Deadline for resubmission in Physical Review E As the title suggests, does anyone what is a typical deadline for the resubmission in the mentioned journal? As it was not specified anywhere.

I have only published in other Physical Review journals, but I'm not sure they have a hard deadline. If there is, it's never been communicated to me anyway. As written in the comments, the best way to know for sure would be asking the journal staff or the editor... As a semi-relevant anecdote, I was once quite slow in finishing a minor revision for PRB, and the editors asked me about the status of the paper after roughly one and a half months. They then accepted me saying that it'll be resubmitted in two weeks.

Generally, if you have long delays (think over one month) - especially if there's decent justification for it - I think the journal will be happy to work with you if you communicate this to them.


Proper way of refering to yourself, according to graduate level I currently have a degree as a Master in Computer Sciences, and i was always wondering on how to call myself in a more "short" manner. For example, a PhD might introduce himself as a "Doctor" to other people, but how does a MSc call himself: "Master"? "Mister"? "MSc"?.

Talking to some PhD and MSC acquaintances, they had the same doubt about it, and i think this might be a good place to inquire about such topic, and i could not find another related question to answer myself.

According to proper etiquette you may use Master as a title (as in “Master Segovia”) if and only if you are:

the heir apparent of a Scottish viscount or baron
a boy not old enough to be called “Mr.”

The New Oxford American Dictionary (which gives the above information) also lists the archaic use as a  “title for a man of high rank or learning”, but (a) that is archaic, (b) it was not linked to a specific degree, just a courtesy title.

There is no formal title in British English or American English to designate someone who holds a Master's degree. Get over it, and earn a PhD! :)


What are characteristics of a "good" thesis topic? This may be too discipline specific, but I'm going to give it a shot.

I'm still relatively new to grad school (6 months), but I've been told by several older students to keep an eye out for potential thesis/dissertation topics.  I'd like to start a list of potential ideas for myself - I'm sure some will be solved before I start my actual thesis, and others are already solved and I just need to read more. But what are some characteristics of a "good" thesis topic?

I completely agree with ff524's criteria, but here are some further considerations:

A good thesis topic should not be all or nothing.  Instead, it should accommodate a range of levels of ambition.  There should be fallback options that would be enough to graduate even if things go poorly, moderately ambitious outcomes that you could reasonably aim for, and very ambitious outcomes that would be fantastic if they could be achieved.
It should offer scope for creativity and choice by the student.  You can only impress hiring committees so much if it looks like your advisor was the mastermind behind your thesis.  Instead, it has to be clear that over time you took ownership of the project and played a major role in determining its direction (even if your advisor made the initial suggestion and provided feedback and guidance).
Your thesis topic should connect with other topics you'd like to explore in the future.  If you spend your entire early career revisiting and elaborating on your thesis topic, it won't set you up for success as a researcher.  Instead, you need to branch out, and your choice of thesis topic can really help with this.  Choose a topic that is central and well-connected to adjacent areas, rather than one that is isolated.  That way you can build on your previous experience as you branch out.
Your thesis advisor needs to care about the topic.  Sometimes people are willing to supervise theses on topics they don't particularly care about.  They do this in an attempt to be helpful, but it can end up working against you when you graduate and discover that your advisor's lack of caring translates into a lack of support on the job market.
For a multi-year project like a thesis, it's generally best to pick a topic that seems to be becoming more popular and influential over time, rather than less so.  This sounds obvious, but it's surprisingly subtle to figure out.  Beginners are sometimes a little behind the times and can get excited by topics that were hot a few years ago but have since been thoroughly investigated and are already in decline.
It should be something you like doing, not just something you would like to have done.


Till what point do you do exercises while studying? I will try to make this as less subjective:
Till what point do you continue doing exercises at end of the chapter to learn something:
I do it in Grad school and that's where I really learn. Do professors/post docs learning about new fields do it too?

Learning is a life long activity. Graduating with a PhD is not a license to stop learning, it's a license to (eventually) get paid to do research and learn more :)


Could your supervisor decide what you post on social media? I am a first year PhD student in Europe, I started in November. My supervisor has recently take a liking into posting on social media and communication-related issues (style, words, hours etc), even for subjects that are not strictly related to our laboratory academic activities. Since he was also my supervisor for my master thesis, I know for a fact that he discovered Altmetrics only a year ago or so.
Problem: today he basically demanded that whenever he posts on social media something that's related to the lab activities, it is mandatory that all members have to like and share on their personal account the post or whatever that will be.
There are other issues with him, but in this case I think that this is a violation of personal space: I should decide what to post or like with my personal social media account, not my supervisor or future employers.
Question: could he even think of making this kind of demands?
Edit: I know that for someone could sound like a rhetorical question (to me, it sure does), but I wanted to hear others' opinion on the subject.
Update: I managed to apply and then win a PhD position abroad in a better university, with a more stimulating working environment and a more professional group.
It was fair on my end to tell my supervisor that I was about to sign a contract and quit the current PhD program: it was fun that in this situation, while I was explaining that I was planning on leaving, my behavior was labeled by him as "unethical". Furthermore, if we were to collaborate in the future for any kind of reason/project, I would be stigmatized, as in labeled as "unreliable" for the decision of quitting/leaving (a low-key professional threat basically).

First, it would help to know which country in Europe because there are big gaps in the way PhD programs work from country to country. There are untold agreements between supervisors and students depending on the country/university. How far into the program are you?

Second, what social media you are referring to. Is it LinkedIn or Facebook? It would help to know more background, because you can use their features to “trick” a post exposure.

Third, is he asking you politely, with arguments or he’s just pushing you to do that by imposing authority? If this is the case, there are legal aspects and PhD school directors or coordinators can help with this. Here is why it is important to know which country. In Scandinavia, for example, the system is well organized and you can go and talk to the PhD school director and ask for advice without any consequences. Moreover, the supervision there is not so abusive and if it is (like in your description) then you should consider going to another supervisor (this depends on funding, of course).

Is he imposing any consequences if you don’t do so? Did you try to talk to him about this? It always help to talk to them and see if you are on the same page.

Lastly, surely it is unethical and wrong to request something like this, but you should also try to understand why and if this makes sense. At the beginning of my PhD I thought that it would be unethical to add a supervisor/colleague in an article as a coauthor, but later I found out that it made sense after weighting the indirect contribution of that specific person.

These are the kind of things that you have to solve with a meeting and discuss with your supervisor about what’s bothering you. It’ll also help you to decide if it is worth continuing with this type of supervision. Moreover, if that’s the only thing he’s requiring and he does it politely, you might want to make a “sacrifice”. In the end, you are not sharing fake information or information about something that is not indirectly related to you. You can just share and then delete. Or share only with your group. There are always methods to make a small compromise if you feel like it is worth it from other perspective. If you are at the beginning, then brace yourself for more. You will be surprised how many compromises will need to make to have things running smooth and forward.


Are there academic institution-specific equivalents to attorneys (a professional who assists in navigating conduct and justice systems)? There's an interesting question over at Law.SE on the possibility of suing a university over what the OP saw as unfair disciplinary practices. I have often wondered...
Is there a type of professional or professional practice related to advising or representing students and/or faculty within the context of internal disciplinary procedures?
As a concrete example, let us assume that Mary was expelled for allegedly falsifying data for her thesis. Mary contests this.

If she sues in civil court, she should consult an appropriately-qualified, local attorney.
But if she instead takes her argument directly to the university's disciplinary committee, she will need someone with an in-depth knowledge of the policies, procedures, rules of evidence, witness disqualification criteria, time limits, etc. that are internal to the university. This person could scrutinize the investigation in-depth and "beat them at their own game" by pointing out how the evidence, according to university policy, should be seen in her favor or does not meet the internal requirements for expulsion.

Another example might be a purely advisory context: perhaps one is considering a romantic liaison with a student, and is wondering whether this could affect their employment.
Does such a professional or service exist? Is this a domain of highly specialized "regular" lawyers? Is there a separate professional practice for academic advisors?
Clarifications:

This is a general question; I'm not currently facing a situation on which I need advice.
If necessary, we can limit the scope of the question to academic misconduct (plagiarism, falsifying data, cheating on exams, etc.) rather than personal misconduct.
I will tag this as US to further limit the scope, but I'm certainly interested in any answers, regardless of the location.

