

I have tried some of the obvious channels, asking network, including old supervisor. Asking around at conferences. Most senior people I talk to agree it would be a good idea - but I can't seem to get any good people to bite.

I am asking advise from people who have been in a similar situation - also students who have accepted such offers, what made you do it? What made you hesitate? Is the prospects of 6 months of relocation off-putting? Are you afraid what your supervisor might think? And for more senior people, whose students I would potentially snatch up: Would you recommend a good student to do something like this? Would you be annoyed that I "borrowed" your good student, just after you taught them all the difficult parts?


texts: What are specific strategies to help someone who does not do well under pressure

texts:
Most of the time I do my work, any work, I always do it to perfection when not under pressure.
How do I deal with pressure especially now that I know I need to work under pressure to deliver this due to the high expectation?.
I want to hear from people who have Ph.D.'s in Applied Mathematics, what are the challenges and how is it, and what kept you going. I don't want to start then quit due to pressure?


texts: I was a rapporteur of the main session of an intergovernmental forum, should I add the final report as a publication in my CV?

texts:
I was an intern at an intergovernmental organization, during an international forum I reported the first and main panel, should I add the final report in my CV as a publication?
The final report's bibliography has: the organization's name, date, forum name. Within the report there is the list of the editors and then the rapporteurs were my name is listed. However, as I did not participate to edit the report I hesitate to add it. What do you think?


texts: Should a collaborator who recently passed away be included as an author?

texts:
I am finishing a publication based on my PhD thesis. The writing process took a long time, and a while ago, one of the collaborators passed away. The paper is mostly about the development of a model, but does include some experimental data. The data  have been published before, though I did some additional analyses.

The deceased collaborator was involved in discussions about possible mechanisms that I incorporated into the model, but not in the actual modeling process. The data was collected in his lab. He never saw the manuscript in any state, though he did see my thesis, which has substantial overlap with the paper. Should he be included as an author, or not?


texts: How to address an academic with a PhD in Spanish?

texts:
A friend of mine is defending his PhD thesis in the Netherlands this week.

It is a custom to formally address them directly after the defense ceremony, where we use the Dutch term "welzeeredelgeleerde heer", which is something like 'very honourable well-learned gentleman' in Dutch and it very precisely corresponds to the title of PhD.

However, this friend was born and raised in Mexico, and I would like to also address him in Spanish. I have asked several native Spanish speakers (both inside and outside of academia), but nobody seems to know the correct translation of this terminology.

Does anyone happen to know this trivia?


texts: Is including an own paper in the literature review a bad practice?

texts:
The title mostly says it all.

I am writing an article on a rarely researched topic in my field - 4-5 articles exist, as far as I know.

I recently published a related article, still making this topic a rarely researched one.

Would it be a bad practice to include my own published article in the literature review?


texts: Dealing with inconsistent feedback on your dissertation

texts:
I'd appreciate advice on how to navigate the final stages of the dissertation with an inconsistent advisor.

I've been struggling with my advisor for years, but there is no one else to advise a dissertation in my specialization.  He isn't unkind but is disorganized and expends little energy on students.  I first suspected that he wasn't reading my work when my fellowship applications were routinely rejected.  I hired a general editor, and subsequently received three major fellowships, which have provided a vital support network.  While I was away on fellowship, I kept in regular contact with my advisor and sent my writing.  I received no feedback on this work, and often, no reply at all.

I recently received my advisor's comments on the first half of my dissertation and have become concerned.  I'm happy to revise, but many of the comments indicate that he didn't read the entire document.  For example, he stated that one-hundred pages should not be spent on a particular topic when that subject only occupied the first thirty pages.  He also expressed concern about the overall trajectory of the project, demonstrating that he either didn't read or doesn't remember my fellowship applications, previous writing, or our conversations.  He also criticized aspects of my research that have been universally praised by my fellowship mentors.  I replied that I'm happy to implement his suggestions, and he responded, retracting much of his criticism.  I believe that much of this is posturing to appear like a participant in a project in which he has taken no part.  I'm utterly confused and just want to graduate in the next year.  Every Ph.d. guide tells students to do whatever their advisor wants in order to graduate.  I'm happy to oblige, but what do you do if your advisor's comments make no sense?


texts: Previous University Refusing to Supply Basic Details Required for VISA Application for Another Job

texts:
I am a recent PhD graduate from a (large) university in the UK. I have a job offer that I have already accepted that is based in another country. I require basic information from my university for a VISA application (things like confirmation that I have finished my PhD, proof of salary, confirmation of roles/responsibilities etc.
However, I have been trying to get these from my university for over a month and they are refusing to supply anything until March at the earliest due to coronavirus. Due to the delay from this that has already occurred I have missed the start date for my job, and if I cannot get this before March I will lose my job offer.
Is this legal? Is there any avenue I can go down to force them to supply this immediately?


texts: What to do with someone that cheated their way through university and a PhD program?

texts:
A person I know cheated through most of their science classes while an undergrad.  They literally had someone else take the exams, write reports, and do most of the homework.  They then took their stellar GPA and not so stellar GRE score and got admitted to a not so great PhD program.

A new significant other at grad school wrote a lot of their papers.  This person ingratiated themselves with the head of the department – they are a schmooze king.  They gained favor by doing physical work that very few of the other grad students would do. Their doctoral thesis was weak and the defense round wasn't difficult.  They were awarded their PhD.  Mind you, they still can't explain to me nearly anything about basic chemistry,  organic chemistry or biochemistry concepts.  I'm talking like sn1, sn2, benzene rings, buffers, etc...

This person now has a job with a pharmaceutical company doing anything but real science.  They're basically a pharmaceutical rep out selling drugs to various physicians in a territory.

Do I tell their employer?  Do I tell the university?  Do I let it go?  I have no way to prove anything.  I'm sure none of those people that took the tests in their place will come forward and tell the truth.  This has gotten away with fraud.


texts: What circumstances could justify getting an extension on graduate admission offer deadline?

texts:
A large number of US schools I applied to have put me on their waitlist, and since I also applied to a few programs in other Europe that release their decisions later, I still need more time to make my decision. (Especially because I've been put on the waitlist for the best graduate school in the world (or at least US) in my field, so it would be painful to accept a different offer, and then receive an offer from them that I cannot accept!)

I started receiving offers just this week, which is only a few days to the April 15th deadline, and I have at most 2 weeks to decide. That being said, I understand that there are other people on the waitlist, and I think the grad schools may say it's not possible to get an extension. But another problem I have for making the decision, is that I'm in a super-stressful situation for my finals now, and with all grad school stuff, the psychological pressure is high and I really believe I might make a bad decision in this situation.

Is that (the stress and pressure) a good reason to ask for at least a few days more time for making the decision (so I'll be done with my exams and have a couple of days to make decision in a more relaxed condition), or is that too personal to explain to grad school and not acceptable?


texts: Thanking a "shepherd" in acknowledgments

texts:
I often find in many conference papers submitted by US research groups that paper writers would thank their "shepherd" in the acknowledgment section. What is the exact contribution of a "shepherd" to a paper submission?

I'm speaking about my domain which is computer science and I'm not sure about the situation in other domains.


texts: Which capitalization style to use for article titles in CV?

texts:
This likely varies by field; I am in the social sciences, but general insights on the topic are welcome.

We have two common capitalization schemes for article titles:

Title case (e.g. "Longitudinal Study of Cookie Consumption During Christmas")
Sentence case (e.g. "Longitudinal study of cookie consumption during Christmas")

Right now I list the title for each article as it appears in the journal. However, this means that the alternating papers are listed using different capitalization schemes, which doesn't look good and decreases readability (especially if someone is scanning the CV quickly). Admittedly, this doesn't have a huge effect, but I would still prefer to stick with a single style, especially as it wouldn't take me a lot of time to dp this, and the CV plays a large role in my career.

I searched, but couldn't find recommendations regarding this, and there is no single style which is prevalent in CVs in my field (which also emphasizes the fact that it's probably not too crucial).

My question is which capitalization style would be preferable in terms of appearance and readability: title case or sentence case?

Thank you.


texts: Non-STEM Letter of Rec for STEM PhD Programs

texts: I am applying to PhD programs in math, cs, and statistics this fall at roughly top 15 US schools. I will be having recommendations from two professors who I worked on projects with personally and who I believe can speak strongly to my research abilities; they are the only two PIs I’ve had. For my third letter, I am thinking about asking a history professor I’ve had in <15 person classes for three semesters. I think he can speak well to my work ethic and communications skills. I also can likely get a letter from a professor I had in a microcontroller lab class which I did well in, had a friendly relationship with her, and completed a month-long design project, but this was few years back and the course was introductory. I think my history professor can write the stronger and more personal letter, but would the types of programs I’m applying to prefer the STEM professor’s letter? What about including the history professors’s as a supplement?


texts: Which is more important in determining author order: time spent or results obtained?

texts:
This is in the field of life sciences, i.e. a field in which the order of authors is not determined randomly but reflects author contributions (whatever that means); in other words, being first author is better than being second, which is better than third etc - except for the very last authors, who are generally the lab heads.

