How to find balance between overconfidence and lacking confidence? Main Question:

I am a current undergraduate student who just attended my first conference and gave a podium talk on my research from last summer. I tried talking with a researcher who is well-known in the field about his views and he was rather dismissive.  I am not sure how I should have handled the situation at the time or in reflection.

On one hand, his view is likely shared by only a small minority of people in the field, the view that no machine learning should be used in healthcare unless it is explainable. He proposes we should use methods such as symbolic logic AI instead (what he did most of his career).

On the other hand, I am just an undergraduate in the field and he is a very established researcher.  I would expect him to be more correct than me.

1) How should I view the interaction?  Should I assume I am probably wrong? Should I assume that he is wrong?  Another option...?

2) In the future, should I press the debate more rather than only asking a few questions and thanking him for the info?  Would this be impolite at a conference?  Would it be an unwise career move?

Supplementary Info/Thoughts:

I find this balance of overconfidence vs underconfidence confusing in general for academics.  As background, I am fairly successful relative to others my age.  I have several first author publications, triple major, high gpa, and some awards.  I was told by my adviser I would be a strong contender for the top PhD programs in my field.  So regarding my placement relative to others my age, I view myself near the top, but not an outlier.

Placing myself and therefore my possible contributions regarding people older than me is more difficult.  It is easier to place myself in formal sciences such as math where if I disagree with a senior research then there is a 99% chance I am wrong and they can prove it to me definitively. However, in less clear-cut fields such as health informatics, I am sometimes unconvinced by the arguments of a more senior researcher.

Should I raise my disagreement when this occurs?  How long should I debate the issue if we don't agree?  If we don't agree in the end should I assume I'm wrong?

I must sometimes come up with ideas that are both new and correct as evidence by my publications.  However, given how much more likely a senior mathematician is to be correct than me in the event we disagree, I am not sure what to do/think when I disagree with senior researchers in fields such as health informatics.

Edit: If anyone would be interested in discussing symbolic AI vs ML in healthcare I would be glad to do it.  I currently feel unresolved since I could not do it during the conference and would like to know what points I am failing to see.

1) How should I view the interaction? Should I assume I am probably wrong? Should I assume that he is wrong? Another option...?

Researchers should have differing opinions on topics such as whether non-explainable machine learning techniques should be used in healthcare.

  2) In the future, should I press the debate more rather than only asking a few questions and thanking him for the info? Would this be impolite at a conference? Would it be an unwise career move?

Such opinions should be debated, that's how research advances, and such debate should be encouraged, at conferences and elsewhere. Some researchers will be less willing to accept your opinion than others, only you can decide whether you want to engage with such researchers.

  Should I raise my disagreement when this occurs?

If you want to.

  How long should I debate the issue if we don't agree?

As long as the conversation lasts.

  If we don't agree in the end should I assume I'm wrong?

No. There doesn't seem to be any right and wrong here, just opinions.


What do you call a person with a bachelor's degree? I am a nutritionist in Mexico and I have a bachelor's degree.(I studied for four years at a university) In mexico my bussiness card says L.N. which means licenciada en Nutricion. I don't know how to translate that.

There are several ways this can be translated. Some of which I have seen are:

Licensed Dietitian
Licensed Nutritionist
Has a BSc in Nutrition

To my knowledge, there is no legal requirement in the United States that one of these be chosen over the others and in my personal opinion either of the first two are sufficient.
In the United Kingdom though, a Dietitian is someone who advises someone on their personal diet and diagnoses issues related to malnutrition while a Nutritionist gives general advice on how to eat.


Can I submit a paper under an alias so as to avoid trouble in my country? I have done research on a topic that is very sensitive in my original country. I want to submit a paper to a (well-rated) Computer Science conferences, but I do not want to use my real name or university at all (neither for submitting nor publishing). Have you ever heard of such thing? How doable is it?

This is a highly sensitive topic, see Brian Borchers' comment:

  As a practical matter, even if the publishers of the conference proceeding were willing to keep your identity secret it would probably be relatively easy for officials from your country to determine your identity. It's likely that the publisher will want to avoid having any responsibility for keeping your identity private.

My advice: Talk to people from your university what to do. Ask trusted colleagues (which work on the same topic), university lawyers etc.

This question is too complicated to be handled by you on your own.


Importance of QUANT score on GRE for math grad school I am not the best at standardized test taking and scored a very poor score of quant 153 on the GRE. I go to a good undergrad institution with no grade inflation (Purdue university). My grades, especially in upper level math classes, are good (A's in Real Analysis, ODE, Vector Calc, Statistical Analysis, A- in PDE). Though I did get a B- in Linear algebra and a B in Probability. I have a cumulative GPA of 3.72 with a major GPA of 3.6. Would I still be able to get into a Group 2 program with my current marks?

I am registering for the Math Subject, and oddly I feel much more confident with the types of questions asked compared to the regular GRE. Would a strong math subject GRE cover up the blemish of my GRE score?

In the US, at least, no single thing is likely to knock you out of contention. Aim high, but don't put all of your eggs into too few baskets. The competition is fierce, of course, in top level schools, but if you put together a good application that clearly predicts success you should come out well. But, make sure that you have very strong letters of recommendation from people who can speak both of your past success and your likelihood of future "wins". How hard you work, how serious you are, etc.

I suppose there are a few places that might have a cut-off score, but not everywhere you might want to go would do that. It is rather foolish in any case.


Will doing a chargeback on tuition hurt my chances at getting into the same university for grad school? I'm taking an independent phys ed course at my local university. I'm also currently studying for the GRE and I'm hoping to start grad school here in a totally different department in fall 2021. There's a professor I really like and have a good connection with here so I'm pretty set on this university.

The instructor cancelled the course after one class due to low enrollment, and the university is saying that since it started, it's too late for a refund on the $650 fee. I've called and tried to get a refund but their HR/registration department won't budge.

I paid with a credit card and I'm considering doing a chargeback. Would this hurt my chances at getting into the grad school later on, and I should just let myself be robbed?

Would this hurt my chances at getting into the grad school later on?

Practices vary, but probably not.

  Will it hurt me later on?

Very likely.  You probably will not be able to complete a graduate degree if the university thinks you owe money.

  I should just let myself be robbed?

No, you should insist on a refund.  Ask the instructor and their department to help you get a refund.  Ask the registration department again.  Ask to speak to the head of that department.

HR is probably the wrong department to contact.


Responsibility for the performance of students As an educator, how much responsibility do you place upon yourself for the performance of your students? Whether that be in the role of lecturer, TA, thesis supervisor, etc. Of course there are many factors that go into the performance of a student- though surely the role of teacher is at the heart of it. There will always be some students who will do well regardless of whom is teaching them, but in many cases, the influence of a teacher can be the difference between whether a student passes or fails, decides to major in the subject, pursue an academic career in the same field, etc.

Thanks

My physics teacher in school said that the educator part is 50%, and the rest is the student's responsibility. She was talking about interested students.

Instead of thinking of how much responsibility you should place upon yourself while teaching, you should ask what are your responsibilities as a teacher, depending on the objective you have chosen for your teaching.

For example, if you have beginners who need the subject, you are responsible to create the environment that fosters their learning. That means to create meaningful assignments, balanced exams, encourage collaboration, etc. You are responsible to adapt your teaching style if you can increase the student's learning efficiency.

You are in no way responsible for your students decisions. If they chose not to care, there is little reason to beat yourself up. Once you created the environment for them, there isn't much else you can do. As a professor, there is little chance that you'll have enough time to help people individually beyond office hours.


Shortened IEEE citation? I am writing an IEEE conference paper (IEEE Photonics Society Summer Topicals) and I sometimes see that shortened version of citations are used, without the title of paper. For example, something like

[3] J. Sun, J. Zeng, and N. M. Litchinitser, Opt. Express 21, 2013, 14975-
14981.

[4] M. I. Shalaev, Z. A. Kudyshev, and N. M. Litchinitser, Opt. Lett. 38,
2013, 4288-4291

What is this style of citation called? I would like to use this style of citation in my paper to save space.

The best practice is to follow the IEEE citation style.

Having said that, in a conference paper there is going to be a lot less strict check of the actual format of the references you use and I doubt a paper might get rejected because of that. Worst case, you will be asked to correct them either during the review process or when the proceedings are being compiled by the conference organisers .

For journal articles, these will be formatted by IEEE so you do not have a choice.


Should I share my external grant with my supervisor? He reasons that he supported me earlier I secured a grant from my university for traveling to a conference. But it was not enough and so my supervisor supported me. There are 5 other students who got the university grant and he supported them as well. I had also applied for ACM grant and I secured it but I receive it only after I visit the conference.

Now my supervisor has ordered me to give the complete ACM grant to him because he supported me. I am not sure if it is ethical. I wish to use this money for another conference which I plan to attend. I am OK with giving the money to him or school, but since I got the grant it should be spent on my endeavors and not be used by anybody else. Am I wrong to think like this?