I’m not aware of what you are asking about existing as a type of professional that one can retain (as per your question) — I suspect that would be a rather poor way to make a living — but at my university there are people who are available to consult on matters such as Mary’s expulsion case.
Since Mary sounds like a graduate student, the relevant place to go would be the university ombuds office. In some cases the student union or an employee union of some sort may offer some help.
If Mary were a faculty member, she would go to a committee of our academic senate where advisers would be able to advise her if the thing she wants to complain about is a violation of her rights as a faculty member, and about the procedure for challenging the administration’s decisions.
These advisers are themselves regular faculty members like me and only do this as a “side gig” for a few hours a month, but they will have received specialized training that gives them the knowledge to offer this sort of advice (in fact I am currently on a sister subcommittee of this committee so I received a lot of the same training myself), and will also have auxiliary staff they can turn to who specialize in the relevant policy matters and can offer further information if the need arises.
These advisers won’t be available for an unlimited time. Likely they will be able to meet with Mary 2-3 times and discuss her questions, but it’s not quite the same as having your own lawyer or other professional that you retain on an hourly basis.
Since through my involvement in the sister subcommittee I am privy to faculty grievances a bit like Mary’s, I can tell you that faculty members who really need professional help with their grievance process will often hire a lawyer (I have also seen cases of students hiring lawyers for help with a disciplinary matter), and this can make a big difference - it’s far from easy for someone without experience in these administrative processes to navigate the system. A lawyer may not be intimately familiar with the specific institution’s policies, but broadly speaking they have the right training and skill set to help in such challenging situations. They don’t come cheap, however...


System for organising printed papers in folders? For the people here who do not yet work entirely electronically, and still use printed papers & old school folders to organise their papers, do you guys have a system for organising these papers?

I have bought a few folders today and have made a few rough distinctions, but I am wondering how more advanced academics organise their papers once they've read hundreds to thousands of them (and also roughly on the same very specialised topic).

Separate the semantic ordering from the physical ordering. It keeps your organization flexible, since you can assign each paper to several topics and projects, and change the assignments as you see fit.

This can be achieved by using a filing cabinet or folders on the one hand, and a bibliographic database (be it electronic or in paper) on the other.

Label each paper with some identifier. I recommend the date or month, but also a running number will do. The label doesn't have to carry any meaning. Collect the papers with a certain range of labels in one folder. For example all papers with labels January to March go in one folder called "Jan-March 2018".

In your database, each entry should also carry the corresponding label under which the paper can be retrieved, in addition to the bibliographic data, and any semantic information such as projects and topic keywords.  Use the database, not the physical location, for organizing the papers by substance matter.

How the database itself should be organized is another question. I use folders for projects and keywords for topics. Creating a systematic ontology or adopting an existing ontology (e.g. the Dewey system) seems overkill. Instead, I recommend creating keywords on the fly ("tagging") and combing through the keyword list once in a while. This will be more difficult with a paper-based organization than with an electronic database, of course.


Is it right and polite to ask for a free copy of a published paper? There is a published research paper I would like to read. The website it is published in, charges what I think is quite a lot of money, considering that I won't use this for research or work.

I want to read this paper because its about a subject I am really interested in, but has nothing to do with what I study. I am a software engineering student and had never participated on any kind of research and I do not quite understand how all this things work.

So, the question is: is it right to ask for a copy of this paper to its author? If it is, how should I do it?

I don't think that it could be a problem to ask politely for a copy of this paper. It is understood, however, that you are polite and say thank you.

So, if you are interested, you should show it that way. It doesn't hurt to ask.


PhD Mathematics, University of Hagen I am 30 and work for an IT company in Germany as a software developer.

I did B.Sc. in Mathematics (pure) and M.Sc. in Computer Science. Since then I've occasionally spent time with solving math problems or learning new topics.

I've long been dreaming of doing a PhD in Mathematics and I'm especially interested in the Analysis.

If I had financial freedom I would've started a full-time PhD right now but it's not possible, since I'm financially responsible for my own family and for my parents.

At my current job I have a 6-hour schedule, which means that I'd have about 3 hours in the morning and about 2-3 hours in the evening to work on my dissertation. On the weekends I'd be able to give another 10 hours combined. So this makes about ~35 hours per week that I can carve out.

In Germany there is a public (and the largest) University of Hagen, which offers onsite and remote education. It specifically focuses on people, who might not have the possibility to be onsite. It is about 2h of driving from me, so I'd be able to go there from time to time.

Has anyone had experience with that University and what you think of the feasibility of my plan? I understand that it'd be impossible to finish the studies in a regular time of 3 years. I'm talking more of 5-6 years of work.

Almost forgot to mention. I'm also willing to spend about 3 hours / day while in vacation or on holidays with no exceptions.

Another thing that I thought of is going with the dissertation while saving some money in that time and then taking a leave of absence at work for about 1 year while surviving on that money (maybe even combining it with a scholarship if that is possible).

So if it goes well, I'd definitely accelerate in the end by switching to full-time for 1 year and finalizing the work.

Talk to them, the advisors will have met people with all options / constraints...

Or go and see them...


How to get academic search engines only search in open access journals? Sometimes I work from home, and for security reasons it is not possible to connect to the campus computers. I use Google Scholar for finding papers and so, but from home, most of the journals can not be accessed.

Is it there some way in which Google Scholar or another academic search engine searches only in open access journals?

PS1: There is no way in which I can access my campus, really.

PS2: OK, I will give more details, since it seems that PS1 is not clear enough. I am working with other collaborators that are not affiliated to any University. I could do VPN and similar but I can not pass them such information, or any other way of passwords or access to the campus, etc. We can only work with the open access papers they find. If the interesting papers are under a paywall, then they are useless for us. I hope this clarifies my questions, and thank everybody for the useful comments.

I'm not sure, whether you really meant open access journals, because when I'm searching at home and I'm too lazy to use the VPN of our university, I'm usually interested in publications I can access.

I wouldn't rely on Google Scholar alone, because I'm not sure whether they filter the results. When you study the advanced search of google a bit, you'll see, that some of the switches are really nice. One really important switch is the -filetype option. If you search for instance for image segmentation in Google Scholar you get instantly only results with a downloadable pdf file if you use

image segmentation filetype:pdf

Even more handy becomes this approach in a two step method. As you know, when you "put something in quotes" in google, you search for the exact string. This can be used to do the following:

find some preview of the article you want to download.
choose a very specific part of a sentence there
search for this part and use the filetype option

Non-scientific example: Sometimes I'm searching for piano notes of some popular songs and since everyone tries to make money with this, you often won't find a free, downloadable version. Therefore, I first search for something like "sheet music evanescence my immortal" and look at one of the first links, where you usually can see one sample page. Then I see, what's on the page and I use this information to adjust my search

"My immortal" "I'm so tired of" "Slowly and freely" filetype:pdf

and the first hit is a high-quality pdf with all pages.

The same approach sometimes works for scientific publications, because most scientists put their publication on their website. So while you have to pay on the journal website, you may get it for free somewhere else.


Should I cite the source of a definition in a thesis glossary? I'm writing my thesis and I added a glossary at the start with the more complex terms and their definitions.

The definitions usually come from scientific papers. My question is: should I cite those papers if I use their definition? (Even though I'd say a definition is something that is global.)

If you use something from another paper, then you should cite it. Make that a general rule. There are a number of reasons for it, only one of which is to avoid a charge of plagiarism when someone notices that they have "seen that before."

The other, perhaps primary, reason is that scholars want to know how a paper is situated within the scientific/mathematical literature and if previous work isn't cited it is difficult or impossible to do so. A future reader of your work may want to know where else this definition appears and what its history is. Citations make this possible.

However, for things that have become common knowledge, such as the definition of the derivative (math) or ph (chemistry) you don't need to give definitions as you can expect that they are known to every scholar in the field. But you probably wouldn't repeat those definitions in the first place unless you were doing a comparative history study of some kind, in which case you would cite the original sources.

Don't quote or paraphrase the work of others without citation.


Does a Meta-Study contribute to the Body-of-Research and how? The website sciencealert writes the following in one of their entries:

  The new meta-analysis of 20 studies updates the body of research regarding the phenomenon by including studies conducted more recently than 2007...

While I do see the value in a meta-analysis I am a bit unsure how it can add to the body of research since no new information/data is obtained.

It depends on how you define the "body of research". If you see it purely as a collection of all raw data, then no, a a meta-analysis would not contribute to it. However, I would argue that most people use the term "body of knowledge" much more widely, to mean all research that has been conducted and all knowledge that has been generated and published in a field.

In order to be publishable, a meta-analysis should produce new knowledge (e.g., through new experiments or analyses, or by increasing our confidence in previously-published analyses through comparison over a larger sample size), and in that way contribute to the sum of all knowledge in the field, even if no new data points have been collected.


How to cite paper when there is a gap between conference date and publication date We are preparing conference proceedings of a research unit to be published online for the first time. Their first conference was in 2010. We are developing their website with export citation options for each paper. But due to the gap in time between conference date (e.g. 2010) and online publication date (2016) we are confused how to build the citation style basing on APA. Especially that they will publish those papers within proceedings of special issue in their proceedings website under ISSN and not ISBN which mean serial volumes each one designed for one conference proceedings.
so, what is the best format of such citations please?

What matters is the publication date, not the date of the conference. I don't know APA well enough, but in my field, the format would look like this:

Wolfgang Bangerth, "What is reality?", Proceedings of the 12th
conference on impossible research, South Pole, March 12-24, 2010,
A. Stnas (ed.), Springer 2016.

In other words, the date of the conference appears as part of the "Proceedings of ..." text, whereas the date of publication (2016) is the normative date of publication.