We're publishing a paper and two teammates have a disagreement on the order in which their names should be listed. We basically explored several strategies that were at the time all quite reasonable, so there was really no way to determine if one made more sense than another. We found that testing strategies one by one rigorously (one person per hypothesis to validate/debunk) was the most productive way to move forward. Our paper describes several mechanisms that we demonstrated could work for a certain problem.

Team member A tested several hypotheses, including one of the four that made it to the final paper.

Team member B tested more hypotheses (they were working on the project full-time, as opposed to A), and demonstrated that they were not scalable / valid strategies for our purposes. Interesting, useful for us, but not paper-worthy.

Each one of them has a pretty strong claim for having a better authorship position:

Teammate A designed and 100% tested one of the strategies that did work and that we chose to report in the paper, so their contribution is quite obvious. On the other hand teammate B spent more time on the project, debunked working hypotheses (not publishable but it had to be done at some point) and helped with the validation of other designs that worked - a contribution of 40-50% of the work on two different parts of the project.

Obviously results include a part of chance (picking the correct hypothesis/molecule/group/dataset), but time spent on the project is not a perfect metric either (working smart matters more than working long hours).

Without asking for a definite answer, how do you generally weight the importance of "what the paper shows in the end" vs. "the important but not article-worthy preliminary work"? In other words, how do you measure "contribution"? I would like to come up with a rational and objective way to determine who contributed more significantly - at least by the journal's standards.


texts: Publish a Book Through a Research-Based or Industrial-Based Publisher?

texts:
I'm in the middle of writing a book on a subject matter that covers both aspects of the research and general practice knowledge. I'm wondering to submit it to a publishing company that mainly publishes journals; or send it to a book publisher which is very respectable in the industry. There are two aspects to this:

Price: Generally speaking, the books that are published by research-based publishers (e.g., Springer) are way more expensive than normal reference books.

Reputation Vs. Reaching the Masses: Obviously in terms of reputation in academia, research-based books are considered more seriously; however I'm losing reaching the masses of people who can benefit from it, as a normal reference book.


texts: I'm not sure what is meaning of no response during post-doc contact.

texts:
I'm looking for post-doc position, and applied to a position. Here's brief flow of email converstaion.

Possible PI: Well, it looks like your research interest and experience matches well with mine, let's have a interview.

Me: Thank you. When can we have a discussion?

Possible PI: (No response)

3 days later

Me: Hello? Do we have interview?

Possible PI: (No response)

more 3 days later

Me: Hello? Can I have interview with you?

Possible PI: (No response)

I don't know what is going on his side, but I never wrote something rude or stupid. Can I regard this sign as refusal? Or do I need to email him again? Or can I call to his office phone number?

I don't think his reaction - no response - is polite at all, at least...


texts: Feasibility of Study in Cuba for U.S. Undergraduates

texts:
I'm assisting an undergraduate student with developing plans for summer 2014, and I'm considering the viability of study in Cuba.

Are there any U.S. users who have traveled to and studied in Cuba and can recommend a robust, reputable Cuba study program, ideally run by a U.S.-Cuba university partnership? Fields of interest to the student are political science, civil society, and history.

Of course, a Google search returns several options, but I'd still appreciate input or advice from fellow academia.SX users


texts: Should someone giving a second opinion on an article be a co-author or just acknowledged?

texts:
I decided to write an article extracted from part of my master’s thesis. This will be my first time trying to get published, so obviously I’ll never think it is good enough therefore I’ll need a second opinion. I’m thinking of contacting my previous supervisor and ask him if he can read it before I try to submit it to a journal. And if things goes well, I’ll ask one of my colleagues (an assistant professor) to read it as well.

My question is, if they are willing to read it, should I include their names as co-authors or just in the acknowledgment?


texts: How should I cite the ministry in my own country in APA?

texts: In my research paper, I have cite from a curriculum published by the Ministry of Education in my country. Should I cite the name of the ministry in my own language (i.e. Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı; MEB as abbreviated in subsequent citations) in Turkish or in English translation (as Ministry of National Education; like MoNE, 2020)? And how should I reference it at the end in the sources section?


texts: How to send a research proposal to find potential PhD supervisor?

texts:
I am trying to look for a PhD position by contacting potential supervisors through email. I have made a list of professors who I found interesting through searching some papers and their department websites. Now I decide to write to them for asking opportunity and in order to show my sincerity, I would like to attach a research proposal.

I know it seems not necessary to do this if my credentials are good enough, but in order to stay out of the crowd, I don't know if this is actually a good idea to attach a research proposal. Anyway, I want to have some advice on writing a research proposal in this situation.

What should the appropriate length be? 2 pages, 20 pages? with cited reference?
How much deviation is allowed with the professor's research interest? Because if everything are the same with the current papers, it seems I am just copying its content into the proposal.
Should I include all necessary experimental steps? (I am from engineering)
Any other suggestion on writing research proposal in this situation.

I don't know if it is worth the time to do this, I would like to know if you have also some suggestions in impressing potential supervisors solely through email.


texts: Does posting a preprint to the arXiv reduce the chances to acceptance?

texts: Depending on the submission journal, there may be some explicit rules allowing or forbidding the posting of a preprint before the peer review process is complete. However, for those journals that don't forbid it, is there any evidence that doing so impacts negatively on the prospects for acceptance?


texts: Has any research been done into the marks awarded by markers using different strategies for exams with multiple questions?

texts:
I think anyone who's ever marked an exam with more than one question or section has wondered how to attack it, i.e.

Option 1) Mark all of the questions in a single script before moving onto the next student's script; or

Option 2) Go through each script and mark all the question 1s, then 2, and so on.

Idle rumination gives good points and bad points for each side (and possibly some more approaches), for example 1) means you can get through it faster since you're in 'question 1 mode', then 'question 2 mode', ... (i.e. less time spent switching your brain between different topics), and is likely more fair in the sense that you can consider all the answers to question i at the same time and make sure marks are distributed in a reasonable fashion.

On the other hand, marking a script at a time means you get used to a student's hand-writing, and may perhaps give benefit-of-the-doubt (or not) depending on the understanding that the student has shown previously in the same paper (but hopefully not on the basis of external bias from knowing anything about the student aside from what is on the script).

It would be interesting to see whether one technique or another tends to correlate with higher marks given by a marker, or fewer challenges once the student receives the script back (in cases where that happens), for example.

A brief search via scopus, arXiv and popular general-purpose search engines does not turn up anything particularly relevant. Does anyone here know of any published research on the matter?


texts: Significance of American Mathematical Monthly Problems in Math Grad School Admissions

texts: I have started solving problems from the American Mathematical Monthly. While I will definitely continue this, I am not sure how much this will help for math graduate school admissions (assuming I submit my solutions and they are recognized by the Monthly). How significant would multiple solutions to Monthly problems be in admissions? What about having the published solution to a problem? One issue is that I don't know how difficult the problems are presumed to be: all I know is that I personally have solved at least one of them!


texts: How do I motivate myself to study a subject when the teacher couldn't care less about teaching it

texts:
So I am a Computer Science major final year under-graduate student.

I am studying 4 classes at the moment, and sadly, don't feel really good about any of them. The subjects are good, I love Computer Science, in general, but the teaching has been below average. The classes only consist of teachers coming to the class, reciting bullet points written on the PowerPoint, and leaving.

To make things worse, almost all of them expect us to write exactly as the prescribed text-book, even a different notation is frowned upon.

This is really getting on my head, because:

I am trying to learn (cram?) what is required for the exam, and I kind of suck at it.
I feel like I am ditching myself - because I learn nothing out of it.

I am starting to develop medical problems, like headaches, high blood pressure because of all the stress - the stress of doing things exactly as in the text book.

So I want to ask what is the most appropriate step to take in such a case? Have you experienced anything like this before? How did you cope with it?


texts: Professors who use their own idiosyncratic names for things

texts:
I sometimes have professors who use their own names for things. For example in lecture one kept referring to the "perfect marriage algorithm" but after talking with him I'm fairly certain he was referring to the Stable marriage problem. This is a challenge for me as I prefer to learn a little about a topic before going to a lecture, or read up on points discussed in the lecture after it. Are there any suggestions on how to approach this? The prof from the example above told us not to use Google to learn material for the class. With that said, he's a very reasonable and intelligent man, but I've been in other classes where profs have used nonstandard terminology (such as in math saying solve a problem by symmetry) and it would be difficult to talk to them.
I don't want to offend them by suggesting the name their using is wrong, but it makes studying from other resources hard and I don't think it's practical to try to learn everything just from lecture.


texts: Can I write a thesis or paper without my school's support?

texts:
I'm a Master's student, and I'd like to write a thesis, but my grade's don't qualify me (you need at least a 3.75/4.0 GPA). Can I just go ahead and write on? Is there anything I should be aware of?