Edit : My application to ACM grant was independent. I wrote the application myself without support from anyone. In fact, the paper which I wrote was also written by me, with some changes from another supervisor. The idea was completely mine, as well - with no inputs from anybody else.

Edit : In the light of this event and other instances of being bulleyed into doing things which are unacceptable to me I have decided to quit working with my supervisor. Does this make any difference? If at all I have to return, I wish to return the money to university and not to this supervisor.

Take into account that ethically (and often legally) speaking you cannot be reimbursed more than once for a conference trip.

I am assuming that the ACM grant was a travel grant to cover the expenses for the conference, right?

The most reasonable option, given that you found external funding, is to return the money from the university grant + your professor's, using that same ACM grant.

It's not your professor's business to decide what you do with the remaining money from that grant, if there is any.

Your professor should actually be happy that you were able to get external funding so you could attend at 0 cost for the University and his team.

Saying that you have to pay back more to him than he "loaned you" because "he supported you" tells a lot about your professor already: he does not support or help students because he considers it's his duty or job, but in exchange for future rewards.

Unfortunately, this bullying, favor/grant-exchanging, mob-behavior is not new to many of us at all.


Requesting a professor I barely know a recommendation letter for postdoc I met a professor (a big name in our field) at a workshop and we worked on the initial idea for a paper as part of a group project. We stayed in touch for a couple of weeks but our conversation ceased as the other group members stopped working on the paper and the project ran out of steam. I was applying for postdoc fellowships at the time and one of the fellowships required four recommendation letters. I only knew three researchers in our field well enough that I could ask them for recommendation letters. Since I felt like I impressed the professor from the workshop while working on the paper with some good results, I sent him an email explaining my situation and asking whether he would be willing to write the fourth recommendation letter. I never heard back from him, so it's most probably a no. However, I now worry that his impression of me has been tarnished since I feel like I asked him for a letter after doing only a small amount of work. How do professors look upon these things? How badly have I messed my future prospects given that he is a big name in the field and sits on various funding committees? I don't think I will be able to see him face-to-face for a while.

Recommendation letters for students one knows well are relatively easy to write.

Recommendation letters for students one doesn't know well are very difficult to write and potentially take twice as long as the ones for students one knows well. Asking someone who doesn't know you to write one was a stretch, and though it would have been more polite of that person to kindly tell you "no", this was very likely a silent "no".

Think of it this way: recommendations are sort of a covenant we have with the students we teach, postdocs we supervise, or colleagues we work closely with. It is part of the reward that comes with doing well in your studies or research, you don't just get your marks or your degree, you get the recommendation too. If you haven't earned that with someone, it's just a time suck for them to try to come up with something to say about you based on the CV you give them.

I doubt you have messed anything up permanently; they may not even remember this happened. I don't think ill of anyone that I've opted not to write a recommendation for. I'd just be hesitant to ask anything more of that person until you've earned it via collaboration.


Need a thesis extension due to mental illness, but supervisor seems unwilling. How to proceed? "Prependum" clarification:
Strictly speaking, the supervisor has no actual authority in this decision (I think)-- it is between myself and the course convenor. However, I feel that `overruling' my supervisor by appealing to the convenor is unprofessional, and would inevitably affect the working relationship. This could be very counterproductive, and make an extension somehow pointless without the willing agreement of my supervisor. More importantly, they are the only potential academic referee (who knows me well) for use in a PhD application.

I know there is a similar question here, but I am looking for advice in my particular hairy circumstance.

The Issue
I am currently writing an Honours Thesis in an Australian university due in less than a month. Since the end of last year, I have suffered from severe depression (been to hospital; self-harm; seeing a psychiatrist; etc) and have made this known to the Honours convenor who has pre-approved any reasonable extension I might ask for.
The problem is with my thesis supervisor. They are highly averse to extending the project, as they are a very busy person. I understand this; it is not their responsibility. However, they also believe that obtaining an extension would be inequitable for other Honours students. I have made them fully aware of my condition, and stressed to them the magnitude of the impact it has on my studies. For instance, I (conservatively) estimated that I work less than half of the amount of time I would be able to if not afflicted. I also have had a meeting with them with several visible cuts on my arm.
Their response to my concerns is that regardless of my condition, I have made significant progress. They believe I am capable of obtaining a High Distinction with my current progress. It is apparent from their other comments that they do not understand what depression truly is (i.e. "everyone gets nervous at the end of an Honours thesis").
At this point, I feel very pressured by my supervisor into submitting my thesis on time, but I do not think this is fair. I think that regardless of their perception of my academic performance, I have had dramatically less opportunity than other students due to my severe condition. However, it seems that mental illness is so poorly understood in this situation that what I think is a reasonable and fair extension (i.e. 6 months onto a 6 month thesis) is probably never going to happen in my institution, despite my gathering of evidence over the last six months in the form of letters from a psychologist.
On one hand, I recognize that it's not fair to ask my supervisor to continue supervising for the duration of an extension (and neither do I think they will willingly). On the other hand, I have been open and clear about the possibility of this happening from the very beginning of my project, and I believe they are seriously wrong about what they deem equitable. Their claim that an extension would be inequitable makes it clear to me that they are judging my condition based on my academic performance rather than on the actual opportunity I have had.

The Question
I'm really unsure what to do in this situation and would appreciate advice. Here are options I've considered:

With the aid of my psychologist, push for a significant extension that I believe to be equitable. This is problematic, as it is difficult even for me to judge how long that should be. Furthermore, my supervisor probably won't be available. If they are, they will be so reluctantly and perhaps begrudgingly.

Concede to my supervisor's wish for me to finish on time, and possibly end up with ~HD anyway.

Obtain a short extension (~1-2 months) and spend that time refining my thesis without the aid of my supervisor.

As you say, it sounds like your supervisor does not understand depression at all. Or at the very least, he or she doesn't realise that what you're experiencing is depression and not just typical thesis stress. That's very unfortunate, but all too common (in the general population, not just supervisors). You have every right to an extension.

However, given that you are depressed, you may not be the best judge of your own progress right now. Even students who aren't depressed have difficulty accurately assessing the progress of their research and thesis. Your supervisor has a lot of confidence in you, and seems to think you're "almost done". I'm reading between the lines a bit, but it sounds like your supervisor is a good supervisor apart from being clueless about mental health.

I think it might be worthwhile to have a meeting with your supervisor, and with someone who will be in your corner on the mental health issue (the Honours convenor, perhaps?). The three of you can then put together a plan to finish your thesis. Try to keep an open mind. I don't mean that you should let yourself be pressured into taking on more than you can handle right now. I just mean that there may not be as much work remaining as you thought.


Travelling for an academic seminar with a 36*48 inch poster board on a flight I need to attend a competition\seminar with my teenage son. He needs to create a project for this competition on a 36"*48" trifold poster board. Now the dimensions of this trifold poster board do not make it eligible for taking it as a carry on luggage and its not safe to send it in Checked in luggage for risk of damaging the project that he has done. What are the options for carrying this poster board as a carry on luggage ?

One common option is to print or create the poster on a large sheet of paper and carry it in a poster tube.  After you arrive at your destination, buy a blank poster board, and paste your paper onto it.


How can I tell if I am short-listed for Phd position? I applied for a phd position whose application deadline was 24th March. The project head consistently provided feedback on my project proposal and even invited me to his office to discuss my proposal. At the end of April I contacted my potential mentor asking when to expect the results,
he replied that this week the commission will hand over its list to head of department. He will do interviews with possible candidates, I guess next week. Thereafter the appointment committee will make the final decision.'

Until now I have received no further information from the institution nor was any list published at the institute website. I contacted recently the institution through mail asking whether I am selected or not but got no reply.

So, considering what my potential mentor said, does his words mean that I am not selected for the position? Or should I wait? I am confused about what to do next, in order to know if I am selected or not.

You would more probably learn early of a rejection than an acceptance. I'd say you are still in the running. Unless you have another option with a deadline, I suggest you wait a bit.

It may take a while after decisions are made for candidates to hear due to nothing more than administrative issues. And schedules slip, of course. A scheduled meeting might have been delayed.


Traveling with textbooks So I am finishing my MSc in Europe and it looks like I will be headed to the US for a PhD. Along the way I have collected a small set of textbooks that I find particularly useful. From my experience, most academics have a reasonable number of textbooks in their offices so I cannot be the only one in this situation. These books can be hard to find and are costly to replace.

However, textbooks are pretty awful to carry around. Even a modest number make any box very heavy.

So what I am asking is this. Is it worthwhile to transport books around the world? Is there a best way to do it? Since I an impecunious student I am hoping to do this cheaply.

Have you considered using ebooks in situations where they're available and reasonably priced (and don't have Digital Rights Management)?

A few years ago when I went to Los Angeles for a sabbatical leave, I made it a point to get electronic copies of as many of my frequently used books as possible.  I bought a few, but mostly I was able to work with freely available copies.  This dramatically reduced the number of printed books that I had to take with me.