What is exactly the role of a phd advisor? I'm a westerner doing my PhD in an Asian country. While writing this I've just finished my first year, but I'm getting so fed up with my academical environment that I decided to move my PhD.

One of the reasons why I went to Asia is that I'm in a technological field. Now a days with all these Asian countries up-and-coming, developing innovative products, it felt like a good moment to ride along on their train.

In the last year I'm experiencing major difficulties with my advisor and I'm not sure whether it's because of cultural differences or just me. Let me highlight some of the major issues:

When I did my masters, my advisors were actually people who gave me advice. My current professor is somebody who gives orders instead of advice. The big problem with that is that there's usually no room for persuading him with counter arguments. As stubborn as I'm, it usually ends up in me ignoring what he says.
There seems to be a big difference in how I approach weekly meetings. I make a selection of what I investigated during the week and decide myself which direction I go into and thus what I eventually present to him. It seems that he wants every direction thoroughly investigated and presented to him so that he can make a decision about the direction eventually.

These and other reasons, I don't think it makes people better. It won't let people think for themselves when they are just following. I got the comment last week that he thinks that my output is too low, but in fact I'm making the most progress, I'm just not presenting as much as everybody else because I make my own decisions upfront. I noticed that I intentionally not share everything with him anymore, because he always manage to turn everything upside down in one hour per week and ends with "just do it." Like he always creates the strangest and most complicated experimental designs (e.g., 3x3x3) with factors that I don't think are related. I just want to perform a simple 2x2 design and deepening it more and more based on the results. It just feels very odd that somebody who only gets involved into a project an hour per week gives orders about the direction.

Well the thing is that I seems to be the only one who thinks this is not normal. Since I always hear those stories that doing a PhD is always tough and sometimes makes you hate your advisor, I'd like to know where the problem is. I don't mind toughness, but it needs to serve a goal. Before I'm accepted to a different PhD in another country, I'd like to know if I'm getting in the same situation. If so, I don't think a PhD is the right thing for me then.

The quality of your relationship with your PhD adviser is one of the biggest factors in determining your quality of life during grad school.  I strongly encourage anyone in your position to consider switching advisers (which it sounds like you're doing).
I don't know what field you're in, so I can't authoritatively speak to "the way it goes" in that field.  However, speaking as a mathematician, there are a wide range of management styles.  Often, even the same PhD adviser will manage different students differently, depending on their abilities and desires.

Some schedule a weekly hour meeting without fail; others say "come see me when you have something".  Some coauthor most of their students' papers, some rarely do. Some students, like you, feel micro-managed.  Others wish their adviser gave them more attention and cared more about their research.
 My adviser essentially let me pick all of my own research problems, which was what I wanted.  It took me longer to start publishing than some other students, but I also felt well-prepared for life on my own after grad school.

So in short, stubborn micro-management is not "just the way it goes"; rather it's just the way it goes when you're working for a power hungry egomaniac.  Run, don't walk, to find another adviser!


Not motivated for the second part of thesis I am asking for a hint about the following issue. I have this particular (let's call it weakness) that I have to be motivated to do research. I have done a large portion of my thesis in PhD, but not for all cases. To put it in an example, assume that you are trying to prove a theorem in mathematics, which has two cases. You and your advisor are both convinced that in principle should not be any difference for the proofs i.e. if you proved the first case, you expect that the second case also holds. However, my advisor really wants to see the result directly for the second case as well. The issue lies exactly here: I am not convinced (motivated, etc.) to study the second case which is just more messy but she insists on this. In this case, I am asking for your suggestions: how would you motivate yourself to repeat the same process for the second case? I should emphasize that the problem itself is very interesting for me, and the issue is not this. The problem is that I am convinced that the second case is just a boring repetition of my first approach. I'd be so much thankful for your suggestions!

Sorry, but there are parts of math that are just messy. Worse, there are subtle parts that can throw you off. If you don't follow her advice you may be stepping into a mine-field.
But, it also sounds a bit like burn-out, and that you need a break. How much time can you take off without thinking much about the problem and come back to it fresh. It may still be a slog, but depending on intuition only gets you to the point where you seek the proof that validates it. Insight and intuition are good (essential), but the proof is in the proof.
Relax for a while (week, month?) and then get cracking.
But also guard against being sloppy in your thinking. If the second case really is a bit more subtle and difficult then (a) you might skip over the real issue and (b) that part might be the essence of a better paper/thesis/whatever.


I didn't hear back after a postdoc interview. Can I set a deadline for a response? I was invited for an interview for a postdoc position at a research institution in another country. At the end, the panel told me that the HR will reach out early next week. I didn't hear back from the HR and decided to follow up the next week, in which the HR told me that "the panel are yet to confirm their decision" and I should expect an update in the next three days maximum.
Today was the last day of that deadline. The issue is that in a few weeks from now, I might start other activities in other universities (teaching and research on another project). I didn't confirm anything until I receive a response for that postdoc position. Can I follow up again and told them that I might have another engagement next week?
I am afraid that this might backfire, because they're asking me to wait and this gives me the impression that I'm plan B or something.

You should let them know that you have other opportunities at other universities that you need to respond to, and what those deadlines are.
If they can, they will try to avoid the situation where they can not hire you because you have been forced to agree to another job. That does not mean they can.
Generally speaking, people being informed is good.  Setting deadlines that look arbitrary is not.


Can NSF fund Lecturers? This question is somewhat related to: How portable are NSF grants between institutions and internationally?
I am currently employed as Lecturer by a state university in the USA. I am a recent PhD and am well-qualified for a tenure track position which I will apply for this Fall. Regardless of obtaining that position, I would like to submit a grant proposal to NSF to cover various equipment and personal time (i.e. Summer pay) needed to complete research over the next 2-3 years, and possibly a small team of undergraduates. It should be for a relatively small dollar amount, approx. 30k USD. By the end of this year I expect to have about 10 publications which are in some of the best journals in my field, so I have demonstrated that I am more than effective at doing research in my area.  Will NSF be able to accept a grant proposal from me, in my current position?  What if I join forces with a current tenured professor at my university... could we receive the grant even if I am the principal investigator (in the real sense that I would be driving most of the research)?

Your institution (and specifically at the school level if you are organized into schools) will have rules about who can submit applications as a PI.  It is generally accepted by NSF that if you have PI rights you can submit to their call as a PI, unless the solicitation requires you to hold a specific position or other qualifications.  You should check with the chair of your department to find out who gives those rights out and what the process is to obtain them.  You probably need a tenured-faculty sponsor (internally, not necessarily on the grant proposal).  I work at a prominent US research university, and the "exit strategy" is always a calculation in these conversations.  "What if you leave?" is always going to be a question.  If your answer is, "I will leave and will take this with me," the decision becomes murky for your Dean.  They have administrative costs to propose this grant, accept it, manage it, and transfer it.  What is in it for them?  If you aren't intending to leave, but must admit it could happen, be ready for an explanation as to what will happen to the grant and the people attached to it.  You should be prepared to submit a SOW (statement of work) along with the requisite form(s).
In terms of the process of transferring a grant; while the decision to transfer rests with the institution that receives the award (not the PI), it is generally considered good sportsmanship in academia to always transfer grants when PIs leave, unless the grant is highly collaborative or a large part of the research team/facilities remain.  At that point, a subcontract at no additional cost may be issued to the new institution (which will cost extra dollars in indirect costs).  In your case however, it may be that if you leave, your institution would look for a new PI rather than transfer with you.  You really will never know though until that day comes--it's on you to convince them to transfer it.
Your first step is to procure PI rights.  Do not delay on this.  If approved, find out immediately who will help you submit this grant.  You need to be connected to a research administrator ASAP to ensure all your documents are in order.  Do you have a Research.gov ID yet?  Have you read the NSF PAPPG to get documents together?  These things should be worked out sooner rather than later.
Be advised:  If you are submitting after 10/1, new forms will be required for the biosketch and current and pending, and I cannot stress enough the value in you checking in with an experienced administrator as soon as possible to find out the details of this process at your institution. It is very regulated and stressful when done last minute (within 10 days prior to the due date), even for very experienced folks. The staff will almost certainly have multiple submissions, and you want to grab their time when they are more free and less stressed out.  The new regulations are already causing people grief, and the fall is the busiest time of the year.


Academic integrity question on self-referencing and changing a paper after acceptance The day before yesterday I got an acceptance letter for a conference paper, with the ability to make some minor revisions over the next week.

This will be my first conference for my PhD so it's a fairly important milestone.

The thing is, I submitted some work in progress to a small workshop half a year ago, got accepted, and presented that WIP there. There were no proceedings, so apart from the presentation (powerpoint slides) that I gave, no materials were ever publicly released to this day.

The conference paper was written very last minute and hastily, based on some results, and I asked my supervisor what I had to do with the workshop abstract. Typically for him, he replied "whatever". So I didn't do anything with the abstract while writing on the conference paper, and just left it to gather dust on my laptop.