I have a similar question regarding research papers. Can I just write and submit a paper to a conference?


texts: How to figure out whether a Masters degree is a "Professional" or "Research" degree?

texts:
How to figure out whether a university-program is offering Professional Masters degree  or "Research" Masters degree?

Are all taught Masters degree programs professional programs?


texts: How to alleviate tension when interacting with researchers at a conference from enemy countries?

texts: In academic conferences, I often meet students and professors from enemy countries, whom I could never have met in normal situations. We both know that we are here for research, and we do talk about research, but there is still tension in the air. Maybe even mutual fear. What can I do to alleviate the tension, so that we can focus on the research?


texts:
Plagiarism is,

  the "wrongful appropriation" and "stealing and
  publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or
  expressions" and the representation of them as one's own original
  work.

as defined here,

and

  According to U.S. law, the answer is yes. The expression of original
  ideas is considered intellectual property and is protected by
  copyright laws, just like original inventions.

as mentioned here.

However, what is the definition for expressing ideas? What is the limit for person B(ob) to be have plagiarized person A(lice)'s work?

Clearly, Alice has to prove that she expressed it before Bob. But what counts as a proof?
Please consider the following scenarios:

Alice asks a question in StackExchange (or any other site), defining her problem in detail, and Bob somehow figures out what the answer is. Instead of writing the answer, he publishes the paper himself.
Alice writes a technical report (not a full paper) and publishes it in her website. Bob downloads the technical report, shares it with his teammates and soon, they publish a paper based on Alice's technical report.
Similar to (2), Alice has published a technical report in her website, defining a problem, with a first-attempt solution, which clearly can be improved. Bob, on the other hand, sees the technical report and finds a better solution. Then, publishes it. Now, Alice cannot publish her results because Bob's solution is better.
Alice spoke about the problem (or experiment) she is working on in an informal public place (e.g. cafeteria).  Bob heard it, and found a way to solve the problem (or carried out the experiment she intended to). He published it in a journal.

Important note: I am pretty sure, in all cases Bob has plagiarized Alice's work. What I am asking is, can Alice actually prove that her work is plagiarized? Especially, in case 4, can she show witnesses about her talking about the project first?

What if Bob was working on the same problem longer than Alice? Does just expressing the idea make it Alice's?


texts: How to pay for or avoid publishing cost without research funding and without limiting journal choice

texts:
I am wondering how can someone publish a manuscript without having any money to pay for the publication costs. I am aware that there are some journals that do not require a publishing fee, however by limiting the choice to only these journals it leaves very few options given the specificity of most journals.

Can the cost be shared among co-authors? Is it common for the first author to ask money to the co-authors to pay for the publishing costs? A previous answer to this did not explain if this is a common practice.
Are there certain journals that might waive the publication fee given the financial circumstances? There was a previous question regarding unaffiliated researchers, but what if someone is affiliated but is publishing research from done at the previous institution which does not have money to cover the publication cost.

My field is biology and I am from a developed country, so the option of applying for a publication fee waiver for developing countries is out of the question.


texts: How beneficial a literature survey article would be if it's about gender gap?

texts:
I am an undergraduate in physics and I am doing a literature survey project that highlights the gender gap in some specific field of research. My professor asked me to visit google scholar and related sites(specific to that research field) where I get the research papers year-wise and do the survey on a number of male and female authors by name, year, and the country as well. Since I haven't done any survey work before, to go through each paper on a site and then copy-paste the names on excel and search their names and gender seems like an eternity of work. I am aware that it's an empowering project but still, I am alone at work, he gave me two months' time. I don't want to spend my time in something only to find it insignificant in future.
How beneficial would this literature survey article would be to my research career if it's about gender gap?  Considering I am Physics student.
And if anyone has done one such project, please tell some tools/tips which can make it a little easier, including one in excel. It would be a great help.


texts: Is my university using TA's excessively?

texts:
Currently, at a broad level, the scenario I am observing is as follows:
Tasks by Instructor (assistant professor, associate professor, professor)

Collecting presentations from either the internet or asks TA's to make a presentation or rarely prepares a presentation for a given topic and presents it in front of students.

Doesn't deal with coding

Clarifies the theoretical doubts asked by students during class timings only.

Tasks by Ph.D. TA

Prepares content for instructor class (sometimes)

Prepares coding and theoretical content for tutorial class

Clarifies doubts in tutorial class

Deals with both theoretical and coding aspects for the tutorial sessions.

Receives more doubts from students since students work on the topic after a (theoretic) introductory lecture by the instructor.

Prepares assignment questions and also answers keys.

Evaluates the submitted assignments, makes result sheets, distributes grades and deals with grade discrepancies.

Most of the time, postgraduate TAs assists in the last two steps. (It is not happening during pandemic days).
In general, for every couple of weeks, there will be a tutorial class. It takes at least  4 full days to complete all the tasks with satisfaction. Covering both mathematical and coding aspects in great detail is a challenging task. And even if one prepares with so much effort,  it may not be useful for the research work.
So, I am wondering whether the workload is the same for a Ph.D. TA's in other universities or is my university is using them excessively?
Note: Although there are guidelines regarding TA work, no instructor follows them in strict sense.


texts: Is it OK to send another reminder after prospective research leader stops responding to my email?

texts:
Long story short. I was look for some undergraduate level research for this July and August, so I contacted a professor like a month ago. Things went very well, and two weeks ago I even had a Skype conversation with one of their PhDs, from which I can tell that they are preparing to include me into their research group, because we talked about a lot of details like everyone's schedule, and they will presumably be my research leader in the future.

At the end of our remote meeting, the PhD told me they will send me a detailed schedule and research topic to me "in one or two weeks", and "feel free to shoot me an email in case I forgot about this". It has been over two weeks since then, so I sent an (extra polite) reminder three days ago, but I still haven't got any response yet.

Is it OK to sent another reminder to them? How long should I wait before doing so?

This is not a duplicate of How to get people to reply to emails and what to make of a no response?, because I am talking about a reminder to a previous reminder that is already sent. Also, the recipient is a PhD instead of a professor.


texts: Will time in a non-emergency medical transport driving job help a med school application?

texts:
As a driver at a non-emergency medical transport company, it’s a person’s job to complete the process of moving patients in walkers and wheelchairs from place to place. This occasionally entails assisting movement from bed to chair and typically involves wheeling the patent from the room to the van, attaching their chair to the van, and wheeling the patient from the van to their medical appointment or new place of residence.

Many med schools look for volunteer medical experience or shadowing. Would the above described job fulfill this requirement? If not, would it help a med school application significantly in any way?


texts: How to cite a figure that has been already modified from another source?

texts:
I am wondering how to cite a figure that has already been modified from another source. Normally one should get the original figure from the original source, but there are cases when that is not possible or difficult.

Let's say that we find a figure A in source 1.
Figure A is a modified version of figure B from another source 2.

So in source 1 figure A it says in its figure text:

  ...modified after [2].

Also I am wondering how to cite correctly when I want to modify the already modified figure? Saying modified after again seems quite silly:

  modified after [1] which is modified after [2].

In addition one should include "with permission", but the following sounds wrong since it appears as if we have gotten "permission to modify":

  modified with permission from [1].

This last example raises the question: does one have to ask for permission to modify a figure in addition to reproducing. Some organizations explicitly tell that no figures may be modified.

So my guess is that it should be formulated as:

  reused with permission and modified after [1].

But this last I can't remember having seen any example of in actual academic papers. What would be the correct approach here?


texts: Is this tenured professor plagiarizing his lectures?

texts: A tenured professor at my university has hand-copied an out of print textbook in his field. His lectures consist of reading his hand-written notes from the text to his students. He does not deviate from his notes. He does not reveal the source of his notes. He often refers in class to "my notes" and "my lectures." His lectures are the same, year after year. Students do not have to go to class if they get good notes from others who took the course in previous years. Is this plagiarism?


texts: How does one reference a conference paper in a cover letter?

texts:
I'm applying to an entry level position with research elements to it. I want to reference a paper I used heavily this summer to influence my work that I did. It's a conference paper.

This is its arxiv.org page.

https://arxiv.org/abs/1511.03677

The sentence is something along the lines of, "I leveraged a paper, “Learning to Diagnose with LSTM Recurrent Neural Networks" (Lipton, Kale, Elkan, & Wetzel 2016) as a basis for my proof-of-concept ..."