Is there any difference between journals and conferences which charge money vs those which don't? Some journals and conferences charge money before/after paper acceptance, similarly there are some which don't (like Open Access Journals). Does money matter in judging such journals/conferences before sending paper ? Unfortunately my organization is on a cost cutting and isn't funding for any such activities. Is there a list of journals which do not charge fees or charge modest fees, so that I can publish there on my own ?

I must disagree with the CS folks in the comments†. Whether a journal charges or not is immaterial to the quality of the journal. You can only gauge its quality by being an active researcher in that field, not by silly metrics (this is an order of magnitude worse than impact factor).

Different journals from the same publishing house might also charge different rates for publications. For instance, AIP publishes both the Phys. Rev. series (+ PRL) and the J. Acoustical Society of America. While there are no charges for the former set, JASA has "voluntary" charges for publishing.

Such "voluntary" charges are very common (some flagship and top-of-the-line IEEE journals come to mind) and serves primarily as an opt-out for researchers from low income countries in Asia/Africa/S. America. Researchers in N. America, Europe and Australia/NZ are expected to pay the publishing charges, since with the way grants are structured in these countries, there is almost always a specific budget earmarked for publishing costs. Of course, if a researcher has no budget or is publishing in his spare time or as a secondary interest, then they're also welcome to not pay the charges, but I've never seen anyone that's on a grant decline to pay charges.

† Opinions on this site seem to be overrun by CS folks, who generally state them as facts of life. From my years of experience in a variety of fields, I've found their customs to be more of an outlier than the norm (perhaps only mathematics has something in common).


Who to ask whether my math logic research results are novel? I wrote some texts related to mathematical logic:
http://www.mathematics21.org/formulas.html

How to check if my ideas are novel? Where and who to ask?

The problem is that I am not even nearly a professional logician.

The best way of finding out if your ideas are novel is to do a literature search.

A good place to start would be arxiv.org, which is a well-known pre-print repository (i.e. place where papers get uploaded before they are published) that has plenty of mathematical papers.

See what research has been done in the same area as you and you will get an idea of whether or not your research is novel, as well as the standard your work needs to reach if you intend to publish it in the future.


Can I write my PhD thesis based on another student's paper if I'm a co-author? My supervisor asked me to write my thesis based upon one paper which I'm co-author on. I was told to take results which were not published and extend the figures. I was also told to include some figures from the paper after I ask the journal for copyright permission, extend the discussion in the paper and insert all of this into my thesis. After all of this, I need to do one more experiment.

Is this usual in science and for a Ph.D.? What precautions should I take in this case?

"Can I write my PhD thesis based on another student's paper if I'm a co-author?"

I feel a difference between the question title and the question content. It boils down, to me, to "were you a notably active contributor to this paper"?

If the answer is yes, and you take care about rephrasing published text, re-drawing figures, you can reuse the results. A thesis should be personal, and show your personal contributions. A PhD thesis based on only one paper is not uncommon in mathematics, yielding short theses. In other domains, you can expect to write one or two chapters for a published paper, by extending results, adding experiments. Not a whole thesis.

If the other student's contribution is significant enough, he should be acknowledged in the chapter introduction for instance: "this chapter is based on a joint work..."

If the answer is no, I am afraid it could be a case of plagiarism, and loose ethical behavior.


What could be the reasons to be rejected as a Doctoral Candidate in Germany? Referencing my question here and the multiple suggestions to ask here as well.

What could be the reasons for (so far) only getting rejections on my applications as Doctoral Candidate?

Are there some special differences applying for jobs in the industry compared to academia (all applications were the same as I would apply for a job in the industry, which was always really easy and successful - max timespan from sending the application over the interview to job offer was about 1-2 weeks)?

Short background

I finished my master studies in 2014 and after 5 years of working in the industry, I want to change in an academic environment. My CV and skill set matches the positions I applied for pretty well, but I got only rejections.

During a short phone interview for one position, I was asked if I considered it well to take such a position because of the workload - for at least the next five years - and taking into account that I have two kids (that I mention in my CV - in Germany it is common to mention personal points in your CV). I wouldn´t have applied for such a position if I didn´t consider everything regarding this step.

I really want to change to an academic environment because I´m really unsatisfied working in the industry (although I´m rather successful and good in what I´m doing), but everything around the job - management and how it is handled and the politics around it, and everyone placing their own interests (in middle to upper management) above the product, the way the work is handled and how to improve the quality, product and the company. This (I think/hope) is way better in academia.

Without knowing more about your specific case, here are some potential reasons (in no particular order) why you might not be getting the job(s) you are applying to:

your profile/prior experience is not as relevant as you think it is for the position
they already have somebody in mind
they might think, having been in the industry for some years, you will look into doing research as a "9-to-5 job" (for better or worse, in most countries academia is different than industry). I am guessing this is what you refer to, with mentioning kids? I have plenty of colleagues with small children, that alone is not a problem.
they are concerned you do not fit the rest of the team
they found somebody better than you
they might be concerned about your reasons for switching to academia

Without more information it's impossible to say which one, if any, or which ones apply to your case. Your best bet to ask for feedback when you are given a rejection. It's important, and I cannot stress this enough, to be polite when you do so. The idea is to get meaningful feedback so you can improve your chances for your future applications, and definitely not to get a justification for their decision. They have absolutely no reason to justify their decision to each individual applicant.

What kind of feedback you get back will ultimately vary, sometimes you get a meaningful message with relevant feedback, other times you will get the boilerplate "we regret to inform you..." and not much more than that. Most often you will get something that is general enough, but with some nuggets of feedback.

For example, I recently got a rejection from a consultancy company I sent a general application to. I was introduced to them for the first time last year, when they were attending a career fair part of a conference I helped organize. I asked for some feedback, and in between the typical corporate HR BS, there was the indications that they had pivoted away from the areas where my skills would be valuable to them. So my take home message from that is that this company is not relevant for me anymore, even if it may have been last year. And yes, even if the job description fits my CV really well, they are not looking for someone like me.

I am giving this example only to serve as an example, I am sure your situation will be very different. But the point is, try to read into whatever feedback you might get.

Lastly, if I were you, I would try and see if there are any possibilities to get some career coach or something like that. It would be good to get some recruiters point of view on your CV.

EDIT: I noticed that I didn't address some of your questions

  Are there some special differences applying for jobs in the industry compared to academia?

Well, yeah... I would guess that academia would put more weight on your prior education, what courses you have done, whether or not you have published anything etc.

Industry, I reckon, cares more about your prior work experience, i.e. what you have done before.

The core difference is that academic positions are aiming at you developing your skills, learning new things, acquire a critical understanding of complex subjects. Industry positions primary require you to do something, have a contribution in the value chain in whatever the company is selling to its customers. You improving your skills, learning new things etc is a secondary concern. You being critical of your own, others' or even your superiors', work would not fly as well in industry as it does in academia, I would guess.

  all applications were the same as I would apply for a job in the industry, which was always really easy and successful - max timespan from sending the application over the interview to job offer was about 1-2 weeks

How many jobs have you applied to? Think of it as a sports stat, if your 3-point percentage is 1/1, sure it's 100% but you are hardly league's best 3pt shooter. :)

In general, I think academic positions are not filled as quickly as industrial counterparts. There are many things that need to be cleared by the dept/faculty/university admissions etc. Also the positions need to be open for a minimum of X working days, depending on the institution.

TLDR: Stay patient, ask for feedback, keep trying


Future enrollment in a CV TL;DR

Is it okay to list a university and an expected degree in my CV (under the education section), if the semester starts a month from now?

Longer verion:

I have finished bachelor studies and got accepted in a master program which starts in a month. I feel that if I leave out the master program because the semester and the classes have not actually started yet, the CV might look a bit empty.

Is it appropriate to list the imminent master studies as well?

Should I avoid having a specific starting month and simply put the year I enrolled, even if the semester is very close and it is highly unlikely that I will not attend?

Would the answer differ in industry?

If the semester was further away, more than a month, but I got the acceptance letter, is it still okay to list it?

Under Education, presumably you have a line for your Bachelor's.  You may also put a line for your Masters study -- perhaps something like this:

Start date: October, 2015 (tab) (name of degree, name of institution)


What can I do after giving GRE and TOEFL exams? I just gave my GRE and TOEFL examination this month. I am willing to apply for MS in Computer Science in the USA for the fall of 2014 course. The problem is that I don't seem to understand how to go about it?

How should I know which universities should I apply for? There are so many good universities in US that it confuses me. What are the parameters that I should be considering while deciding where to apply? I don't want to just randomly apply and get rejected. Is there a way to know it before hand - what things a particular university would be looking for in an applicant?

Most of the people have suggested me to select 2 ambitious, 3 moderate and 2 safe universities. I am referring to this list for all my analysis. But its difficult to know the standards that I  should use to decide what an ambitiuos university is. I mean should I consider the top 10 or the top 30 universities as ambitious.

How should I know which universities should I apply for?

As JeffE mentioned in his comment, you should start by asking your professors, and others at your school what they suggest.  It sounds like you've already been given good guidance to shoot for a range of schools, but you should avoid simply picking from a list and do some serious research into the type of place where you believe you will want to study.