Right now, I feel like I could use the extra "publicity" that 2 extra entries on my scholar profile would give me, but I'm not sure what to do with the workshop abstract. It's not exactly building on the same method, but does use the same data, and has an interesting conclusion, that wouldn't hurt to mention in the conference paper. However, that would change the narrative a bit (the improvements over previous state of the art would be less significant, even though that's not entirely the point).

I probably made a mistake by not archiving and referencing this work in progress in the conference paper in the first place (do you think so?)? That being said, what's done is done, and I want to proceed in the most ethical way possible.

If I archive the workshop abstract, I feel like I ethically have to cite the abstract in my conference paper, because otherwise I pretend that the improvement is bigger than it is. But then, I would suddenly add new references to the paper citing my own work, that was never seen by the reviewers. And that feels very unethical to me.

If I don't archive the workshop abstract, I might still use the results in later follow up work. I think this is the proper solution, since it was never published.

What should I do? Should I ignore the existence of the workshop abstract and take the hit in visibility in the scientific community? Or should I cite it in the conference paper? Is the latter ethical?
I would talk to my supervisor, but he is totally not approachable about these things. He usually says "don't bother me with this trivial stuff" rather than helping, if it's not a question directly related to my research. So I have no clue what is right to do.

By my understanding:* You've presented some work-in-progress at a workshop, without proceedings. You have a conference paper accepted and you've been invited to make some minor revisions. The workshop presentation is built upon data used by the conference paper, but the methodologies are different. The workshop presentation drew a conclusion that you're contemplating including in the conference paper, albeit, that would change the narrative a bit. You feel that you made a mistake by not [citing the workshop presentation] in the conference paper. You're also concerned that not citing the workshop presentation would mean that you pretend that the improvement is bigger than it is, albeit, you're concerned that adding a new citation, which reviewers haven't seen, is very unethical. You're considering building upon your workshop presentation in the future and publishing that work later (and you consider this as the proper solution).

My thoughts:

You are under no obligation to cite your works-in-progress, especially those that are unpublished. That said, you may choose to.
You should not extend your conference paper to include new ideas - e.g., the conclusion you drew in your workshop presentation - since they haven't been peer-reviewed.
You could later publish your work-in-progress with citations to your prior conference paper. Alternatively, you could combine that work-in-progress with your conference paper to derive a journal article, the former aspect would be considered a new contribution (since it hasn't been published previously). In both cases, you could - if you wanted - cite your workshop presentation, since it presented some early results.

*I've summarised my understanding, since I'm not sure I've correctly understood the details presented by the OP.


What incentives do professors have to serve on dissertation committees? It seems that there is no requirement for professors to serve on even a single dissertation committee. (This is so at least at my US university and I believe is common practice worldwide - please correct me if I'm wrong.)

So why would any of them do it, other than out of the pure goodness of their heart? It seems like purely volunteer work.

(Of course, one can imagine professors being eager to serve on the committee of a John Nash or a Ludwig Wittgenstein, if only so that their names appear as a footnote somewhere in the history of science, but most of us are not Nash or Wittgenstein.)

[Personal anecdote: I am asking this question because I've been having some trouble filling my committee. Many professors simply respond that they have no time, are too busy, etc. I am left feeling like a pathetic beggar grovelling for favors, even though I may be paying hefty tuition fees, which presumably helps pay at least a little for their salaries.]

Addendum: I simply wanted to give a little context for my query, but it was perhaps a mistake for me to add the above personal anecdote.

I'd prefer answers to stick simply to the question itself, which to repeat, is quite simply this: "What incentives do professors have to serve on dissertation committees?"

Perhaps we can leave to avenues other than StackExchange the opinion-based debates about whether the current situation is ideal or whether I personally have a moral defect and should change my "client" mentality.

The professors serving on one committee will also have their own students, who they will want to see graduate (even if you assume pure selfishness they want their recrords to look good). Those students will need to be examined as well so in a sense it's mutual assistance, but time-deferred.  Also good relationships between academics are how a lot gets done: this is a fairly easy way for an academic to build relationships with other (perhaps more senior) professors.  So while generosity is important in this sort of thing, it's not quite that simple.

As an aside, you might like to ponder the effect on such well-established networks and systems of treating academics and their research groups as business units in a corporate entity.


Should I indicate that definitions are from an article? 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 ?

That is a great question for your advisor. :)

All I can give is my personal opinion on that, and your advisor might have a different opinion (and in the end, he grades your work, not me, so it might be good to find out what he is thinking):
There are two ways to quote a paper. One is to quote its general content, this is marked by something like

  The following section is based on multiple works by A and B [1,2,5,7].

If, as in your case, you want to directly quote something verbatim, I would make it clear, for example like this

  Definition 7 ([1, theorem 4.3])

Including the exact place where to find it in the original paper helps others to check that you really just quoted verbatim (don't get me started on people who change a quoted theorem to suit their claims...).
As a general rule, always try to make it as easy as possible for people to read and verify your work, without drowning them in unnecessary references. Quoting a famous 50 page research-novel might look good in your sources, but if you don't give the exact place in there, almost no one will have time to check what you are quoting.


How should course content be shared between instructors? I am a PhD student at a fairly large university, and I have twice taught a 200 level course for my department. The course is a new course that I developed. All of the lecture and lab content for this course was developed from scratch. As I will be graduating shortly (fingers crossed), a faculty member is scheduled to take over this course. My question is, "should I pass my course content on to said faculty?" I am primarily concerned about passing my slides on verbatim. Some issues I am concerned about are my indebtedness to the department (I developed some content while a TA and some while an adjunct.), ownership of the slides (What rights do I have to my content?), and distribution of content (How can I prevent the material from being further distributed?). I am interested in the issue of sharing content in general and not just in this one instance. Any guidance is much appreciated!

edit - as a colleauge of mine pointed out, I think there is a power imbalance issue as well. The faculty at my university are generally disinclined to share material with graduate students. Most grad students have to develop their own content. On the other hand, grad students are being asked to pass on material to faculty.

In my opinion: Yes, you should certainly pass over all course material.

My colleague took over a course from another colleague who had left. My colleague know much less about the subject than the one who had left, so putting together a good course was a challenge for him. In theory, he had passed over all course material, but in practice, it was not very well organised, and my colleague ended up having to build it mostly from scratch.

As you have probably experienced, the first time you give a course is by far the most work, because you have to create everything from scratch. It helps enormously to have access to earlier course material. You lose very little by giving away course material. It's probably not publishable anyway — and if it is, passing it on to the next doesn't disqualify you from publishing it as a review or textbook, because passing it on is not a publication.

The only situation I can imagine where it would be problematic is if the person who you pass it on to claims it as their own and incorporates it in a review paper or textbook. But if you have any trust for the person, they won't do that, and it's much better to simply make all the course material available. Probably for the entire world.


What is the best job for fresh graduates to improve chance of being admitted to top grad programs? I have just obtained my B.Eng degree and I intend to pursuit a career in academia. However I decided not to immediately go to grad school in the USA.

During this time, I am considering among different working options to improve my graduate profile to top grad programs. Please help me evaluate between these 3 options, and clarify my doubts in each option. Besides, which is the most common option, for someone who does not want to immediately study PhD right after bachelor's?

To work in industry, while continuing doing research with my mentor in my free time. Then I would apply for grad schools this autumn. With this option, I will have more industrial experience but less time to finish my journal article and for research. My question is I'm not sure if the above industrial position would help my PhD admissions in any positive way. Keep in mind that the job is not related to my research interests but the skills I learn might be helpful for grad studies (programming skills in other languages, for example).
To work full-time as a teaching and research assistant (RTA) in my undergrad university. Then I would apply for grad schools this autumn. With this option, I will spend most time doing research, which I enjoy a lot, have more time to finish my journal article, and even have a chance to write more papers. However, it's unlikely that the status of my future pubs would be "published", or even "accepted", by the grad admissions deadline (December this year). Another thing I'm wondering is, is RTA considered a serious and legitimate "job" in the USA? Does it negatively affect my grad admission in any possible way? For example, the admission committee might think that I am not mature enough to pursuit a "real" job after graduation? By the way, this RTA position I'm aiming for is full-time.
To attend a MS program at a prestigious university in Europe or Asia. Then I would apply for PhD in the US after its 2-year program. With this option, I can have a degree from a more famous institution, considering the fact that my undergrad institution is not well-known internationally. I think that a degree from a repute university would be a boost to my application. Am I right? Even if I am right, is it worth my time? However, I realized there are many drawbacks to this route: potentially not over-the-top master GPA due to the rigor of the program, much less time or even no time for research due to heavy coursework. Even worse, I came to know that US grad schools often do not value master degree from other countries, which mean I would very likely have to repeat many coursework if I am accepted to a US PhD program.

Some size notes:

My field is engineering, however, I gladly welcome answers from people with different fields.
My current mentor has some very good contacts in top US grad programs. This make the purpose of Option 3 less appealing.