I can't find a quality source on citing in line. Thank you!


texts: Should I indicate that definitions are from an article?

texts: In my master thesis I included some definitions exactly (just translated in French) like they appear in a paper because they are particularly well written and easy to read for someone who has never dealt with the subject. Of course I do cite the paper, but should I explicitly tell that the definitions are from that paper ?


texts: Advice about letters of recommendation for Phd application

texts:
I'm a relatively old student (29F) Currently applying for PhD positions in ecology, mainly in Europe.

Many applications encourage adding 3 letters of recommendation. I have two solid ones related to my MSc thesis topic. I'm on the fence about what to add as a third reference. I worked as a research assistant in various projects. Most of the time, I worked alongside PhD students. They know me well and could write informative statements. The profs who are running the projects haven't really worked with me, even though I was officially hired by them.

My question is: Should I go for a general letter from a prof who doesn't know me, or go for a statement from A PhD student who can write better, more informative things about how I work? How important are the letters anyway?


texts: How to include research with a professor on a CV after they have moved to a different university than the one I attended

texts:
I am putting together a CV detailing my research experience as I finish my PhD. I noticed that one of the professors I worked with as an undergraduate at my alma mater is now at a different university. I checked out their lab website at the new university and it seems the graduate students who were working with them at the time transferred with them after I left the lab. I'm not sure how to list my research experience now that they are a university I was never enrolled at.
Do I list the name of the lab at my alma mater but link to the professor's contact information at their new university if someone reading my CV wishes to talk with them?


texts: Is it necessary to ask permission before including someone in the acknowledgements of a research paper?

texts: I had the impression that obtaining written permission before including someone in acknowledgements was required. Therefore, I just wrote to someone asking for written permission to include him in the acknowledgements of a paper, and he said he didn't think it was necessary. I don't recall where I got this notion from - perhaps the rules of a specific journal? So, I was wondering if there are any general rules about this or not, or are they perhaps journal specific?


texts: Shifting to unrelated field after postdoc? Neurobiology to linguistics

texts:
I am a 4th-year postdoc in molecular neurobiology, but I would like to shift to linguistics-related fields, particularly cognitive linguistics.
Long story short: I realized that I've been mixing up my interest and my true passion, neurobiology and linguistics. While both fields aim to understand the human mind (at different levels), I just find linguistics more fascinating and more rewarding to study. I am ready to commit myself to linguistics research.
I have thought about several options:

Look for a postdoc position directly in a lab which does cognitive linguistics. However, PIs usually hire postdocs in the same field, or at least possess some particular skills they need. I've met people who did a PhD in engineering but doing a postdoc in cognitive linguistics. However, given my background, how possible is this option? Do you know anyone who has similarly unrelated background but successfully switched their fields?
Do a postdoc in a lab which does interdisciplinary research, such as neurolinguistics (related to neurobiology, but more closely related to psycholinguistics). However, I think this option may not be much easier than option 1... Besides, it doesn't guarantee that I can eventually work in my favourite field, or it may take several postdoc positions to get there. This means I may need to go through more years of instability as a postdoc...
Do a second PhD. I am willing to do a second PhD, but the thing is, I am not sure if most PIs would recruit a PhD holder who was once committed to another field, not to mention that some universities may have special regulations on second PhD (e.g. funding).

Which options would you think is the best? What are the things I should also consider but I have missed? Do you have any experience that you would like to share?
Any advice would be appreciated greatly!
--
Edit:
From the comments I've got so far, option 3 doesn't sound like a good idea... I will focus on the other two options now.
From what I've learnt from other similar posts, most people switch between related fields, or at least there are overlaps between their current and target fields. I've also noticed that many successful field changes are from quantitative science to a field which requires quantitative skills (e.g. from computer science to synthetic biology). Unfortunately, none of the above cases applies to me, except that my current field and some sub-fields in my target field could be remotely related.
While I can still find links between these fields, my real challenge is:
What can I do to demonstrate to potential PIs that I will do well in a new field without relevant experience? (I don't have publications in my target field or related field.)


texts: Academic Affiliation - Paper will be Resubmitted during PhD but published as an AP in another institution

texts:
I have a paper that needs to be resubmitted by the end of the week. It should be the last round, and I strongly expect the paper to be accepted for publication after that.

I am still employed as a Ph.D. student in institution A, but will move to institution B as an assistant professor at the beginning of May.

Thus, the paper will be published while I am working for institution B. Institution B provide financial incentives for such publication, and it would, therefore, be beneficial for me to put the affiliation "B" on the paper.

What is the proper affiliation to put? I would tend to list both A and B as my affiliations, with a short footnote explanation.


texts:
Our students are asked to sign an "academic integrity" pledge with each assignment and exam, vowing that they have not given nor received unauthorized assistance on the assignment.

What (peer-reviewed) evidence is there to support the claim that these pledges make a significant impact on the rate of cheating, plagiarism, and other forms of academic dishonesty at the university level?


texts: Can I add dropbox links to my resume for graduate school applications?

texts:
I am applying for Masters in ECE, since setting up a personal website at short notice is impossible,I wanted to provide dropbox links in my CV. For example:

Worst Outgoing Student Award         [Certificate]
Bachelors in Bunking Classes         [Relevant Coursework]
Book Report on Taming of the Shrew   [Report]

All the [**] fields are basically dropbox links, accessible to all. I wanted to know if this is recommended or not.


texts: Does it still make sense to reply to not so recent publications? Is there a cut off?

texts:
When is a publication (paper or book) considered to be a recent publication? Does it still make sense to reply to publications, even if they are not so recent, or will it look silly to respond to something someone else has written 40 years ago, (assuming the debate surrounding this topic is not considered to be of prime importance anymore)

I am not talking about referencing that work, but directly responding to it, published in the same journal, entitled (for example): A response to X...

My field is Political Science / Political Theory.


texts:
I emailed a professor about possible openings for graduate studies in a certain research group and he answered me like this:

  Your background looks great. Unfortunately, I recently recruited a graduate student. I have been working on grant proposals. If they get funded, I will have money to support more students. I will let you know, if plan changes.

How should i answer this email?

Is it polite to wish him luck? or should I send a simple thank you for reading my resume? or combining both and also saying that I "look forward to hearing from you" or something in that matter? It's really important for me to make a good impression.

(I am not a native speaker by the way)


texts: Thesis by monograph, Must I publish my papers?

texts: I am a Ph.D. student. My Ph.D. is by the monograph. I really do not exactly understand the requirements relative to the publication. That is, Must I publish all my papers. Or can I just write my thesis as a chapter with the result? Hence, I do not need to publish my chapters. I just would like to understand the requirement. I search in my uni, however, the information therein is not clear.


texts:
Whenever I write an article, I feel the result is not good enough. Although every theorem is solid and correctly proven, something is always "squeaky".

The main evidence for my feeling shows itself when my co-authors revise theorem I've written. Suddenly everything becomes compact, precise and clear. Properties that were used several times get a name; modular parts of the proof become lemmas; etc. The math remains the same, but the presentation is way more efficient and easy to follow.

How can I improve my technical writing skills?
Any tips and resources would be appreciated.
Comment: I'm not a native English speaker, which is an additional factor.


texts: Finding mathematics postdoc opportunities in India

texts:
I am Ph.D. advisor to X, a rising 5th-year Ph.D. student in pure mathematics at a mid-tier US research university. X and I are trying to prepare for his upcoming job search.

In my opinion X is promising, talented, and hard-working, and he has not quite realized his potential yet. If he were to go on the US postdoctoral job market this year, I would estimate his chances to be low. Staying for a sixth year is a theoretical possibility, but my department is faced with budget cuts and X would probably have to finance his own studies.

It occurs to me that he might apply for postdocs (and, eventually, tenure-track positions) in his native India. He would really like to pursue a research career, and would likely be willing to accept compromises such as a low salary (by US standards).

An internet search reveals particular institutes to which one can apply, as well as postdoctoral fellowships -- but I was unable to find any general overview of the Indian job market geared towards applicants overseas.

Is there an approach to finding a mathematics job in India, better than googling and applying for individual opportunities? And is it any easier to find a job there than it is in the US (for an Indian citizen who has studied in the US)?


texts: What should a faculty member outside of the US do to move to a top-tiered American university?

texts:
I have three close friends who are ambitious and young junior lecturers at universities in Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore who are interested getting academic jobs in a top-tiered American university.

How might they go about achieving this? What can they do in the meantime to increase their chances, compared to academicians who are already based in the US?