  There are so many good universities in US that it confuses me. What are the parameters that I should be considering while deciding where to apply?

I would start by looking at the web pages of schools you are considering, and seeing what kinds of research the professors are working on. You may find that this is overwhelming, but I think you'll start to find some places that interest you.  I actually began my search by explicitly thinking about where in the country I didn't want to live for five years, and then went from there (not necessarily the best method, but it gave me some limits to the search).

  I don't want to just randomly apply and get rejected. Is there a way to know it before hand - what things a particular university would be looking for in an applicant?

This is dependent on the departments you apply to, but in general (and this has been answered many times on this site): schools are looking for an indication that you have the potential to do quality research.  The best way to demonstrate this is by having research experience and by having one or more publications under your belt. Letters of recommendation are extremely important, and grades are important, but I would say grades serve as more of a barrier rather than an indicator (i.e., lots of people have the grades, but not all have the other factors that make good candidates).

  Most of the people have suggested me to select 2 ambitious, 3 moderate and 2 safe universities.

This is a good start.  Some might suggest adding more schools (you never know), but this does get expensive and if you are relatively confident you will get into the "safe" schools and believe you will be happy working there, then you're probably on the right track.  Bear in mind that all PhD programs worth the degree do turn away qualified candidates.

  I am referring to this list for all my analysis. But its difficult to know the standards that I should use to decide what an ambitiuos university is. I mean should I consider the top 10 or the top 30 universities as ambitious.

This does depend on your situation, and it's almost impossible to give an answer strictly for your situation.  If you have peer reviewed publications and get outstanding letters of recommendation, you have a good shot at some top universities.  But no one is guaranteed to get into any top-10 program, so don't be surprised if you don't get accepted even as an outstanding candidate.  Again, it comes down to doing some research and talking to people about individual programs.


Working with two different set of colleagues on the same problem I am a Ph.D. student working on Computer Science. This is the situation. I thought of an interesting problem, and had a discussion about it with someone (call this person A) I wanted to establish a connection with. We discussed some ideas but they failed. We then stopped talking for a while.
Few weeks later I discuss this problem with another person, B, a postdoc at my group. We see no way of making progress in the first meeting. Then B tells me that C, a PhD student at my group, is also interested in the problem. We start having regular meetings the three of us (B, C and myself) and slowly make progress with the problem.
Then, after some months of silence, A contacts me proposing some early solutions to the problem that seem promising, clever and way more sophisticated than what B, C and I have been thinking of.
At this point I don't know how to proceed. Ideally, we could work on the problem the four of us, but it is unfair in light of the fact that the deepest contributions come from A, and the other three of us would be around just to help establishing the results and presenting them (A is an expert in a different field so it does need the help of one of us to make their techniques relevant, but three of us is too much I think). On the one hand, I have held discussions with B and C, which have led to essentially zero progress, but they have been interested in the topic nevertheless. Leaving them to (re)join A also sounds a bit inappropriate.
Any suggestion or advice is more than welcome. I can help clarifying the situation even more if you feel it's needed.

Actually, you should let A know that you and the others have been working on the problem and propose that you merge into one group. If B and C haven't been productive on it, then you might want to discuss it with them first. It might be that one or both of them isn't ready for a more intensive collaboration.
You can, jointly, be honest with A that your progress has been slow.
But it would be a mistake to arbitrarily exclude anyone.


A lecturer is hard to understand, what to do? I have a lecturer at university that I find very hard to understand. My lectures are taught in English, but my lecturer is of East Asian origin, and English is not his first language.

I find the lectures incredibly hard to follow, just trying to understand what is being said requires a substantial effort, and I find the material is challenging in any case.

There is no textbook for the course, but we are given printouts of the lecture slides that are used in the lectures (six to each side of an A4 page). While the lecture slides do contain the material, they don't explain it like a good lecturer would.

I've spoken to my tutor about the course, telling him that I find it very hard to follow the lecturers. Many of my peers feel a similar way to how I do.

Finally, let me point out that I bear the lecturer no ill will; I just want to do well on the course.

As a lecturer in Asia, I appreciate what you are saying. I have some colleagues who are Asian who are quite clear when they speak English and others with whom I require a minute or two to even recognize when they are speaking English because their accent is so strong. You have to work with what you've got.

While you could confront your lecturer, as snim2 said in an answer, you need to be delicate about this. The lecturer could find you condescending or insulting. Even if the lecturer does not think you are being purposefully hurtful, making a lecturer self-conscious about his accent might make him an even worse lecturer (of course, it could help, depending on his personality).

I would recommend talking to the lecturer and simply say something like this: Hi teacher, I'm finding it necessary to read more about this topic in order to do well in your class. Could you point me in the direction of some reading material that I can use to improve my understanding of your subject? (then stop talking)

Once you have the reading materials, focus your learning there, perhaps with some genuine emails to your lecturer, if he allows.

Even the lecturers I've met with horrible English will happily go out of their way to find some material for you to read. Either they will recommend a textbook, some articles, or they will have some material they have collected on their own. I don't believe I have ever met a university lecturer who would be offended by this approach nor have I met one who would not support a student with such a request.


Colleague indirectly accusing me of plagiarism? Help? I recently got my PhD degree.

2 years of my PhD were done under supervision of X under their department. The rest was done under supervision of Y in another department. When we separated and I moved to Y, there was an agreement about which artefacts I was allowed to keep to continue my studies *.

Some time ago my boss sent me an email telling me one X's employees has made allegations I have plagiarized their work. There was an email stating 5 separate "cases" where they believed I had done this. The majority included re-creating a figure representing an experimental set-up, and using software developed by X's department, and usage of artefacts I was previously allowed to use (see * above) which I had cited.

I have prepared a response document addressing every point and elaborating how I have not plagiarised any work, nor have taken credit for the work of others (the exception to this MAY be the figure I mentioned earlier, but this was unintentional and I have already contacted the publisher with the intention to amend the acknowledgment section of the paper, if possible). I have developed my own software and have derived my own results.

However, these false accusations were delivered to third parties first. I learned of this case from my boss. Why did X not speak to ME or Y (coauthor)? How do I protect myself in a case where third parties are being told I have plagiarised material when this is not the case?

I worry that you have a misunderstanding about plagiarism and what it means that you had an agreement about things you could use. Normally, plagiarism is pretty obvious on its face. The exception is when there is parallel work by people unknown to each other.

Even the latter can be complicated in situations where it is fairly clear that the writer should have known about the other work and ignored good research practice.

But having been given permission to use things doesn't give you permission to use them without citation. You still need to cite the source of anything you use that you didn't develop yourself.

So, if you did some work with others, and they think they have some claim to originality, so that you obviously know of their work, and they then find a paper of yours that has the work but no citation, it is pretty clearly plagiarism. Doing so accidentally or not understanding the rules is not a defense. You should know the rules and should adhere to them rigorously.

I don't claim this is what happened here, but it seems that others think it is. Your defense would be to show the citations or to make a claim of parallel, independent, work.

And they don't owe it to you to tell you before they make a claim. They need to be careful of false claims, of course.


How should I systematically go about looking for bursaries/scholarships for an internship in the UK? I am an Indian undergraduate engineering student in electronics and communication engineering. I recently had a conversation (via email) with a professor at the Royal Holloway, University of London. The professor works in my subject of interest, and so I had mailed him asking whether internship opportunities are available for the next summer. I also mentioned that I'm willing to self-fund as far as travel and living expenses are concerned. He said that it might be possible to arrange for an internship, however, he's not sure if he's allowed to not pay me. Naturally, he is a very busy person and told me that it might take him some time to gather more information about my situation. Meanwhile, he asked me to look out for scholarships/bursaries which might be available to me (during the internship period).

Now, being an Indian, I'm not very sure how these things work in the UK, nor am I particularly certain about what he meant by bursaries/scholarships. I did search the net for "funding+internship+UK", but couldn't find anything relevant to my situation. Most of the scholarship schemes I found are meant for undergraduate or graduate students who are going to study there for a period of 3 or 4 years, or for postgraduate researchers. I already mailed the Royal Holloway's international student support and the British Council and am waiting for a response from them. Is there anything else which I can possibly do from my end?

To summarize, basically my question is two-fold:

Are scholarships/bursaries (whatever that means) for research internships (in the UK), at the undergraduate level, available for non-UK students?
If yes, how should I go about looking for them? What are the places I should search first? Whom should I contact first?

P.S: I must clearly mention that I already thoroughly searched my own university's website but it seems that they don't have any funding schemes to support abroad internships. So, probably I'll need to find an external source for funding.

Update: The British Council replied that they do not have anything specific for my situation at the moment, however, I should keep an eye on the "scholarships tab" on their website, for future opportunities.

In the UK, there is not much funding for non-UK/EU students. There is not much funding for undergrads. And there is not much funding for internships. On top of this, as a non-EU/UK student, you will need a visa to work/study in the UK and unpaid "internship" is not a category for which you can easily get a visa. Tier 5 visa is perhaps most appropriate, but it requires serious commitment from the sponsor (UK university), which they may hesitate to provide.