The best job option is the research assistant or research and development related position because mentors or advisors want to see you are capable of doing independent work and that you are familiar with publish or perish practices in academia.


When Corresponding Authors Don't Correspond What are appropriate steps to take when the corresponding author of a paper one finds very interesting, and potentially very useful, but slightly puzzling (due to the enforced brevity of the publication format) in its nuts and bolts implementation doesn't correspond?  (I do not mean, 'Does not provide instant and copiously detailed answers,' I mean, 'Complete radio silence.')

Clearly, one does not send e-mail after e-mail after e-mail.  That is both rude and insane.  (Expecting different results from the same action.)

Clearly, one does survey that author's other literature (including past theses or dissertations, often the best place to find more verbose treatments of early papers) to see if the nuts and bolts questions are resolved there; one also surveys the literature of the non-corresponding co-authors for the same reason. (In fact, one does this, in my opinion, before contacting anyone in the first place.)

Clearly one does verify that the e-mail is up to date, to the best of one's ability.

When these options fail, and one is still extremely interested in a working implementation of a tersely published technique, are there any other reasonable strategies to apply?  Reasonable, as in, will not cause terrible reputation in the field.

Authors, corresponding or otherwise, geneally do not respond for one of two reasons. The first is they miss the email. This could either be because of a wrong address, spam filtering, or a huge email backlog on their part. The other is that they do not think it is worth their while to respond. They could be so busy, that no matter how simple of a request, that they just are not going to respond.

Providing an explanation on how the nuts and bolts implementation works, is not an easy task. Providing a working implementation, can be even harder. Your want to make your request as easy as possible for them to (1) understand, and (2) address/answer. This means ideally asking yes/no questions where you provide enough background so they can see where you are coming from.


Is it okay to repeat core findings of a cited work in detail? Excuse me for keeping things abstract, I do not want to include more details than necessary.

I'm working on an internship. The internship goal is applying known (published) information and evaluating it in practice. I will conclude the internship by writing a report.

I want to include as much information as necessary in my report for it to be as comprehensive as possible for the reader. This allows the reader to decide if they can skip ahead (instead of me). I do not want to leave details out that may be critical for the readers understanding, even though they seem almost trivial to me, as that makes the report harder to read.

That said, my question:

Is it good form to repeat the core content of the original work in my report, or should I keep it as brief as possible? Is there an accepted middle-ground, or is it not that important as I think?

Of course I will not literally copy-paste content. I will cite the original work and explain exactly what my contribution is(n't), and refer to the original publication.

My fear is that it seems indecent to "copy" findings that someone spend a lot of effort on.

When you say "core content" I'm assuming you mean the conclusions and, perhaps, something of the methodology. The "findings" of the work.

If you properly cite the other work, you aren't copying it. You can quote it or paraphrase it accurately, so long as it is cited. But your basic inclination to be complete in this case seems correct. This is especially true if you need to interpret (and justify the interpretation) of the other work(s) in any way. If your readers need to make their own interpretations, things might be more confusing to them as well as being painful to have to find and read the other papers.

I'm assuming, of course, that a reader of your work won't need to actually completely digest the works on which you base  yours.


appropriate Word for transfering student from one university to another university I am searching an appropriate word for transferring student from one University to another University
There might be such a word which helps me to search for related topics of transferring student from one university to another one.

You could simply use the term "transfer student" that you've already used in the question tags.

Collin's Dictionary:

  a student who moves from one institution or course to another at the same level (e.g. undergraduate)

A student can both be said to apply to the new university as a transfer student, and be described as a transfer student at the start of their study at the new university (example).


How to adress failed PhD project from last year to gain admission at same University for Master's Degree? I have the following issue with my application for a Master's Degree.

Last year, due to my families financial circumstances I dropped out of an PhD project.

Now I want to join the Univerisity under a Master's Degree.

In the admission papers it is stated I have to mention if I have previoulsy enrolled at the Univerisity and state the cirumstance and provide an explanation.

How can I respectufully adress this issue, and sincerely hope to gain re-admission? It was mainly due to financial issue in my family and as one family member deceased and my one of my parents lost employement.

I think that the best way to go about it would be to just be up-front with that you've been enrolled Before and that the loss of a close family member forced you to abandon the project. It all depends on the person on the other end going through the applications, it can go either way.

In any case i believe that NOT telling them about this has the chance of biting you in the future, so best just disclose it.


How do I prove math background for Stats PhD? From Stanford's admissions page:

My mathematics background isn't that strong. Should I still apply?
A strong mathematics background, especially in probability, statistics and linear
algebra, is important in the admission process. However, it is not the only factor that determines which applicants are admitted.  You may consider strengthening your math background and applying later, or just hope that factors such as breadth or research experience will compensate for a relatively weak math background.

My math background isn't "weak" per se, but I assume they are talking about a much stronger level of mathematics than I might have on the gradesheets of my MS and bachelor's programmes. I do take an interest in mathematics, and I try to study several concepts related to stats and math (eg., Machine Learning).
However, how can I prove this? I have done well in courses related to Machine Learning and Probability, and have taken courses in Real Analysis and Linear Algebra (and there is of course overlap in all four of those areas), but how can I say "I also read stuff because I like it"? I guess one way would be to ask a professor in the stats dept. to guide me through some research and then make them assess me, but how else can I show that I have "strengthened my background"?
Also, is a background in machine learning, signal processing and computer science in general considered for these admissions?

You can take the math subject GRE and do well and send them the results, assuming they accept them.  There’s nothing like a good score on that exam to convince the committee you know the math.

In my view, one of the best uses of the subject GRE is to make up for shortcomings elsewhere in your application.


Academia or industry: which is easier to begin a CS research career without a bachelors degree? I'm an engineer from the US at a large tech company who had to cease their undergraduate studies due to family complications. Previously, I was an assistant in a CS research lab during college, and in industry I've been able to work on engineering problems within the same CS sub-field for the past 4 years. I was a co-author on a published paper while working with the research group, though the professor I worked under has since retired.

Increasingly frequently, I have been reading papers, emailing authors, and desiring research related work again.

If I want to work towards a research career again in this sub-field, and don't want to complete a bachelors degree, what would be the easiest or most realistic path forward - entering a research role at big company without a graduate degree, or beginning a graduate degree without a bachelors? What are possible long term drawbacks of each path?

I don't think there is a good yes/no answer to this unfortunately, and by that I mean different companies and university have vastly different rules/traditions/standards as to how they hire/admit people to programs.

I would say the easier of the two would be entering a research role at a company with just a bachelors degree. The reason I say that is because what is more important (in my experience) at corporations is relevant work history/experience.

I would note that in my experience companies can be very wary about hiring people without at least a bachelors degree because they can be seen as a liability.

I have never heard of a CS department admitting someone to a research role without a bachelors degree. I would guess that this is because it is rare having someone want to research without a bachelors and on top of that it is already rare to award graduate degrees to people who don't already have a bachelors. Like I said in the beginning though, you may find a program willing to accept you.


How to handle a student's public speaking anxiety when teaching a class that requires presentations? In one of the courses I'm teaching this semester, each student has to give a 20-minute in-class presentation of a paper relevant to the topic of each class. One of the students has approached me asking to be excused for this requirement, on the grounds that she is terrified of having to speak in front of others. She is willing to do an alternative assignment that doesn't involve a presentation; more significantly, I think, is the fact when I pressed her a bit about this, she seemed willing to straight up forgo this assignment and get a zero grade for this particular part of the course. Conversations I've had with other faculty who have had her in previous courses confirm that she is, in fact, a good enough student that she should be able to properly understand the kinds of papers we are reading in this course. So, this seems to be a genuine anxiety problem.

Given that I had my own mental issues way back when I was an undergrad, I know that a just-suck-it-up type of attitude on my part is likely to cause more problems than it solves. I'm willing to accommodate her request for an alternative assignment. On the other hand, there are two reasons why I'm in principle against this decision. First, it is unfair to the rest of the students (and also, it might get me a reputation as a lecturer that students can sway). Second, giving her an extra assignment effectively amounts to kicking the can down the road: the more she delays dealing with her problem, the harder it will become to solve, and chances are that the kind of environments she will encounter after graduation will not be as speaker-friendly as my class is.

How would you proceed here?

Fear of speaking in public is common. It is one of the major symptoms of social phobia. I'll work on the assumption that your student has diagnosed or undiagnosed SP (I used to work on SP data.)

SP is very amenable to classical cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). You are a teacher, not a therapist. I would counsel against "rolling your own" therapy program. Instead, refer the student to on-campus counseling and strongly encourage her to seek professional help. As others write, the need to present will not go away; neither at college nor at the workplace. And college is probably the best place to start therapy. To repeat: this is a good point in time to start working on this; encourage your student to do so with a therapist.

So, that's the long-term answer I'd give. However, even if CBT frequently shows effects rather quickly in SP, your student will likely not have progressed far enough in her therapy to actually present her paper by the time she should. So you will likely need to make some kind of accommodation. I'd recommend that you contact your university's student service. There likely are some sort of guidelines on how to deal with such an issue - you probably are not the first professor to be confronted with this.