Neither of them are American citizens, although one of them studied in the US and another in the UK. They all work in the humanities and social sciences. I know that entering the academic job market in the US can be expensive, with all the traveling. And my friends live more or less at the other end of the world.


texts: Would it be professional to ask my host to cover my dining and commuting expenses?

texts:
I'm a M.Sc student in europe who is collaborating with a prof on a research project. He works in an institute which is in a different city than mine. He has offered to cover my up and down weekely train tickets.

Though the train trip in one direction is just 3 hours. Its during the lunch and dinner times when I'm on the train and the meals on the train are not included on the ticket and quite expensive for a weekly affair. For now, I pack some snacks with me but its by no means a full satisfactory meal. Essentially I starve for the whole day with no eating options at the host institute. Moreover, I travel for 45 mins by public transport one way from the station to the institute (i'm not sure if I can ask for taxi expenses either)

The meetings are for discussions on progress, ideas and general presentations on relevant papers. Its been very useful but I don't want to extend his generosity beyond the point where it becomes unprofessional.

I wish to keep this collaboration between me and him as professional as possible. Since I have no prior experience of a professor inviting me for discussing and working towards a common goal, I fail to find the line between ethical and unethical expenses which I can ask the supervisor for.

Any suggestions are appreciated! Thanks


texts: Applying to masters program to further explore my interests, should I mention specific areas of interest in statement of purpose?

texts: I am currently revising my statement of purpose for several applied math master program. I wounder if I should mention some specific area of interests or specific name of faculty? The problem with me is that my undergraduate is rather "theoretical" , that I haven't taken many applied math courses and the purpose of my master is to further explore my interests. But the lack of specific interest on SOP seems a little bit odd for me.


texts: Hostile interview process feedback-- what should I have done?

texts:
I applied to a TT faculty job and got interviewed for a joint position between Computer Science and Education departments. The on campus interview started off well, with the CS people being very welcoming. However, when I went to meet with the Education department, everyone was too busy to meet and I waited in an empty room. Afterwards, I went to talk to the Dean, who was very nice but wanted to ask if I'd teach introductory CS classes and talk about course load. I said I'd teach that, but I'd prefer to teach CS design classes.  In any case, that seemed to go okay.

When I got home, I got 3 emails that said I was out of the running (from the search committee head and through his assistant). However, when I sent an email saying thank you for the consideration, I got an email back from him that said I was still in the running and that the consolation email was sent in error.  It just sounded like the Education department didn't want me, and they had some rogue person who was sabotaging my candidacy.  I bowed out of the running-- it seemed hostile.

Should I have tried to stay in the running, despite feeling like half of the hiring department did not want me?


texts: Deadline For PhD offer while waiting for other results

texts: I have been offered a PhD position with full funding from my backup university, however they gave me a deadline of April 5th to either accept or decline their offer. I am still waiting for replies from other more prestigious universities. What should I do?


texts: Is publishing in a special issue of a Q3 Journal as relevant as publishing in a Q1 Journal?

texts:
I want to publish a paper in mathematics in a special issue of my topic but in a Q3 Journal (i.e., ranked in 3rd quartile). The catch is that in this issue, the editors are some of the top leaders in the area, so I guess that the quality of the paper should be high in order to be accepted. Should I go for this? Or is it preferable to publish in a Q1 Journal (i.e., ranked in 1st quartile)? How would you, as a hiring committee when applying for a postdoctoral position, see this? I honestly think that the paper has the quality in order to be published in a first quartile Journal.

For those not familiar with the terminology, Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4. They refer to quartile in which the journal is ranked within discipline. For example, see this listing of mathematics journals on scimago with the prominent display of ranking quartile.


texts: Getting into grad school from an unknown undergrad university? Is it possible?

texts:
Pretty much what the tittle says. I'm currently studying for my TOEFL exam and considering start a graduate school application process for the next year or so, in Europe or Canada probably. I recently culminated my undergrad studies in a non-top university from my country, my notes overall are decent and I'm proud I could obtain a good GPA after all.
However, I have this concern that coming from an unknown university could be an important factor during my admission and I've been thinking in applying into research internships to gain experience.
But, is it my concern relevant? I'd appreciate any suggestions. Thanks in advance


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

texts: I noticed that many ads say "Review of applications will begin on Day X, and continue until the position is filled". I wonder how this kind of search works. Assume the search committee received a certain number of applications on Day X. Usually none of the applications is from a superstar that you definitively want to hire, but let's say between five and ten are good enough for you to hire one of them. What would the search committee do? Would they contact the candidates, arrange interviews and hire the best one there? Or would they still wait for a month or two just to see if a superstar would apply after all?


texts: Should I inform my thesis adviser about current situation

texts:
I had unofficially agreed to start working on my thesis during September, with no concrete date being mentioned.

However there are two factors which might delay this date:

Me not being available due to travelling until the end of the month
I don't feel confident about the programming task that has to be done during the thesis, so I want to take a little bit more time to work on some exercises

The problem is that in case that I go there, they might request me to sign for the official thesis registration, which then will impose the deadline when I have to be completely done with all the thesis stuff. I don't want to do this, before being confident that I can proceed easily with the programming, because otherwise the period that I will spend doing some extra programming exercises will be eating from timeslot limited with the deadline.

My question is, should I inform the adviser about these developments, or should I shut up until I come back (and use another 10 days to do some extra exercises) and then go to his office and talk about the official thesis start?
Which situation would reflect best on me? I'm afraid I am causing too much communication overhead unnecessarily and somehow not respecting the time-frames I have agreed myself.

Reason to go to the advisor: I have already verbally promised that I will be around once September comes

Reason not to go: They may require me to sign the official thesis start.


texts: Letter of recommendation from Head of Department vs Assistant professor?

texts:
I am applying for my post graduate studies.

From which person is it better to get letter of recommendation? From the person who taught me 2 sems and presently is Head of Department of my graduate field (who is also a phd) or from my math teacher who is an Assistant professor and has taught me for 4 sems?


texts: What consequences are there if, having already graduated and received my degree, I do not pay up my tuition fees?

texts:
Background: I just graduated from a US university. I have also received my diploma (both in paper form mailed to me and also in electronic form) certifying that I have received such-and-such a degree.

However, I have not paid the tuition fees for the very last semester in which I enrolled.

I do not plan to have any dealings with that university ever again. Nor do I intend to work in academia.

It appears that eventually they will put some sort of "financial hold" on my student account, but given that I already have what I need (namely the degree), I don't really care about that.

So my question is this: What consequences are there if I never pay those tuition fees? For example, can they (or will they) revoke my degree? Are they likely to pursue me for the money?

New information added: I originally requested that morality and ethics be left out of this question, but it seems clear that with some exceptions (notably NateEldredge), this request has been ignored. So I would like to elaborate a little more on my situation, in the hopes that the focus will be moved a little further away from calling me a thief and instead answering my above questions.

(1) I last took classes in the spring semester and was supposed to graduate then, but because of a mistake on my part, I missed the deadline to apply for graduation that semester. And so in order to graduate, I had to register for the summer semester as well. I did not take any classes in the summer semester. I did not take up any additional resources during the summer semester, unless you include whatever little manpower was required to process my graduation. Nonetheless I was fully billed for it, as if I took a full load of classes.

(2) This is perhaps controversial, but I personally view the US higher education system as being costly to the point of injustice. I have already paid >$200k in tuition and fees into the system and now I am being billed for another semester in which I took no classes.

The money is not the issue. If I go ahead with this plan, I will donate every penny of that semester's worth of tuition fees to some worthy charity instead. The issue is that I am disgusted with having to give away even more of my money to the bloated, inefficient, "not-for-profit" US higher education system.

Some here have called me a thief. But I prefer to see this as a small act of civil disobedience---akin to what Aaron Swartz did, when he "stole" millions of articles from JSTOR and refused to compensate JSTOR for the "damages". (Note: By no means do I consider this potential act of mine as great and noble as Swartz's; I'm just trying to draw an analogy here.)

(3) BTW, I am an international student. So there is the option of me simply leaving and never returning to the US, in which case the concerns associated with bad credit are moot. Although I would also like to have the option of staying in the US, and so I do welcome and appreciate the answers given thus far regarding credit issues.


texts: What does it mean if the status of manuscript changed directly from "editor assigned" to "reviews completed"?

texts: I submitted a manuscript to a journal a month ago but the status was changed to "reviews completed" after "editor assigned," with nothing in between. What does that mean?


texts: Hearing back after an academic interview in the UK

texts:
I had an interview for a lecturer position at a UK Russell group University 2 days ago and haven't heard back yet. From previous experience, I am usually given a call within 24 hours of being successful in an interview. I am holding off signing an offer by another University (not a great University) and being pressured to respond. I really want the first job but feel my chances are getting lower by the day?
I'd like to hear about other experiences and whether this timeline is unrealistic? I work in the field of science, not sure this makes a difference?


texts: How will the COVID-19 pandemic affect graduate admissions?

texts:
I have recently learned that all my internship offers were cancelled due to COVID-19, and I never felt this anxious before. People tell me I should not be worring since everyone is affected, but in my country research opportunites are very rare and nearly all of my previous experience is only vaguely related to my area of interest, in contrast to the offers I've  just been denied. This summer is also the most critical in my studies, since I'm more knowledgable than any time earlier and more likely to make an actual contribution.