To summarise, my advice is to look for a more standard route, e.g. an undergraduate course for which you can probably get a bursary from your own country. You can also apply for a paid work employment (e.g. postdoc) if you qualify.


Should I declare a minor if it is not required? With my current major (Medical Lab Science) I am not required to declare a minor at my university. However, the program's supervisor informed me that through taking all of the required courses to complete the program, I will only be one credit in chemistry away from being able to declare a chemistry minor.

Is it worth it? Is there any real positive prospect in declaring a minor if it's not necessary, given my major?

Why not? What's the disadvantage? An afternoon of paperwork? One extra class you have to take?

Compare that to the advantages: Let's say you are looking for work, can't find any in your chosen field (medicine), and so begin looking to work in a chem lab. Being a "medical lab science" major doesn't necessarily mean you know how to do a lot of chemistry, it may just mean you know things about handling biohazards like blood carefully. A hiring manager who doesn't know your school or that program doesn't know how much or little chem is required for such a major. You can't prove you know any chem unless they ask for a transcript or you have relevant work experience. But having "Minor in Chemistry" on your résumé would show that. So you could potentially land a low-level chem lab job easier that way.


What to do if I don't understand the related work? I am writing a master's thesis in Computer Science. It's the first document I write, so not much experience.

My supervisor told me to include some previous/related work on the topic I am writing about. In short, it is about computing influence in social networks. I have found about 10 papers which I think are the most relevant ones.

The problem is that, while the topic and goal are the same as mine, the math/algorithms they apply are often way different than mine, and advanced enough that it would take a lot of work to truly understand them. So in other words, I want to somehow argue why my model makes sense and not others, but at the same time my work is not directly based on others.

The question is, can I write about it even though I don't understand it? How well am I supposed to know the previous work I am writing about? Is it enough to have some intuition?

Sorry if this is obvious, but my university do not teach us how to write (I guess one point of having a Master's thesis is to learn these things).

The thing that strikes me most about your question is "the topic and goal are the same as mine". If this is the case, then those papers are intimately related to yours, and you will want to understand them for your own good. Granted you might not have the time - it is a Masters thesis after all. However, you'll still want to compare and contrast their results against yours. After all, a big question to answer is "is my method better than theirs?" and you cannot answer that question without knowing how the methods stack up.

You don't have to fully understand another work to write about it, but you might not be able to go into much detail: for example "Alice and Bob (2019) have also studied this problem using [method], but they ran into [issue] which we do not have" is perfectly fine. Nonetheless, with ten intimately related papers I think you will want to discuss this with your supervisor. That's a lot of related work, and your professor might already be aware of some/most of them. He might give you direction on which papers to write about, which to read in more detail, and so on.


I uploaded a transcript in my online application for grad school but did not include the back side (transcript legend), should I worry? Title says it. I submitted a transcript in my online application for grad school but did not include the back side which contains the transcript legend (has some general info about my university and grading system). Should I worry? Would this affect my application? And should I send them the legend now?

Unless your undergraduate university has an uncommon or very different grading system than that of your prospective graduate university, this should not be a big deal. Your prospective graduate university will most likely ask you for originals or certified copies of your documents when you are admitted.

The uploaded documents have no official value and are used by the committee to decide on your aptitude for the program. As long as no important information is missing, you should be fine.

That said, there is nothing against sending them the full document now, so go ahead if you are worried. The worst that can happen is that they ignore your email.


How do I find or request a copy of someone's thesis if this person did their work in mainland China? I hope this question is appropriate for the forum here.  I was hoping to locate and read a thesis outside of the United States, specifically for someone who went to a reputable University in mainland China (Shanghai Jiao Tong University).  However, all of my internet searches have been largely fruitless, and the library site at the university dedicated to theses appears to be down.

Does anyone know how to proceed in these circumstances?  I unfortunately cannot speak Chinese, and the person in question has been non-responsive for months.  Are these theses typically in English at top Chinese universities?

I am currently in China, as a postdoc. From my experience with the inner workings of Chinese academia and culture, I must say your objective is not an easy one. Most of my Chinese colleagues will only move by either by personal interest or when receiving an order. This thus is how you should approach this situation.

The proposed strategy of contacting a dean or some other local authority is a valid attempt, but you should make sure that person would be interested in helping you (by transmitting an order) for some reason. Otherwise I'd locate the respective advisor stating that you're interested in obtaining a thesis because [enter here something which will benefit that person, citations/publication/funding/collaboration/etc]. Try calling them directly while asking their name first-thing, which should put them temporarily in a responsive position.

Finally the last resort is to show up in person, where you will be treated like an authority while visiting.

The Chinese are quick to ignore communication on topics which they have no interest, and there is little casual chitchat meaning that the fact that you've written to some people about your request is unlikely to be mentioned to others.

Finally concerning availability and language, my bet is that the mentioned thesis is in Chinese with an English abstract, sitting in a cabinet full of others' theses in an office of the department. If you manage to get someone to help you, the easiest would be that a student takes pictures on a phone of every page and sends by Wechat or QQ.

Good luck!


Shirtless picture on the academic page of a Ph.D. candidate seeking postdoc I will finish my Ph.D. soon and am seeking a postdoc position.
To this purpose, I am creating my page, hosted by my university.

Personally, I don't generally take pictures of myself and don't like to.
There is a picture of mine (from 4 years ago) which I feel is fine,
where I was hiking on a mountain, without my T-shirt.
However, people won't see my nips anyway. I am a male, if this matters.

I wonder if such picture is fine in an academic page,
especially for someone who is trying to get a job.

First, there is no rule that you need to have a picture of yourself on your professional webpage.  Most people do, but there's no rule.  It's nice to have some image that represents you (giving people's visual memories something to hold onto), but that could as easily be something from your research or anything, really.

Second, I would not recommend posting an image of yourself shirtless.  Your page will be looked at by (hopefully) a lot of different people with radically differing cultural and personal backgrounds.  Many of them are likely to have no problem with it, but some may.  When you are in an early and vulnerable stage of your career, it is generally safer to choose a relatively conservative image. Please note that I am not saying: "You Must Conform!"---instead, I am saying that failing to conform can have a cost, and that you should choose whether paying such as cost is worth it to you.

Finally, there is a simple solution that will nullify the question of being shirtless: just crop the picture to zoom in on just your face.


How dificult is it to get into a PhD program years after quitting another? I am in my 5th year of a PhD program, with the deadline for my dissertation just a few months away and barely any results to report, never mind writing an entire dissertation.*

I am considering quitting this program and working for some time. I already have a job, and they have made it clear that my PhD or the lack of it are not going to make a difference in my employment.

I am wondering if ther is anyone who has found themselves in similar circumstances and, years later, has succesfully applied for another PhD position, and how did they present the fact that they left the program just a few months before the deadline.

Thanks

*After browsing for a bit, I believe some people may be tempted to say things like "if you are on your 5th year, surely you do have enough material for your dissertation". While I appreciate it, this is not what I want to discuss here.

It will be very difficult indeed.

Having a second-class undergraduate degree I was unable to get any PhD position and was advised to take a Masters course to improve my grade. If you fail the PhD or abandon it then you will find it almost impossible to get a funded place again - you would need to fund yourself, and to demonstrate successful completion of whatever you did in between. You might be successful if you had to withdraw early on for health reasons, but not as late as the 5th year. I presume that you are already past the usual finishing date, which in itself is a negative indication.

You will do far better to apply for an extension or a suspension of studies. You will have to re-register every year but this could give you the time you need to reassess what has gone wrong and how you can steer your PhD to a successful conclusion.

The starting point is to have a thorough discussion with your supervisor and the tutor in charge of the PhD programme (assuming they are not the same person), to discuss the options. If at all possible avoid taking a major break because it can be a huge obstacle to get back into it, and the field will move on while you are away so that your research becomes less relevant and harder to "sell".

In the end you just have to grit your teeth and get the work done, regardless of how dissatisfied you are with the outcome. Lack of a PhD may not make a difference in your current job but it will make a difference to your career progression, and will probably close off options of moving into an academic career later on.

The fact that you have a job might be a distraction which is keeping you from completing your PhD. It might be better to ask your boss for 3-6 month of unpaid leave to complete your PhD, or at least get it back on track.


Transferring from MS to PhD Program I am starting a MS program next fall (in statistics). At the time, I had a personal circumstance that limited the schools to which I could apply, and this was the outcome. Those circumstances however no longer exist now and I am entertaining the possibility of applying to a PhD program this fall. I am an older, returning, student so another year I didn't have to spend advancing my career is something I would rather not do.

The problem is that I would not finish my MS program and I am wondering how departments feel about that. I know that I am investment to them and they would have to approve renewal of my gta next year,so I am wondering if applying to a PhD program this fall would be a wise idea.

I am wondering if anyone can give me advice based on their own experiences relevant to my situation.

In departments I've been involved with, you need a masters in order to apply for a PhD. You'd need to complete your masters first, or find an equivalent. Thus, you cannot really transfer from Masters to PhD, as they are not on the same level.