If you are afraid of getting a reputation as a professor who can be swayed, there are different ways around this:

You could require an official diagnosis of SP, or whatever doctor's communication your local privacy laws permit. In this, you could let yourself be guided by what kind of paperwork is required for a student to skip and retake an exam for medical reasons. (Student services could again be helpful here.)
You could make sure that the "alternative assignment" is not a bonus, but does add significant work to the student's workload. I personally would be careful here, since you don't want to penalize her for her disability.

That said, if the student does take your recommendation and starts therapy, it is quite possible that her therapist would assign making at least some kind of presentation as a piece of "homework" for her. Apart from possible confidentiality issues (your student may opt for waiving these, so you could talk directly to her therapist), this could allow you to help her much more than just doing a short-term fix. It may be worthwhile pointing this out to her. After all, you are willing to go to an effort to help her - her next professor or her employer may be less accommodating.


For MathJobs does it matter what you put down for Primary Interest? Is it better to indicate 3 interests rather than one? Does it affect who looks at my file or affect my chances of acceptance in any way? For example, suppose I'm mainly interested in combinatorics but also am interested in algebraic topology. If I just put down combinatorics as my primary interest and nobody in the department does combinatorics, will that make the file worse than if I had put down 2 interests?

When I, as a faculty member, go to MathJobs to evaluate postdoc applications, the first thing I do is to click a link that sorts the applications by research area. That way, I can efficiently go through the applications in my field without having to scroll through the whole database. As far as I can tell, the sorting is done on the basis of the applicant's primary interest. So the answer to your title is yes, your choice of primary interest definitely matters.


Post-doctoral research statement/project: current/future vs thematic I am currently applying for several post-doctoral positions. For these applications I have to prepare a research document in which I present my current research and my future projects in a limited amount of pages (typically not more than 4 or 5). But there is two possible organisations of ideas:

1) A first approach would be to present first my past and current
research topics and then my future projects.
2) A second approach consists in a thematic organization in which I present for each topic
my past and current research and what I plan to do in this topic in
the future. Some topics can be only past/current and some other only
long-term project.

What is the best organization ?

I would favour option 1.

You are trying to tell the story of your research career so far, and how your story could continue at the institution(s) to which you are applying. Looking at it in this way, you are casting your past and present research activities as "Background".

Your subsequent sections would be about specific projects - the "Future". In each section you can refer to your skill set, showing how this project is based on a firm foundation of skills developed during your Background years.

A reader will get a much clearer picture of you as a scientist - past and future - if you structure your application this way. It makes for easier reading, and you want your admissions committee to be happy.

Splitting up your "story" thematically - showing how parts of your background set you up for the project under consideration - makes it more difficult for a reader.


How to find book titles in other languages? I received a major task from my professor and I was wondering what approach is academic custom to take in such a case.

My supervisor wrote an article on a certain topic (I prepared already some source material for him). Now he asked me to check which of the (mostly German or French) books in his list of literature are available in English. For those I can't find a translation, he asked for "equivalents".

Doing this my way round would be to check the major library catalogue (like WorldCat) for the authors. This is extremely time consuming even when limiting the languages of the works searched for and I have explicitly been forbidden to exceed the allotted time for my job (it's a financial issue of the university... I will exceed a bit for no payment, but I can't work like 50% over the limit, people would also notice at some point).

Is there anything like a catalogue listing authors' works and their translated equivalents?

Arguably the most complete resource would be the UNESCO's Index Translationum, a database of translation from 1979 onward.

There you should be able to search more easily, selecting desired language and inputting a keyword from the title or an author.

There is also a list of references hosted by Michigan State University's Library Guides, which offers a few hard-copy guides for consultation, however these are more restricted by field (mostly having to do with works of literature).


Framework Analysis: Can framework analysis (Ritchie, Spencer & O'Connor) be applied to open-ended survey question responses? Details:

I am building a web application for teachers and educators. The web application takes a new approach to looking at educational apps. I want to know if this approach is worthwhile, so I am going to survey some of the teachers who use it. In this survey there will be some open-ended questions regarding the benefits and drawbacks of the application. I would like to use these responses as data in my research project and I was wondering about the best way to use them. After doing a bit of looking around, it seems framework analysis might fit, though it is used primarily for interviews.

Questions:

Can framework analysis be used in this way?
Is there a better way of using survey responses as data?

Yes it can. If you need to provide justification on the method that you used it would be helpful I'm sure. However like you say this method is used for interview data.

I'd guess (but obviously don't know for sure) that your survey data might be quite minimal/basic if it features at the end of a more structured questionnaire and although there are similarities with many qualitative data analysis techniques, I'd imagine you'd be looking to organise your open-ended responses into something more manageable, perhaps grouping together responses reflecting a particular view.

The following article may be of help:

Hsieh, H.F., Shannon, S. E.; Three Approaches to Qualitative Content Analysis, Qual Health Res November 2005 vol. 15 no. 9 1277-1288. doi: 10.1177/1049732305276687


How do I come up with a "thesisy" thesis title? My advisor said my thesis title should be something I would like to see on someone's bookshelf.  How do I choose a thesis title with the appropriate level of grandeur?

You may not actually want your thesis title to sound "thesisy" - many academic manuscripts have ambiguous, wordy, or borderline nonsensical titles. That being said, a thesis is generally the result of substantial work, so the title should reflect that, right?

One way to do that is to identify exactly what is unique about the efforts. If it ends up on someone's bookshelf (or, more realistically, listed in digital format) then a title clearly stating what is novel about the work it represents will help to distinguish that document.

It should also be as short as reasonably possible while still being direct - does the thesis have a single, major conclusion? If it's more ambiguous, can multiple conclusions be summarized into one? It may help to phrase the conclusion as an action, e.g. "X does something to Y" or "X shows that Y is Z" rather than "On the nature of X: an exploration of the Y of X using the Z method". Avoiding jargon is also ideal, though standards may vary by field.

Your institution likely has a dedicated collection of previous theses. They may not all provide great examples of titles, but they're worth learning from.


How to respond to an upset student? My finals were held recently. Due to some timetabling issues, I had to organize for some students to take the finals early, but still within finals week. The dates were mutually agreed.

One of these early final takers was very upset when I stopped them writing at the 2 hours and ten minutes mark after starting (for a 2 hour exam).  After they gave me their paper, they looked very upset and stomped out of the room.

They performed poorly on the exam but eked out a D overall for the class.

The fastest student in the class finished in about 45 minutes; the majority were done by 90 minutes. I don't usually set time-critical midterms or finals.

When the student was upset, I didn't respond at the time nor did I follow-up with them afterwards via email or in person.

Should I have done anything more? If so, what?

I believe that college should be about more than just grades, and wanted to give the feedback to this student that their behavior was extremely unprofessional.

I would not intervene unless I felt the student was at risk of harming themselves or others.

As you say, college is about more than grades, learning how to handle failure is part of life.

Moreover it’s not unlikely that their performance on the final was the icing on the cake: they had a bad day/week and were upset about all of it plus the final.

Unless you’re willing to allow them to retake the exam (which is probably a bad idea unless they offer a good reason), reaching out to them and telling them they should deal better with exams will likely annoy them and demotivate them further.


How to cite a paper when I don't know where was published? I have collected some papers regarding the subject of my M.A. thesis,  but I have some articles that I couldn't find where they were published.   The point is when I Google the title of the article, Google shows me that the article has been cited more than 60 times, but I can't find where and in what journal. How can I find the journal in which these articles were published?

Sometimes the route that seems most tedious can end up being the most efficient. I would try looking at some of those 60+ references. Any work that's been cited so many times will have to have the source listed in the bibliography sections of those references.


Can Zotero collections be used as hierarchical tags? Few answers under this question have inspired me with the interesting idea of using Zotero "folders" (called collections) as hierarchical tags. Zotero does allow to create folder (=collection) tree in the left pane, and one reference can be put in more such collections. But, is Zotero able to search references present in two or more collections? That would be super cool, because then we could use those collections as tags!

Actually, the tool is there))

Steps (look at the screenshot).

Open advanced search
Choose "Collection" as a search parameter
Choose collections to search in
Add more that one collection

That's it!


Is there a difference between an "update" to a scientific paper vs. a "new" paper in a scientific journal? I have been doing research with a professor of mine pertaining to the topic of a well-received paper he wrote several years ago. The original paper discussed a computer program that the professor wrote. The research I am doing consists of adding new features to the computer program and broadening the scope of what the program does. The work does not change the basic premise of the paper, but rather expounds upon it and adds new applied programming concepts that have broader implications for the field. The professor wishes to publish the results of our research as an "update" to his previous paper, using the same format and information as the original paper, but with new information discussing the features being added.

Is this a common practice in academia? How are "updates" to scientific papers handled when submitting to journals? Will the paper be considered the same paper but only  republished with a new title and date or will it be considered a "brand new" paper of which I will have co-authorship?