I wouldn't be this worried if I could stay in the UK for my PhD (which is unlikely now due to Brexit), but I've almost finished my Fulbright application for graduate study in the USA. I would feel obliged to apply to US programmes if I were to be granted the award, but I'm not sure how I would compare with other students due to this gaping hole in my resume.

I guess what I want to know is if most students are in a similar position. Are other REUs and SURFs also getting cancelled or am I just unlucky? And most importantly, is there anything I can do to mitigate this and improve my chances for admission to graduate school?


texts: How should a prof assign duty for a course with a discussion forum/board?

texts:
I am (with a few fellow TAs) helping a prof with an online course in STEM that has a discussion forum/board. However, it seems to me that this wasn't really thought through and now we have reached a very difficult situation in the course.

The prof assigned these duties to us on top of all the regular duties during the non-covid years, e.g., grading and tutorials. However, answering questions is a very unregulated task, which can easily go over-time depending on the difficulty of the more or less spontaneous question we get from the students.
We have 2 TAs answering question each week. However, my fellow TAs don't really care about answering questions (maybe they think it is a waste of their time?) and the bystander effect rans rampant among the course staffs (all waiting for someone else to answer). The prof do not enforce the TAs to answer questions.
All of us have to follow every minute detail about the course because the question can come from anywhere. This puts an enormous amount of pressure on us as compared to non-covid years, where all technical course related questions are assigned to one designated TA. Now all of us have to be experts in everything.
The students are not well trained on how to ask questions, and many questions essentially boils down to "my computer is doing the wrong thing, help!"
Aside from that, the students also ask a wide range of questions. TAs essentially have became personal tutors, online IT technicians, mental health professionals (to answer general grade-related concerns from stressed-out students), and career counselors.

As of right now, the discussion forum has entirely been taken over by questions left unanswered (and students do not bother to mark which question that has already been resolved, so we may be wasting our efforts). Where did things go so wrong and what can we do (in the future)?


texts: When should I register for an ORCID identifier?

texts:
I plan on starting my PhD in a few years. Is there any particular time that I should register for an ORCID identifier? Can I do it now (still an undergraduate student), or should I wait for acceptance to a PhD program? Or, am I overcomplicating this and the time of registration doesn't matter?

This may seem like a basic question, but I couldn't find any information on the website.


texts: What happened to the Piled Higher and Deeper comics?

texts:
Without dating myself too badly, I have enjoyed PhD comics since the beginning. For the past few years, there have been about 2 or 3 new comics a week, but there has not been a new comic in months. I don't really follow all their social media contacts, but it does not look like there has been a tweet or a facebook update in a while.

Was there any announcement about a break (or the end)?


texts: How to tell if a Journal is peer reviewed and/or legitimate?

texts: I am working through my dissertation and was just wondering, how would you know if a journal is peer reviewed or actually legitimate? If a journal etc has an ISSN number on them, does this mean the journal is peer reviewed and good to use?


texts: Mysterious dashes in transcribed interviews for a dissertation

texts:
I'm editing a dissertation for APA style. I'm encountering a number of transcribed interviews that appear similar to the following:

I'm very consis-...ah, -consistent...yeah.

The ellipsis issues aside, this is the first time I've encountered dashes as shown above.

It appears that the dashes are cues for an incomplete word in the first part of the quote and for the complete word in the second part of the quote.

True?

In any case, my inclination is to suggest to the author that they rewrite the text by using brackets, i.e.:

I'm very consis[tent] . . . yeah. (If pause and hesitation are not crucial.)

I'm very consis-(pause) . . . ah, consistent . . . yeah. (If pause and hesitation are crucial.)

For those of you who are well-versed in APA for dissertation purposes, would you agree with this or suggest a different way of handling it?

Note: I was not successful in looking for guidance in APA 6th edition and at apastyle blog.


texts: How to reach theoretical computer science researchers in China and India? Any equivalent of the DMANET mailing list?

texts:
An effective way of making researchers in Europe in the field of theoretical computer science aware of open positions, such as PhD positions, Postdoc positions, assistant professor positions, and so on, is to send an announcement to the DMANET mailing list. In addition, this list is often seen by researchers in many other non-European countries.

After posting a job announcement at DMANET, I have received applications from all over the world, but to my surprise, none from  China or India. I wonder if DMANET is as popular in China and in India as it is in Europe, and some other countries among TCS researchers.

So the question is: what are the Chinese and Indian equivalents of the DMANET mailing list? Or if such lists do not exist, what is the most effective way of reaching researchers in TCS in these countries?

Note: I'm really only interested in effective ways of reaching researchers in theoretical computer science.


texts: Should I include proofs for known theorems in a doctoral thesis in mathematics?

texts: In general, in a thesis we recall the theorems of other mathematicians before stating our results published in a scientific journal. My question, is it essential to give the proofs of these theorems (for example these theorems are mentioned in the first chapter  of the thesis) or I will give the outline of the demonstration or only the statements ?


texts:
Imagine that you want to conduct your undergraduate classroom in a more creative way and introduce practical projects as a part of the final grade. However, students are lazy to embrace extra activities, and all of them decide not to deliver any report.

The department does not like the trouble of failing all students in a course because of an extra project.

What would you do to implement change when students are widely resisting?
Or as @JeffE suggested, How to deal with a department that does not give its instructors autonomy in assigning grades?

Additional Description: In fact, I want to change the grading system to reduce the weight of final exam, and add to small projects (e.e.g writing a one-page about the topic under consideration). The lazy class prefer to deal with one final exam instead of continuing homework. The school does not support this method, but they do not stop me as long as there is no trouble.


texts: Is it okay to file administrative complaints about problems with the facilities and services in an academic settings?

texts:
Background Information:

I am a doctoral student at a premier institute which is also a hospital. Most of the administrative positions are handled by professors who are also clinicians and researchers. Sad as it might be, there are a lot of things for which the bar is quite low. Three specific examples:

the cafeteria on campus has absolutely rock-bottom level of quality/hygiene standard
similar low standard when it comes to maintenance of washrooms etc.
impossibly poor standards of on-campus residences

These are usually taken care of by administrative staff but at the end of the day are under administrative control of one or the other faculty (honorary "in-charges"). Not only these set a very poor impression when we have visitors but it also lowers the morale of the research staff. Sustained exposure to such a pathetic environment impairs productivity and there is always a prevalent air of gloom among students on the campus. Somehow it seems that the administrators are not interested in remedying any such situation and things seem to have become worse in the recent years.

Question:

Is it potentially harmful* for students to send formal complaints to the administrators requesting action to be taken? In case the administrator does nothing, should it be sent higher up in the hierarchy? How should attention be brought to such things so that they are resolved?

*harmful in terms of being bullied by senior faculties in the future; having carrier plans blocked because the same faculties might be on your review committees, et al

What I have tried to do:

I have sent anonymous emails to which I have either not received any reply or else have received a reply explicitly asking me to disclose my identity. In either case, complaints have never been worked on. I have tried to speak to my advisor about this but he has never been encouraging about the idea of formally writing complaints because of similar concerns mentioned above.


texts: How to properly cite a domain-specific result of a generic concept from a paper?

texts:
I plan to cite two sets of equations (referred to as Equations X and Y) from a paper. Equations X that hold for a model look like textbook results to me, but the authors give a lengthy explanation with a citation to another paper. Equations Y were derived for a special case of the model, since only the special case is useful in that paper. I am working on a different problem and will use this model. I need to include both Equations X and Y in my paper.

Is it appropriate to cite the Equations X followed by a similar but much shorter explanation as follows:

  The following equations hold for these performance variables, as also seen in [citation]?

Is it enough or should more credits be given?

For equations X, it is quite obvious that it also holds for the general Model. Can I write something like the following?

  [citation] has showed the above equation for the special case where L=0. It can be easily verified that it also holds for L>0.


texts: Choosing a journal to offer services for review

texts: I'm a Master's level statistician working in academics research, public health policy, and so on. The area itself is marginally interesting to me. I'm interested in professional development, but my connections and resources are somewhat sparse. One thought I had was to offer services to provide methodologic review for scholarly journals that publish articles with data analyses. I've heard repeatedly from other academics that the need for methods review is very high, but I haven't been proactive in searching out such journals. How do you suggest I approach the matter? Do I email the editors with my CV and explain my interest?


texts: Is it appropriate to send out a manuscript under review to a professor?

texts:
I have a MPhil and planning to start my PhD soon. I sumbitted a manuscript to a popular journal in the field. After two rounds of major revisions, the editor is requesting a minor revision now. I finished the revision and submitted. The revised manuscript is now "with editor".