On the other hand, in countries like the UK and Australia,  an  undergraduate honours degree that is enough to gain entry into a PhD program, at least, in those countries.


Posting a paper on a preprint repository (SSRN) before publishing (economics)? I am a young scholar and I have a paper that is virtually finished. I was thinking about posting it as a working paper on SSRN to get more feedback and comments. However, I worry if it will be still possible to submit it to a journal.

After a search on an internet, I found that people from various fields disagree on this and I am not sure how it goes in economics. I am especially confused because my paper is almost finished, but I worry I might have overlooked something, but it is also possible that the final version will not differ at much. Thanks in advance for any useful advice.

The disagreement is not merely between fields, but even between journals in the same field, published by the same organization!

For example, the American Chemistry Society (ACS) recently launched ChemRxiv as the chemistry counterpart to arXiv.org in physics. However, as of the launch date, only The Journal of Physical Chemistry series of ACS allowed authors to submit to the preprint server.

So, you need to check with the requirements and rules of the journal to which you want to send the paper to determine what is permissible.

In any event, though, if you can't submit the paper to a preprint archive, you could distribute it to trusted colleagues for feedback before submission!


Should you include your collaborations in your CV? Should you create a section listing your research collaborations in your CV?

If yes, should you name of collaborators (who might not be known to the audience) or list the institutions and their countries with which you have collaborated?

For the main question, you may to include the list of collaborations in your CV. Although it could be inferred from your publications, not all collaborations have the need to be published, especially in the case of classified projects such as the ones funded by your nation's defense research department.

From the arguments from the comments, it is clear that co-authors are considered to be collaborators. In some cases, all of your co-authors may not hold considerable contribution and certain collaborators you wish to show are not in the list of co-authors of your papers. Hence, you may include a Major Collaborators list in your CV and cover those whom you think are important collaborators you have worked with.


How to get through the rigorous phase of PhD? I am currently a PhD student working out research and also doing mathematics for my PhD research. Most of the time these days I spend on studying -- maybe 15 to 16 hours per day. I believe that I joined the PhD as an active student, but now I am not as active as I used to be in the initial years. My productivity is less these days as I try to avoid mistakes in my research. I have started feeling nervous in front of my colleague as I don't have any publications until now.

I always try to prepare my best but these days fail quite frequently and make silly mistakes which are annoying. Sometimes I even forget the basic definitions. Looking at myself during my initial two years I find myself a fool these days. I think this is called the rigorous phase of PhD where your ideas have to pass rigorous mathematical proofs and I am quite independent these days.

Question: How to get through the rigorous phase of PhD?

Take a (short) vacation immediately.

By working 15-16 hours a day you are making yourself too exhausted and tired to be effective. That is also probably why you make mistakes. You should take a break that is long enough to reset, and when you come back aim at reasonable working hours (depends on a person and circumstances but for most people this is 40-60hrs/week).


API to get citations from DOI Is there any API service to provide just the number of citations by DOI of an article?

An increasing number of publishers are making their citations open. When this happens, you can get them from the Crossref REST API.

This query lists all of the DOIs for which you can get the references, currently 20,455,807

http://api.crossref.org/works?filter=reference-visibility:open,has-references:true

Here's an example lookup. Look in the "reference" field:

http://api.crossref.org/works/10.1179/1942787514y.0000000039

You can also look at the Initiative for Open Citations and OpenCitations.net.

(I work for Crossref)


MOOC / video integration into classroom schedule Please forgive the rambling intro...

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are all the rage when people write about teaching. So many articles have been written about MOOCs killing universities while others complain about the attention. Some have even discussed some community colleges using MOOCs with the classroom teacher filling more of a tutorial role using MOOCs for the bulk of their material.

As I reflect on my own classroom experience (as a lecturer) I find that a lot of my time is spent covering the basics while it would be much more interesting to focus on higher-level concepts. However, in the end, I have only a certain number of hours in the class with my students. If I have 60 hours and it takes 50 hours to cover the basics, there is little time remaining to cover much in the way of higher-level ideas.

So, I've been considering assigning MOOC videos as homework and using class time as discussion time, much the way one would using the case method. While my experience with the case method has not been fantastic, I'm not ready to give up on it yet.

My question is: What is the best way to integrate MOOC videos or other videos as part of the curriculum? Are there any major pitfalls that I should consider before completing my plan for the coming semester?

The best way to integrate off-line video content into a face-to-face course is to make the videos worth watching in the first place. If the videos are not well-made, or if they are too long, or if they are only tangentially related to the topic at hand, there's a good chance students won't bother to spend time watching the videos.

However, if students can learn basic information effectively in a relatively short amount of time, and you structure the class so that this information is needed to complete their homework assignments, there's a good chance they'll start learning from the videos.

The videos need not be MOOC videos. A video can be something from the Kahn academy, something you found on YouTube, or something you create on your campus.

Does your institution have a Center or Office that helps professors with DL classes? If so, they may have equipment and expertise to help you create your own videos, if you have trouble finding existing content to fit your needs, and have determined that that's your best course of action.

Once you have a collection of suitable videos ready to integrate into the course, I'd avoid telling the students that the videos are mandatory viewing. Instead, I'd simply make this a commonly-heard refrain in your class:

  And then you complete the problem by doing X, but X is something we're not going to cover in class. If you're not sure how to do X, I've posted a link to a video.

If you make the video something that they need to watch before class, there's a high chance the students won't bother. But, if watching it will help them complete a homework assignment, I think the chances are much better. There's a tangible reward for watching the video; it becomes a worthwhile time investment. It helps if the videos are short – say, 10 minutes at most.

So, I'd try to structure the course such that the videos are assigned, and they are tied to a written homework assignment that will be turned in. You can then start covering the more advanced material in class after the students have turned in the assignment, with a bit more assurance that a majority of the students have really watched the video.

I'd also explain up front (in the course syllabus) why you are leveraging videos in the first place. Tell them directly that your aim is to exploit technology. Explain that spending class time covering basic concepts is not an effective use of class time, now that we are in the age of YouTube and the Internet, and there are other ways they can learn.

Use the Discussion Board feature of your institution's LMS so that students can ask questions if they've watched the video, but are still confused about something. That way, you won't create the impression that you're just trying to take the easy way out with a detached teaching style, but that you are instead striving to leverage technology in multiple ways to create a more effective learning climate overall.

Lastly, try to post the video links in your LMS in a way that you'll be able to see which students have opened the videos, and which students haven't bothered. Such reports aren't foolproof (just because a student clicked on a link doesn't mean they've actually watched the video attentively, e.g.). However, it might be worth knowing that, in a class of 23, only 8 students have even bothered to open the video.


How to tell my advisor that I am quitting my PhD and what to say to an employer about why I am leaving I got a job offer shortly after starting my PhD. So my question is: What should I say to my advisor about why I am quitting my PhD? Is it fair to tell her that I have accepted a job offer? And What should I say to an employer about why I am leaving my PhD? Will it not cause them suspect that I can't survive a PhD, let alone a job with them?

This is pretty common in my field (applied math). Students see the amount of money they can be making, and see the amount of work a PhD is, and leave. Be cordial about it, but the institution (and potential adviser) will likely be very unhappy. Make sure you are confident in your choice before even mentioning it to your adviser. Because of this being a common issue, I know that for plenty of professors the moment you start speaking about industry you have already burned the bridge.

As for what people in industry will think, I can't comment for them. Some will probably think you made a good conscious choice to not continue pursuing a PhD (just tell people about how the job market isn't that good). Others will think you dropped out.

This is just such a personal thing. People will see it how they want to see it no matter how you tell the story.


What's a "methodological approach" for research (Master's thesis)? I'm going to apply for a Master's program. Although I'm not going to change my general field of study, I'm going to change my 'track' (from Information Technology to Geoinformatics).

In the application form of the aforementioned Master's program, I've been asked to specify my area of interest and state a research topic for my Master's thesis and describe my methodological approach. I honestly have no idea how to fill this part, how can I choose an area of interest and more importantly a topic for my thesis when I haven't even started the studies? Besides, can someone please kindly tell me what the part about the "methodological approach" means? (Is it talking about choosing one approach between Qualitative, Quantitave, etc. approaches? If so, is it enough to just write down the name and add no details?)

You can't really choose your topic definitively until you have "mastered" the related material, but you can give a strong, well-informed description of what your topic might be.

A methodological approach is the approach you will take to exploring your topic. For example: "I will perform neural network simulations of the PFC and BG of a decision making agent while recording neuronal activity and behavior. I will supplement this computational approach with validation of behavioral results in humans." The approach should be carefully thought out (as the above example was not) and worded to make it sound nontrivial yet feasible within the scope of your program.


How to avoid being blamed on cheating? A lecturer of the programming course said: "In this course you can't use Google. If we find you are cheated, you will fail the course".

What kind of rights there are if I accidentally write something that is already published on the internet and I don't know it? The problems seems to be so basic level that there is a positive probability that if you have done programming before, you can find similar or even identical code from the Internet.