Recently, I have had a very similar situation occur.  The original paper discussed and explained the theoretical and practical aspects of a scientific technique that we adapted; the second discussed and explained the programming automation of the technique.

My advisor and co-author advised me at the time that each paper has got to be unique, taking the lead from the previous one and adding new information, techniques etc.  The journal that I published in are quite happy to take on a follow up article, just as long as it is sufficiently unique.

So, in answer to your questions - it would most likely be a new paper for publication, make reference to the previous one, but place the emphasis on the new developments.


Will there be consequences for not participating in ShutDownSTEM? I am a tenure-track researcher in STEM fields. On June 9th, I was told that all meetings scheduled next day were cancelled so that we can be a part of #ShutDownSTEM. I was not aware of it, and I actually thought it was a joke1 (I purposely isolated myself from real-world news).
So I kept all the meetings. On June 10th, it was business as usual for my group. Other people certainly knew we were working on that day.
Will our disobedience lead to trouble later?
Update: Okay, it is actually slightly worse than how I initially described it. Originally I did not know about ShutDownSTEM. On the 10th, however, some graduate students did stop by our lab and explain to us that we should use that day to reflect on ...... someting. My postdoc and I, both being people of color, were somewhat annoyed by such intrusion. So we explain to them we support their cause, but we not are going to spend a day watching netflix, and send them on their way. We certainly tried to be as polite as possible. But I suppose it wouldn't be unfair to say we dismissed their demand.

In my defense, if the president of the university tells me to take a day off so that we can BurnDownUniversity, I'd certainly think it is a joke.

Will our disobedience lead to trouble later?

Anything is possible, and some things are a lot more possible these days than they were just a couple of months ago. It’s quite reasonable for you to be worried.
But let’s be clear. You didn’t “think it was a joke”. That is a poor way to explain your outlook and increases the chance that you will be criticized, perhaps harshly, by people who don’t have patience for nuance, facts, and the intricacies of human nature in these turbulent times. It’s probably more accurate and more productive to say that the whole thing was so unexpected and took you so much by surprise that you did not immediately appreciate how important the shutdownstem event was as a way of expressing your support for an important social movement. Thrown off, unsure what to do, and being a creature of habit and passionate about your work and its importance to science and to society, you ended up sticking with your usual routine. ... Right?
Similarly, I think it’s a mistake to use the word “disobedience” to frame your behavior. Researchers in US academia do not take orders from anyone about when or with whom to hold meetings. If you carefully read the emails you received I am sure you will discover that none of the stuff about canceling meetings and participating in the shutdown day is phrased as a directive. It was almost certainly a “suggestion” or “strong recommendation”, or you were “encouraged to participate”, “invited to reflect on systemic racism”, etc. And indeed I am confident that you reflected on many important issues that day (and most other days in the last couple of months), as pretty much everyone has been doing. Do not play into the hands of overzealous activists who presume to see into your heart and know what you care about and what you don’t care about by professing to a willful disobedience you are not guilty of. Instead, anyone criticizing you for not participating should be forced to acknowledge that the invitation to participate was precisely that - an invitation, making it entirely reasonable and acceptable to decline.
I could go on with a few similar things in your post that suggest a somewhat cavalier attitude that opens you up to a heightened level of scrutiny and criticism. Please try not to give anyone asking about the shutdown the impression that you find the recent nationwide events uninteresting, unimportant, or not worthy of being thought about or taken seriously. When you write things like “I purposely isolated myself from real-world news”, “reflect on ... something”, and “send them on their way” you sound dismissive and create a serious risk of being misunderstood. Since you support the cause of the activists, it would be foolish of them to come after you, but if by your words you give them the wrong impression, it’s quite possible that some of them will not be as thoughtful or charitable to you as they should be.
Bottom line: think defensively about this. Your actions were reasonable, but much could depend on the precise way in which you explain what happened if questioned. Also, find allies who know you and would be willing to come to your defense if push comes to shove. I hope it doesn’t come to that though, and it very well might not. Good luck!

Edit: note that I am posting here using my real identity. In such times when discussing potentially controversial topics I’m always cognizant of the possibility that in the process of offering advice to some anonymous person I never met I may be inadvertently opening myself up for potential attack or criticism by anyone who disagrees with what I wrote or interprets what I wrote in a different way than how I intended.
Oh well, it is what it is I guess. But just to clarify in case anyone gets the wrong idea about what I’m saying: in this answer I’m addressing OP’s concern about possible criticism and/or career damage given their actions during the recent STEM shutdown day of protest, and only that. I’m not commenting on any political movements or points of view and their significance, worthiness, virtue etc, so please do not interpret any of what I wrote as commentary of that type.


Power of a Department Chair? What powers does a Department Chair have in a University setting? For instance, is a Dept. Chair the "boss" of a tenured full professor within the department?

This varies quite a bit between universities and colleges within the US and probably even more when you consider the academic systems in other countries.

In some cases (particularly in smaller departments) the department chairmanship is a rotating assignment and whoever is currently the chair won't be the chair in a few years.  This means that they have to get along with all of the faculty in the department or risk retribution after they step down as chair.  In this system, although the chair is formally the head of the department the chair often has little authority over the budget (the department might not have an independent budget), hiring, and other important decisions.  The chair will typically consult with all of the senior faculty before taking any significant action.  I've served as a department chair in this system and I can assure you that it is totally unlike being a manager in industry.

At the other extreme, there are places where the department chair is a permanently appointed full time administrator with substantial control over budgets, hiring, and all important decisions.  These chairs have a lot more power, but even then senior faculty members may be largely independent of the chair's authority by virtue of their fame, grants, etc.


Citation help in APA format I'm not sure if this question belongs here - if not please redirect me to the right place. I want to cite http://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/cccr2018/National-CCCR-2018.pdf in APA format, but I'm not sure how to do it. I don't understand how to classify it. Can anyone help me?
If this question does not belong here, can you redirect me to the proper place?

APA follows the basic format of Who-When-What-Where. In your case, it will be:
ACT. (2018, October 18). Condition of College and Career Readiness 2018. http://www.act.org/content/act/en/research/reports/act-publications/condition-of-college-and-career-readiness-2018.html
Some details:

Who? There is no individual author named; we shall thus take the authoring organization, ACT.
When? The report is from 18 October 2018; use the format YYYY, Month Day for the publication type 'report'.
What? The title of the report (Condition of College and Career Readiness 2018).
Where? The URL where the report can be retrieved from. (Note: The additional words "Retrieved from [URL]" used to be mandatory in earlier versions of the APA Style Guide, but not in the current version anymore - see, for example, here.)


I am about to be a senior in high school and I just have a question about doubling majors, minoring, and getting Phd's So i am really interested in psychology, law, film studies, and writing. (very different topics) Could i double major in psychology and say political science and minor in film studies and something like English, and then go on to get a Phd in either law or psychology? By the time i get to college i am sure my interests will change and i could go into quantum physics or something else, but i am starting college applications and for some colleges it is smart to have a good answer on your desired major instead of putting down "undecided." I am just very interested to see what graduates think of doubling majors and minors and if it is even a smart decision to do so. thanks

Savannah-Jane,

The future is always exciting, especially for someone who has promise. But I would caution you into looking too far ahead and "smell the roses".

You have probably one of the most important decisions you will make in your life right before you; where you will go to college as an undergraduate. That is the decision I would focus on. The questions you are asking now are important to consider when choosing a school; no one with graduate school aspirations wants to attend a college that sends very few people to the types of schools you might want to attend. But, conversely, it would be unwise to make a decision about where you study just because you want to go somewhere else afterword: make sure that you go to a place you love for your 4-5 years. If a school doesn't provide enough undergraduate research opportunities, you can always do a masters degree before your PhD. If your classes are too hard senior year and you can't study for the LSAT, you can find a way to take a year off and apply next cycle. These things are important, but they aren't the most important.

When looking for a college, look for a place you can see yourself living. And studying. And getting drunk Friday nights if you are into that sorta thing. A place where you might fall in love. A place where you can make friends you can trust. Look for that professor that takes a special interest in his students, and work with him or her. When the time comes, bring up graduate school, what you are interested in, and these things will work out. There is always a way to study what you want if you work hard and are curious. There are certainly kids who would do better at a small liberal arts college than a large state school, but the converse is also true. Figure out the differences between those types of experiences.

My very good friend ended up studying computer science in college, but is now getting his PhD in political science. English majors go to medical school. Physicists go to law school. There will be some "general" decisions you will have to make in the beginning, like if you are more science or humanities inclined. It would be very hard for an English major to go into a Physics PhD program, but that's all you really need to know. There is no rush in picking a particular major. Don't try to design your whole life. Leave some things up for chance. Curious minds always remain curious.


Is it self plagirism if i use the same assignent twice in the same course? The final essay of my course is asking a question I extensively answered in an essay earlier in the same course. Rather than doing essentially the same assignment twice. Is it wrong to edit and expand on my previous assignment and hand that in?