At the same time, i am emailing an oversea Professor who is one of the big names in the field. I am trying to invite her to be my co-author of my second manuscript. She agreed to read. And she asked me to send her the one with editor. Is it appropriate to send her the manuscript which is "with editor"? She mentioned that one of her PhD students may want to read my manuscripts too.

In fact, i would like to collaborate with this professor and ask her to be my oversea PhD advisor. I am happy that she wants to read my works. But i am not sure if this is an appropriate action to send out a manuscript under review.

Thanks in advance.


texts: Good, neutral source for ISBN linking? (on citing books)

texts:
In my bibliography, I want to link the ISBN number to an actual website. My question is: which website is recommended to be used? Is there some 'neutral' source that I can expect to be still functioning in 5 years and that will return reliable results?

IBSN numbers are apparently provided by the International ISBN Agency, so this would clearly be the best source. Turns out, however, that they do not offer an ISBN lookup! I am currently considering two options:

Google Books: http://www.google.comco.uk/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=isbn:0060930314&num=10

ISBNSearch.org: http://www.isbnsearch.org/isbn/0060930314

Both appear to have their commercial interest, but they appear to be reliable enough. I would prefer Google. Or is there any other more recommended website?


texts: Is there an official way to include an image from the internet in a paper?

texts:
For a paper we're writing, we need to use a small image of a popular, easily recognized piece of consumer electronics.

In previous drafts of the paper, a long time ago, someone made an image for the paper that ended up being the "headliner" image, i.e., the largest image that explains and outlines the subject of the whole paper. In it, because it was such an early draft and he was just trying to get the concept down, he clearly just googled the name of the piece of electronics and grabbed a random image he liked, cropped it, and put it in the larger image.

Now we're at the stage where we're actually going to submit the paper, but of course now part of our "headline" image is a random picture that we don't own, so I'm in a bit of an awkward position. Hopefully I can at least get the original composite image from the one who made our "headline" image (the image in the paper is flat so it can't just be "ungrouped" so I can remove/replace the offending part), but even then I don't know how to proceed.

So my question is, how can one use images in this way in a professional paper? Are you allowed to use anything on the internet as long as you credit it clearly? And if so, is there some way you're supposed to credit just a random URL?


texts: What is the difference between literary review and abstract

texts:
My undergraduate dissertation requires a literary review and an abstract.
I have been reading published papers similar to my topic but which are mostly at masters level and all of them have an abstract but no literary review.

So what is the difference between a literary review and abstract?
My understanding is the literary review is talking about what you have read and being critical and that an abstract introduces the dissertation. The problem is that when I start to write the literary review, it starts to become the abstract and I will just be repeating myself in the abstract.
Furthermore, where should the literary review be placed?


texts: Emailing potential PhD advisors (recent change in research interest)

texts:
I'm currently getting ready to apply to graduate programs in Chemistry, and am beginning to contact potential advisors. My problem is that until recently, I was planning to focus on field X, but have realized that I cannot see myself doing a PhD in this field.
After reading some papers in field Y, I am really excited about the possibility of doing research in this field, and have identified some potential advisors in field Y.
The problem is that all of my previous experience is in field X, and I don't really have any experience in field Y. Should I address my reasons for deciding not to pursue field X? And how do I demonstrate my sincere interest in field Y?


texts: Does the school or the student cover health insurance for PhD students in the US?

texts: I was just wondering what people's experiences were regarding health insurance at US institutions for PhD candidates.  Does the school, itself, cover the cost, the individual, or something else?  I am particularly curious how this may be changing in response to the Affordable Care Act.


texts: If you have done well in undergrad (i.e one of the top students of the graduating class; physics and mathematics major with highest honors; with exposure to engineering) and have done a masters for 1-2 years with research experience and publications (i.e assisted professor and PhD students and have coauthored 2-3 papers), do you have a good chance of going to a top 10 physics graduate school?


texts: How can I challenge a grade based on false accusation of submitting non-original work?

texts:
I need some advice on what I can do, and how much hope is left on this case-

A couple of months back, I finished my Media GCSE and got a C. It's alright, I guess, but I hoped for a little higher. It turns out I got 2 points off a B. What dragged me down was my Horror Movie Trailer Coursework- I had to make a horror movie trailer.

I decided to do mine a bit differently- I made a basic engine in Unity and built a 3D Horror world around it. It was made out of assets made by me, including textures, code and I worked solo on it completely. It turned out great, and it wasn't the trailer itself that my teacher had a problem with. It was the fact that he didn't believe it was mine, and I got under half marks because of this.

The trailer was owned completely by me- I owned the textures, code, I did the editing- everything. But because it was made in Unity and the graphics were pretty well, my teacher wasn't buying that it was mine. There was quite a time frame before me submitting my work and getting the results back. I didn't think this problem would arise, so I deleted my work, and the project is gone due to a change in laptop. Now, I have no evidence of it.

I believe that the coursework was marked unfairly, but with no evidence of the coursework, and as I've already received the C, I'm not sure what I can do about it, but I really badly want that B.

Can I not bring it up with the school? Could I write a complaint letter or something? I just don't know what I can do- I'm a bit lost. I hope you can help me, and sorry if this is the wrong place. I was just disappointed in getting a C when I should have a B.


texts: Is the usage of "vice versa" appropriate in academic writing?

texts:
I have written:

  In an oil-water system, if the particle contact angle is larger than 90°, showing greater affinity for the oil phase, then the system is likely to be a W/O emulsion and vice versa.

Does this convey "if the particle contact angle is lower than 90°, that the system is more likely to be O/W emulsion", in a more professional way, or does it seem lazy?

I hate writing repeating sentences, with a few different words.


texts: The academic promotions procedure at my Australian university includes specifically publications in A/A* journals. What defines A/A* and where can I find out which journals are in this category?


texts: How to write/format a digression in conference/thesis papers

texts:
I am currently writing a paper and in one of the sections it would be appropriate to write a quick digression to explain one topic in more detail.
My structure would be something like

Section X (H1)
  [some normal text]

  Digression: Bla in detail (H2)
  [text of digression]

  [continue with text from Section X]

But that way, there is no clear part for the reader to see that the digression is over.

So how do I structurally return from a digression to continue with the initial topic? How are digressions usually structured and set apart from the rest of the section in conference/thesis papers?

(Is it even good practice to have digressions?)


texts: Have textbook writers really read all the literature in their bibliography?

texts:
Currently I am reading a textbook (in financial mathematics), and the bibliography is just huge. Pages upon pages of books and articles and whatnot. I'm talking hundreds of sources.

Did the author really read all of those things during the course of writing the book? Is that normal?

Or is it just something they think will be useful for students, i.e. a source they may know as popular in the field but haven't read themselves? For example, somebody in mathematics might now of books by Rudin and what topics they contain, without ever actually have read themselves, so they could use that as a source without having read it, i.e like this:

  for further information about functional analysis, see (Rudin, 2003) [1].


texts: How would you react as a professor if a student has been going to your office hours and does not perform well on an exam?

texts: Say if a student goes to the professor's office hours to get help on class material and homeworks. Then, on test day, the student does not perform well on the test, and turns in the test with some questions not completed in a one hour time period. How would you react and grade as a professor?


texts: Should I feel obligated to include my advisor as coauthor?

texts:
I've been working on a project with a faculty member (let's call him S) that is not my advisor (let's call him A).
They are in different departments, and have little overlap. I am working on something with S (actually I am doing it mostly by myself, with a bit of advice from S) and am planning on publishing the results. I have shared the project with A, but since it's not his field, I know he has at best a vague understanding of the contents of the paper. However he did give the idea for the methodology, which I used.
S has continued giving me advice about this paper, mostly relating to expanding on the theory of the methodology he suggested. I don't think it's very useful (he doesn't understand the context) and would prefer to just go in the direction set with S.
However, when it comes to authorship, should I include A? It feels wrong to not include him when he has been giving well-intentioned advice (and supplied a crucial suggestion for the methodology). However, it also doesn't feel right to include him, since he isn't familiar with the rest of the contents of the paper beyond the methodology section.


texts:
I am writing a scientific paper and I introduced the abbreviaton:
Underfloor heating system (UFH).

Can I now use UFH to talk about the underfloor heating system or do I have to write: UFH system?