I doubt that this would be a problem, provided that you don't cheat. But your work will probably be put through a plagiarism checker and get a score. How that is handled is up to the instructor.

But if you really need assurance, then do the work under the eye of a mutually trusted individual who will attest to your following the rules. A proctor, in other words.

Some people need such assurance, I think, perhaps because they aren't naturally trusted for some reasons. But for most people it isn't needed. Paranoia isn't essential in normal relationships. Cheating, when caught, is usually pretty obvious.


How to make a mathematical text more concise? My PhD thesis has 175 pages A4 and I shall provide also a compilation that will summarize the main results on 20 pages A5. My thesis contains algorithms and theorems examining their properties.

After ignoring figures, proofs, illustrative examples, chapter-motivation-paragraph, and major part of introduction and conclusion I have still 48 pages.

Any idea or guidance how to present the results on a very limited space? How to balance the readability (towards marketing) and the scientific strength of the content (towards technical documentation)?

In writing a summary of a thesis, I would actually go about this the opposite way.  Don't start with 175 pages and try to cut it down to 20.  Instead, start from 0 and try to write a document that will be useful to a reader who wants to know whether to pick up the entire thesis.

I would probably do something like this:

Background description that explains why your problem is interesting.  2-3 pages maximum.
General description of what your algorithm achieves, why it is useful, and how it improves on the previous state of the art.  Don't try to explain the details of how the algorithm works.  Consider including a brief illustrative example if space permits at all; that will be very helpful to the reader who wants to know what the heck you are doing.
If space remains, state main theorem(s), preceded by any definitions needed for them to make sense.  If necessary, gloss over the less interesting parts of those theorems.  E.g. a complicated set of conditions can be encapsulated in "under mild assumptions" (assuming they are mild), a complicated formula could be replaced by "there exists a constant".
If space still remains, consider including a very high-level overview of your methods.  Specifically mention any parts that you think are especially interesting or novel.

This isn't my field, but I gather that in computer science it is pretty common to publish results first as relatively short conference papers, and then to give more complete details in follow-up papers in journals.  You might try reading such conference papers (and compare them with their extended versions) to see what details people focus on.  Writing this summary will also be good practice for eventually producing page-limited papers based on your work.


Does anyone know a good resource for statement of purpose critiques? I have been out of academia for about eight years and am looking to go back to graduate school. I would like to get some feedback on my statement of purpose, outside of the circle of friends and family I have available. Does anyone know a good resource I might be able to turn to. Thanks in advance!

One might believe that one of the best ways to assess a SoP, in view of technical affairs and coverage of the necessary cases, shall be:

Composing based on the best practices, have which been accessible within the web. Such advice-driven clarification will paves your way to consider the stuffs within your SoP, are which necessary in view of the target reader. A handful of typical resources could be tracked like this one, this one, this one and even this one. By taking such approach into account, your SoP will have been checked according to those guidelines, indirectly.
Presenting the SoP to the fellows, who have been already admitted to the competitive programs in your field. Obviously, That person had composed a decent SoP to become successful and the feedback from such person shall be, noticeably, constructive for you.

Best


Have chosen a field without thinking much I am pursuing Masters of Human Resource Management and will complete it within a few months. But it always bugs me that I have not chosen the right field. I went with what everyone was doing. I also think that this seat could have been gone to a deserving candidate who actually wanted to do this course. Such thoughts bother me. Can you please help me out with this, both the issues? I just want peace related to it.

Over the course of a lifetime a person makes many thousands of decisions, most of them with incomplete information. "It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time". Many of those decisions will lead to less than optimal results, so we learn to change and adapt.

You need to give some thought, I guess, about what your goals are and your options. Use the information you now have to try to set a new path. It will take time and effort, of course, but there is little value in continuing on a path that no longer seems right or has value to you. Likely, finishing your current degree gives you more options than dropping out of it, but that is yours to judge. But you have various educational assets that you can employ to change directions. But you need to try to make the best decision you can, knowing what you know now.

As for the other question, of denying your current seat to someone more deserving, it would only be an ethical issue had you set out at the time with the intention of denying that seat to another. That seems pretty unlikely. You did what you thought best. Others concurred with your decision. Now you have more information, and perhaps have changed and grown. Anyone who might have had your seat also had their own options and have, by now, made their own choices. You can't change that, nor should you worry about it. Someone else might be thinking the same way about their choices denying you an option that you might have had. But there is no global, universal, optimization scheme that sees the future and makes the objectively best decision for everyone.

Do what you think best with the information you have at the time. If you choose a path, follow it faithfully, but not rigidly. Let change happen.


The book suggested for a class has bad reviews, should I use it or another? I 'm at the start of my second semester of college and I don't have any real practical experience with programming, but I have to take a class on OOP that is usually taught to juniors.

My OOP class teacher recommended "C++: How to program" 4th ed. by Deitel & Deitel as a textbook, which is a book with many horrible things written about it on the internet.

He also cited a couple generic manuals: "C++ primer plus" by S. Prata and "Absolute C++" that have cold reviews if any; plus a book on general theory: "Concepts of programming languages".

As an ultimate reference he suggested "The C++ programming language" which should be a very solid title, but seems to be more aimed towards experienced programmers.

I read the list at The Definitive C++ Book Guide and List and I'm really tempted to just pick up a title from it, maybe "C++ Primer" or "Accelerated C++".

Does anyone have any sensible advice about this kind of situation?
Should I try to study from books that are recognized as faulted by all other sources but my teacher?

Especially as a beginner, you should really get the recommended book. It is very likely that the course will follow the book rather closely, and trying to study the same material from a different book is usually not easy if you just started to program. If you think that the recommended text book is really bad, you can always get some other learning material in addition.

Some more explanation if you happen to think "C++ is C++ - it shouldn't matter which book the OP uses to study the same tool". Well, problems arise if the text book the OP studies uses a different didactic concept / ordering of content than the course. For instance, I am teaching Introduction to Programming in Java. Our specific text book introduces OOP notions, such as classes and methods, much earlier than most books. Students that choose to study using different books often end up being extremely confused in class, because their books never mention class hierarchies until half-way through while they are all over the place in in-class examples. Another aspect is that most programming books have their idiosyncrasies in  terms of how code is formatted, how certain basic ideas should be expressed, what "good" and "bad" programming concepts are. Advanced programmers can easily abstract from such idiosyncrasies, but they tend to confuse the heck out of beginners when applied inconsistently.


Is there any risk of having my research scooped after posting my manuscript onto bioRxiv? I want to post my manuscript to bioRxiv before submitting onto formal journals, but I still have several concerns:

Can I claim I am the first for the discovery by posting my findings on bioRxiv ?
Similarly, is it a feasible way to prevent others from publishing ealier than me on the same topic ?
Are there any risks of having my research scooped after posting my manuscript on bioRxiv ?

Thanks and Best regards,

Michael

In fields that use arXiv, publication in arXiv does establish a definitive date-stamp on the work (and an accompanying archival DOI) that is generally understood and respected by practitioners in the field. Nobody could reasonable "scoop" a work published there without being called on it by their peers.

bioRxiv is intended to provide the same for biology-related fields and technically does so. The culture of those fields, however, is often not yet as accepting of the idea of pre-publication and incrementally evolving works. Hence, for example, the much greater concern with the ideas of "priority" and "scoop" to begin with.  A few journals still even consider sharing a pre-print in bioRxiv to be a sort of "self-scoop" that prevents you from submitting for peer review in that journal!

Still, the only way to change this culture is to embrace more open and sharing practices. I would advise checking whether others in your sub-field use bioRxiv, checking the publication policy of your target journal in SHERPA/RoMEO, and checking if your co-authors are amenable to pre-print sharing. If you see others in your subfield sharing, and if there is no veto from the journal or co-authors, then go ahead!


Is it normal for a potential supervisor to not reply to a student even after they replied before? I enquired about a funded PhD position which was advertised on the faculty website. The application involved finding a supervisor and getting them to agree to be a potential supervisor before applying formally to the position.

I contacted the supervisor, who responded straight away, and they said that my idea sounded interesting, but that before we could discuss it further he/she would like to know more about my previous research experience.

I sent this information in an email, but have not heard anything back since (it has been 5 working days). Does this mean that he/she does not want to pursue it further, or could it be that they are simply busy and considering it?

Should I contact them again?

Is your deadline for this opportunity within a month or two? If so, a gentle nudge would be appropriate after a week. You could reply to your own email to bring it back to the top of the professor's inbox, saying something at the top like:

  Dear Professor X, I am sure you are very busy, so thank you for your previous response about the PhD position. Please let me know if you would like to further discuss my research experience (details below) or the projects I hope to pursue with you.

If the deadline is extremely close (within the next two weeks?) it might be appropriate to further inquire, "Given that the application deadline is XXX, may I ask whether you are still considering me as a potential student for this PhD position?" (It would be courteous for the professor to tell you if you were out of consideration, but it also might not be necessary to ask for this clarification unless your next action hinges on the response, e.g. asking another faculty member at the institution to sponsor you.)