The more important question is whether this would be accepted by your professor. If you cite the earlier work it isn't plagiarism and you put the professor on notice about what you've done. But it would be much better (safer) to get permission first.

Whether it is technically self plagiarism or not depends a bit on whether you have, in some sense, published the earlier work. Probably you have, just by giving it to your professor. But even if it doesn't meet the technical definition, the professor could still penalize you for it.

And it isn't just the issue of copy/paste of the same words. Even paraphrasing without citation is considered plagiarism if the definition applies.

I'd guess the professor is already aware of the situation and will have a ready answer for you. They may want you to go deeper into the subject than in the first assignment.


How to explain to letter writers that I want to apply to completely different PhD programs? I am not entirely sure yet what I will want to do: It will either by subject A or subject B. Those to subject have very little to do with each other though. (Say one is history of art, the other one political science)

I have decided to apply to programs in both fields and decide later where I would like to go to, depending also on where I would get in.

I am worried, however, what my letter writers are going to think? Is it possible that I will look less determined because of this and consequently get weaker letters? Any advice on how to go about such a situation? Shall I just be completely open about this and tell them that i am unsure?

TALK. TO. THEM. These are presumably former professors and advisors that you know well. Sit with them, skype with them, or buy them a coffee. You might learn a lot about what you actually want to do from the discussions, and they'll surely be happy to help tailor your letters.


Why is getting a PhD considered "financially irresponsible" by some people? I've been reading this question, whose premise is that going directly into industry after (presumably) just a bachelor's will make you more money than doing a PhD and then going into industry. To my surprise, most people seemed to agree with the OP.

My thinking has always been that, yes, going into industry with just a bachelor's will make you some money in the short term, but it will also:

A) Land you in a relatively low level position to start.

B) You will eventually hit a ceiling past which you cannot rise.

My thinking has always been that with a PhD you will start in a relatively higher position, and you will not hit a ceiling, so in the long run you will make more money. Why is my reasoning wrong?

I don’t have experience in industry myself, but know several people who do (and have made the transition from industry to academia and vice versa).

Broadly speaking, getting a CS PhD in the USA with the intent of switching to industry after will result in about $500k in lost wages. This is accounting for about 5 years of PhD salary vs programming salary, raises, bonuses etc. The jobs that necessitate a PhD in industry are few and far between, and are highly competitive. Thus, starting a PhD with industry in mind, and assuming you’ll get that job is, statistically speaking, unrealistic. There are still many good reasons to still do it!

It’s a fun and fulfilling endeavor that offers you a chance to think freely about things you care about for 5 years!
If you are entrepreneurial then I know some people who start companies based in their PhD work.
If your undergraduate degree isn’t in computer science then your PhD can be treated as a semi vocational degree (though granted a masters will do as well)
If you’re interested in moving to the USA then a PhD offers a path to permanent residence.
You like research and want to leave the door open to academia. In that case a PhD is a must.


What are some examples of "service activities" for the inexperienced/up-and-coming academic? I am looking for an assistant professor job in engineering. While working on my Ph.D., I had the chance to mentor graduate students in my research group (suggesting experiments, helping them analyze results, etc.), and I also mentored an independent studies student for a summer. Would these types of activities even loosely be considered as "service activities" by a search committee, or, if the question comes up during an interview, just say that I don't have any such activities to mention? If the latter, what are some good ways to respond?

As for the question in the title, some common examples would be organising a seminar, helping to organise a conference or workshop, or serving on a committee.

I don't think that the activities you mention are generally considered 'service'.  They are definitely activities worth mentioning in other contexts, though.

If you really don't have any experience in 'service activities', then perhaps a good way to respond to questions about service would be to admit that you don't have such experience so far, but express interest in gaining such experience (with specific details of the kinds of service you are especially interested in).  I have no idea whether this is good advice, though, as I'm only a postdoc myself and have never been on a search committee.


Does it violate academic social norm to email someone around midnight? I do this often because this is when I wrap up the stuff for my day. But I wonder if it is considered intrusive.

I imagine a scenario where a phone that is linked to gmail rings due to my email, and that wakes up the person I intend to email.

Can people chime in whether it is out of the norm to email around midnight?

Should I try to refrain from doing this?

The good thing (maybe the only good thing) about email is that it's by nature asynchronous. A phone call in the middle of the night is intrusive, because there is an explicit expectation that the receiver does something about the call right there and then. An email is not like that - if you send an email, it will happily sit in the inbox of the recipient until they explicitly take an action to react upon it. Consequently, it does not matter when you send the email.

  I imagine a scenario where a phone that is linked to gmail rings due to my email, and that wakes up the person I intend to email.

This is, in my opinion, not a valid concern. First of all, the kind of person who is annoyed by getting disturbed by email outside of work hours has a very easy fix to the problem - turn off notifications. In my opinion, if you explicitly have notifications enabled you can't at the same time be annoyed that you get notified.

Second, you'll need to understand an almost universal basic truth - starting from a certain seniority, most people in academia get a lot of email. Hundreds per day, in some cases. Many of these emails will come in during the night. If you wake up every time you get an email from one of your collaborators on a different continent, you won't get much sleep at all. So your email is highly unlikely to wake anybody up, because it will drown in the flood of other emails people get over the night.

That said, as discussed in a somewhat related recent question, if you are a supervisor or manager, it may pay to be somewhat careful about what "message" you transport with when you send emails. In this question, a student was stressed because their supervisor kept sending them mails in the night, and the student interpreted these as work items that needed to be done by the next morning. Also, if you as a supervisor are clearly working until midnight, it may implicitly communicate certain expectations and standards that you don't really want in your team.


How to make the most out of a one-on-one reading course with a faculty member? I am currently at the end my undergraduate / beginning of my graduate degree in pure mathematics.

Next term, I am going to take a reading course with a faculty member in some topic that I am interested in.

I see this as an amazing opportunity, but at the same time I worry that my habits can work against me. Until now, I've rarely stayed after class to ask questions, and I've never gone to office hours. The reason is mainly that I find it hard to ask lecturers for guidance. If I have any question (arising either from not understanding something in class, or from trying to think further about ideas thought in class), I would use the internet or the library.

To be frank, I even find the whole idea a little bit awkward. I find it hard to see how I can find enough "material" to to fill several hours a weak of one-on-one discussions, and I imagine myself having trouble coming up with relevant questions or comments. Of course, much of it has to do with general shyness. But there is also the factor of "knowing how to use guidance", which I believe is a bit more under my control.

I want to make the reading course a valuable experience, and to further my mathematical development through it. What can I do in my part to make the most out of it?

Ask the professor about his/her expectations on meeting. A short meeting once a week is probably the norm (comment of Nate Eldridge). But ask. And try to schedule a regular time for it. I think that what is expected is that you would give a short report on what you learned and that you would ask questions. If the prof is being vigilant, you might need to field a few questions also, some that might be hard/impossible to answer. The intent will be more to get you to think in a certain way than to test you.

But don't treat it as just "reading". Find a way to do some practice around the readings. If it is a well studied subject there will be exercises available and you can report on what you have done with those. In a more "state of the art" situation you will want to think about "what if..." to get a sense about where this subject might be extended. That would be for a quite advanced set of readings, of course.


How soon can I poke a potential PhD advisor for a response if contacting them about an advertised position? There is a PhD programme I recently found which matches my interests very closely but with a deadline in five days. It doesn't require me proposing my own research, instead asking me to choose from a list of available projects. The application instructs me to contact the professor who advertised the project before I proceed with the main application.

I've sent that potential advisor a carefully-crafted cover letter and CV a few days ago but got no response. Normally I'd not try to send a second email so soon but I'm feeling increasingly pressured on time given the few days there is until the institution-wide deadline. I am find with filling in the forms at the late notice but I'm concerned my referees might not be as happy about copy-pasting the references they have already wrote for me.

I wanted to see what other people think on the subject - would it make me a disservice to contact the potential advisor again in a couple days or should I just give him a time to respond in his own time (potentially after the deadline or never)?

I do not think it will be disrespectful to send a follow-up email. I would craft it in a way that shows you value his/her time, but also demonstrating that you have an immense interest in the project, which is why you are reaching out. I would have a backup plan just in case.


Postdoctoral application asks about 'ability to assess resource requirements' I'm in the process of applying for a postdoctoral arts position in the UK, and the application asks me to address my 'ability to assess resource requirements and use resources effectively'. In the context of an arts position, does anyone have any clear idea what they expect me to discuss here?

This sounds like a fairly standard postdoc requirement - to be able to assess what you (or your group) needs to succeed (resources) and then use them effectively.

Basically, if your supervisor comes to you and asks "What do we need to get this done?", they want you to neither badly undershoot, nor overspend, and when you get those resources, to use them appropriately.

I'd discuss any experience you had with managing project requirements, seeing something through to completion that had a budget, or just being able to cogently talk about being able to assess your position's needs.