I am asking because I have many pictures that are difficult to change were I use UFH (and it should stand for underfloor heating system).


texts: Book chapters and theses in literature review: to include or not?

texts:
Could/should scholarly book chapters and published theses (dissertations) be included in the literature review as sources?
In theory, those are scientific publications, right? However, those are also usually based on previously published work.


texts: Is it wise to ask a PhD supervisor about the quality of my work?

texts:
She says, why do you want to hurry? Let's put the defense in December, then you can have several publications out till then.

I am thinking of asking directly, "What do you think about my PhD work? Are you not happy with my work and is that the reason you are delaying correcting my manuscripts? "

Will that be appropriate? What should I do and tell/ask her?


texts: Is there a publication or citation based indicator of the pace of change in a field?

texts:
Impact factors exist to quantify the "impact of a paper."

Does a similar metric exist for quantifying the pace of change (obviously determined by quantity of high-impact factor papers) in a particular field (physics, in particular)?


texts: How to deal with a professor who delayed my contract signature until I received better postdoc offers?

texts:
I just got my PhD 2 weeks ago. Last April I discussed with a professor about an offer to join her team. However, this offer was pending a certain project acceptance (I was supposed to work mainly on that project).

The project got accepted on July and I accepted to start working beginning of December. Since September I sent 3 emails asking when can we start with the official procedures of preparing and signing the contract. I always received the same answer 'whenever you want', I would reply that I need to start it early so I can settle and finish the boring paperwork, then I receive nothing back.

Until 2 days before my PhD defense when she suggested to start the procedures of preparing a contract (these procedures would take at least 3 weeks). Meanwhile this professor asked me to do minor tasks for the project, I did it. But when she kept delaying the official procedures, I felt worried. I thought maybe she is not sure yet about hiring me, so I made other interviews and already received two much better offers and I'm comparing between the three offers now.

My question is, how rude, professional-wise, my situation is? I already talked to her by phone and described that I'm deciding between various offers and that I will finally decide in two days but she wasn't ok with that at all. She said you are already committed with me (even without a contract). I really don't want to burn bridges.


texts: Are relationships between faculty and graduate students at different universities acceptable?

texts: It is commonly understood that romantic relationships between faculty and students at the same university are frowned upon, or explicitly forbidden. However are romantic relationships between faculty and graduate students at geographically far away universities acceptable? Are they still acceptable if the faculty and graduate student are in the same field or neighboring field? Is a small age difference between faculty and graduate student ever relevant in such situations?


texts:
Last year I did a year long Quantum Chemistry internship at a very prestigious university. Towards the end of my internship I met another principle investigator from the same institution and got interested in their work (Material Sci). I didn't get time to develop a relationship since I had to move for college in less than a weeks time(transferred from a Junior College into my junior year), but I wanted to try to intern in their lab this summer, and if they liked me enough, go there as a grad student upon graduation.

I was wondering if there is anything wrong with this plan. For example, I've heard often that universities want you to go somewhere else for your grad school than undergrad in order to "meet more people in your field". I wanted to know if this custom also tends to apply with internships done in undergraduate years.

Edit: I am a physics major in case you are wondering.


texts: I sent an email asking for letter of recommendation almost a week ago and have not received a response. Does it mean NO?

texts:
I asked my ex-professor for a LOR almost a week ago and I have got no response yet. It is making me pretty nervous and I am not sure what I should do now. I was thinking about visiting him at the department and asking him in person, but I am afraid that his silence means "no" and it will be quite an awkward situation when I ask him.
I know that maybe he is on holiday, or the mail could fall into the spam folder, but I do not think so, because it never happened with any mail I sent him before.

Is it good idea to see him in person and ask him like that? Can no response mean "no"?

EDIT: He knows me - when he was my teacher we talked several times outside the class and I wrote him an email one month ago and he answered it, so I guess there shouldn't be a problem.


texts:
Over the past 3 months due to Covid-19, many of my peers have pinged me during exams asking me for answers to questions. I, of course, turn them down (albeit after I'm done with the exam so even if I sent it they wouldn't gain much due to the limited time left). I am usually at the top of my class, so I don't suspect that they ask many more people after me. So far, I've only reported cheating that I knew is actively taking place.

Should I also be reporting this type of prospective cheating where the other student doesn't actually receive any benefit? It feels wrong to me to punish those that gained no benefit, yet a friend I was causally talking to said that these people should be reported too.


texts: Does inclusion on the ARC ERA 2010 journal ranking list imply the journal is not predatory?

texts:
Leading up to 2010, the Australian Research Council’s Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative categorized journals (and conferences) into four categories A*, A, B, and C (see this Wikipedia page for details).

C-ranked journals (with the lowest ranking) are described as journals:

  that do not meet the criteria of higher tiers

which is not particularly informative.

I’m not sure if this initiative excluded journals that would be considered predatory (check your email spam folder for examples of predatory journals).  B or higher ranked journals would not be predatory, as there are people who vouch for them as containing some high-quality publications.  I’m not sure how the C journals were included.

Question: Does inclusion on the ARC ERA 2010 journal list imply the journal is not a predatory journal?


texts: How to present publication output on CV when you publish in fields where author ordering conventions vary?

texts:
I'm doing research in two different subfields, one of which usually orders names alphabetically and one of which usually orders by contribution. My last name starts with Z, so I'll always be last author in the former field. Both fields are close enough to the divide that it's not clear to an outsider which convention they would use.

How can I point this out in my CV? I can see three options:

Don't do anything, and just be last author on half of the papers.
Write "the author listings in items 2, 4, and 7 are alphabetical", which feels tacky.
Write "the author listings in papers in this subfield are alphabetical", which also feels tacky.

Is there anything else I could do? Should I be worrying about this at all?


texts: Is it proper to cite a web page using embedded metadata for an APA paper?

texts: I saved the home page for the Academic Libraries of Indiana to Zotero, and it pulled back an author from the metadata embedded in the page.  After pulling up the source of the page, I found a meta field defined as "DC.Creator" (which, according to the comment above the metadata block is a Dublin Core element).  Given that the page itself doesn't display this person's name, is it appropriate to cite the page as authored by that person, or should the institution be named as author?  I suspect if I cited the page as written by the organization it wouldn't be considered wrong, but at the same time, knowing that metadata is there makes me feel odd not attributing the authorship to the defined (but somewhat hidden) author.


texts: Where can I publish summaries of my research?

texts: I would like to publish summaries of my research in some news or research journal for the sake to promote the research. But there I don't want to publish anywhere but the summaries are also not so exciting to publish it in a prestigious journal. It is more to have a recognized online presence (url and doi) that is not the own homepage. What could I do?


texts: Can my school fire me on the grounds that I have applied to another school?

texts:
I'm in the middle of a 4-year Ph.D. program on a full scholarship, in a foreign country. Due to expertise issues, lack of community, and other reasons I have decided that this program is not suitable for me, and have applied and been admitted to another program in another country. I haven't informed my current school/supervisor, as I was supposed to leave here for the new institution by the July of this year (so I thought "why would I even endanger my position by informing them?"), but due to the pandemic and some complications related to my visa application I couldn't, so I deferred my studies for a whole year (to late 2022). Now I'm sitting here and wondering what would happen if my current school finds out that all the money they've been spending on me has been on nothing; worse for them, they'll still be paying me due to the scholarship commitments. (Very likely they will find out, soon or late.)
Are there any grounds that they can fire me? Like, is what I have done one such ground? What do you suggest, in general, I should do if they find out about my new school application? I was thinking to suggest to them that I can donate a portion of the scholarships that I've awarded back to them upon leaving here, but not sure if that's a good idea. (I have no legal commitment whatsoever in returning my scholarships under any circumstances; I just thought of my idea as a deal or something.)

Update (April 6): The Office of Graduate Studies confirmed that unless due to unsatisfactory progress (such as falling candidacy exams, etc.), my funding as well as registration status as a student in the current school is bound by my initial contract and cannot be cancelled on any other grounds.


texts: What do you suggest to keep track of new published papers?

texts: I already know of the app Researcher, but lately I found it is quite buggy and was wondering what people do to keep updated. Do you just join mailing list from selected journals or search daily for some keywords? Or is there something else I could use?


texts: 'Etiquette' of including course lecturer as author in a paper

texts:
Consider please the two following cases:

I took a graduate course, and I naturally did the final project on something related to my research subject. I got a nice conclusion from it. It wasn't nearly enough for publication, but I later on wrote a paper that had included material I got doing my course project. The 'size' of contribution (if that has any relevance) was about half a column from the entire paper. The course lecturer hadn't helped me especially, i.e. we didn't remotely discuss publishing anything.
I did another graduate course, in which the lecturer talked about his own research. Later on, unrelated to the course, I used the methods he taught and wrote a paper based on it.

These are two unrelated cases.

I was wondering if the lecturers should be included as authors in a paper in either case.