Edit: Advice on getting replies from busy professors suggests saying that you're "sending a follow-up in case your original message went to spam, or something similar". However, that is less plausible because you previously received a response. (Unless the attachments may have gotten it sent to a spam filter.) I'm not sure whether there is another courteous "little white lie" to deploy here rather than taking the tack of "I am sure you are very busy."


Using Fiverr for proofreading/editing essays I have written my Statement of Purpose all by myself. Now, I am planning to use Fiverr to proofread the essay since I come from a country where English is not widely spoken.

Does it count as academic fraud? Has any University
 taken action against students who have used online
 proofreading websites in the past?
Can the seller use my essay to write other essays? If yes, will it lead to
plagiarism
Would you personally recommend using Fiverr?

Answering your questions:

1-Does it count as academic fraud? Has any University taken action against students who have used online proofreading websites in the past?

No. fraud is intentional deception to secure unlawful gain. Proofreading is not a problem. In fact, many universities and event governments demand professional translation and proofreading for important papers and/or tramits if they are in a language different than the official one.  The thing is that proofreading is done after you already wrote your work, so it is still your work. The problem is when you use a service to write the work itself.

2-Can the seller use my essay to write other essays? If yes, will it lead to plagiarism

Yes and no. Yes because they can indeed grab the text and paste it in a new doc, which would be indeed plagiarism on their part and fault.If you publish it first then you are protected by author's rights. And No because an essay has a personal way of writing and it's on a very specific topic, which makes it hard to use directly without it being obvious.

3-Would you personally recommend using Fiverr?

Yes. If you are just proofreading. But do check the qualifications of the people offering the service first. Being native to a language does not mean people are aware of the language and it's rule, which is specially common for monolinguals. Also check with some editorial agency to contrast prices, not to mention that any of these agencies can give you written proof that it isnt/wont be used for other works. I understand the price for this is a concern, more so for a mere essay, so I can suggest you check a language teacher/school. They can proofread too, possible at a a decent price, and they will understand better what you meant to say in your original language.


Discovered that my BA topic has been discussed thoroughly ...after i finished half of it. What to do? I've found out from other professors that my topic for B.A. research is something that has already been covered thoroughly. My B.A. research topic covers the hindrances affecting high school students from achieving good English speaking skills. It is a subject that I've been quite passionate about and my supervisor never gave me any negative remark about it. I started to read deeply about it and was discussing it with two other professors. They both gave me this shocking remark that this topic has been thoroughly dealt with before. I really feel frustrated and disappointed, for I feel that I'm just wasting time not adding anything new!!!
I don't know what I should do now?!!

Like @PatriciaShanahan said in her comment, you have the following possiblities:

Check it up if the previous work is the same as the one that you are actually doing. At this point, it would be advisable that you present to your supervisor with your current work and some past articles that resemble what you are actually doing. He could help you to see if its the same or not.
If indeed your work has been published before, then you can make a literature review about it; adding your own experimentation and so on. That could become your thesis for your BA degree.
If  your proposal is new or at least an extension of what has been done before, then you can continue it, but aiming maybe to a future publication.

In all the cases you can, and should, continue with your current work. Remember that what your professors or teachers look after your BA thesis is that you manage to amalgamate what you have learned on your undergraduate period, but not necessarily to present some novel contribution as it happens on the PhD studies.
Good luck!


How to deal with inactive students in a testing session? In testing sessions that I proctor now, there are frequently one or more students who are not actually working on the test for extended periods of time. Perhaps they are just staring into space, or out the window, for most of the period. Or they may be holding the test paper up in the air and apparently scrutinizing it for a long period of time. Or a student may lean back in their chair and go soundly to sleep.

Excepting this last case, the student likely only has to adjust their eyes a few degrees to be looking at another student's paper. It gives all appearances that they are watching for me to turn away so that they can cheat. I feel compelled to watch them constantly for the entire period, which is tiring and stressful, and doesn't let me watch other students or answer questions. Frequently, the paper I get back is mostly blank after this hour-long staring match, but I can't know that in advance.

What is the best way to deal with inactive students in the testing session? Is it appropriate to demand that they leave the testing area if they're not actively working? (Students are already told in advance that they can turn in their paper and leave as soon as they're done with it.)

I'm teaching mostly lower-level mathematics at a large urban community college in the U.S.

Added: This is in a moderate-sized course with around 25 students in the classroom, taking the exam. The students are known to me and registered for the course which I am teaching. I made the exam and distributed a practice version, with identical directions for each question, in advance of the exam.

It seems to me that students are permitted to spend exam time "as inactively as they choose," and that barring some truly exceptional edge cases it is neither fair to them nor the best use of your own time to try to deal with inactive students during the exam itself.

I'm sorry the behavior is stressful for you, but I don't have a good understanding of why.  Not working or writing on the exam is not an effective cheating technique; falling asleep or staring out the window less so.  If you see students with wandering eyes in a way that actually makes you concerned: okay, tell them not to do that when you catch them doing it.  But that's a problem of unwanted activity, not inactivity.  Moreover, you write

  Frequently the paper I get back is mostly blank after an hour of inactivity like this.

I find it kind of strange that you think that a student (whom you know is registered for your class; no funny business there) who turns in a mostly blank exam is somehow cheating.  Cheating means trying to succeed through illegal means; if they are pathologically avoiding trying to succeed, I somehow doubt that cheating is the explanation.

You write

  It puts me on edge because it's so inexplicable,

Okay, I get you there: it certainly must be distressing as an instructor to witness students walking into an exam -- i.e., a situation which is a pressure-packed performance opportunity to most students -- and respond to the high pressure situation by basically doing nothing.  I agree that there's something going wrong here.  However, I don't think that you should fix the problem by proctoring the exam differently: rather, during the exam you should take note of which students are behaving in this way, and then make a point of talking to them about it after the exam (presumably after it's been graded rather than immediately at the end of the exam).  In my experience, if a student is otherwise even moderately engaged with the course (coming to class, turning in homework) then they are very likely to be responsive to such questions on the part of the instructor.  Maybe once in a blue moon you get a student who really doesn't want to work much on their exams and really doesn't want to talk to you about it.  OK: you tried, they didn't, they'll fail.  But they have the right to play it that way, it seems to me.

Let me end by commenting on another answer which suggests running future courses with a policy that says students' exams can be taken away from them if they are not working on them.  While clearly well-intentioned, I think that's a bad idea.  You simply do not have access to students' interior processes and you shouldn't pretend to do so: maybe a student who is staring out the window for half an hour is nevertheless working on the one problem that they don't know how to do and is going to write out solutions to all the problems in the last ten minutes.  (I mean, probably not, but maybe.)  It's just not defensible enough to respond to inactivity on an exam by taking the exam away from the student (and especially, with a policy to return it later on if they show suitable penitence).  A student who has an exam taken away can go to the department chair or the dean saying "My exam got taken away from me just because I was thinking rather than writing."  If I were the chair or the dean...c'mon: the student has a very strong case.


The GRE vocabulary is infrequent to meet in academic life. What is the purpose of learning them? My question stems from this paper: An analysis on the validity of the lexicon required by GRE® test takers.

According to the paper, "the great majority of these words are too infrequent to be deemed as useful tools for graduate life". Only 15 out of 302 analyzed words (about 5%) found to be frequent in academic corpus.

So why do they exist in the Graduate Record Examination?

My experience is that those words are especially helpful when you read articles from reputed newspapers and magazines, where the demand of complex language is high. Sometimes I do meet a GRE word that I've learned in a scientific paper, and thanks for my studying in GRE I don't have to look up the dictionary. I do use those words to show off in my TOEFL test, and I have a high score in writing and reading skills. In short, I am wholeheartedly advocate to learn advanced vocabulary, for the sake of getting fluent in the language. However, I don't understand why the GRE requires the test-takers to learn words which are too infrequent for their academic jobs.

I think it helps a lot here to understand the American cultural context, and in particular the liberal arts model of education that is quite common in the US.

The GRE, and the departments and universities that care most about them, thinks of graduate training as pointing towards a career as a professor, not as a researcher.  In the US, the majority of jobs as professors have teaching (at the university level) as a valued component, and in the US, students at university are supposed to take a broad range of courses rather than courses focused on a single area of study.  This means that professors are also teaching an audience that isn't solely focused on their subject but rather students with a wide range of interests (at least in the ideal case - in non-ideal cases, they may be teaching students with no interests).

Even though I'm a mathematician and teach only mathematics courses, I think I am a better teacher (and academic advisor) because I know a fair amount about philosophy, religion, history, literature, economics, sociology, computer science, and so on.  I'm not an expert in any of these things, and I make this clear, but I can make analogies to a broad range of ideas and use them in conversation with students.

For an American, the vocabulary section of the GRE is meant to test, not whether you can memorize the meaning of a large number of words for the GRE, but rather whether you are a widely read person who has already encountered many of these words in the course of their life and studies.

Certainly the verbal GRE scores are generally taken into account much less seriously (or not at all) when making graduate admissions decisions for non-American students, particularly when the student has no plans to remain in the US after their studies.