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[ "Test answer rejected for saying more than asked for", "this is about a phenomenon often seen, but I came across a probably more prominent example recently, so I thought I'd ask for the community's opinion.\n\nHere's the situation:\nIn the past semester's exams there was a question in computer architecture asking for X, and I, and many other students, answered Y, which contains X and is mostly revolving around X, thus successfully answering the question (in our opinion at least). The professor rejected the entire question (20% of the grade) and at any attempt to talk to him he directed us to the sample answer, stating that we \"are wrong\", we \"answered another question, not the one asked\", and so on. The question wasn't even given partial credit, and that happens systematically in his tests.\n\nAnother similar issue on the same test, was when a very few of us optimized a small bit of code in a way that would, industrially, be significant, and that part was rejected similarly, without any explanations, as \"being entirely different\". Explanations were also written on the test, so he cannot claim we did it without explaining.\n\nThis seems to be a general policy of the professor, as numerical errors are similarly crippling to grades, and in the sequel lesson, of an amphitheater of about or more than 80 people (and of course a lot more don't even attend classes as they are not obligatory, but I don't know if they're better or worse than those who attend), only 11 had succeeded the exam.\n\nI would finally like to note that some of the stuff he rejects, he himself does in class, the most obvious being a computational error, and frustratingly he also did the optimization he rejected in the test.\n\nSo finally, the question:\n\nI understand that professors have the right to grade based on their own criteria, but\n\nIs it justifiable to reject an entire answer because more was said, without even partial credit?\n\nIs it justifiable to reject an answer that gives something better than what is required, perfectly equivalent, even if relying on the student's intervention? (in this case, it would be a compiler optimization, thus not an entirely direct interpretation, but an elegant and industrially valuable workaround)\n\nIs it acceptable to direct students to example answers and not allow them to explain why they think their answer is correct?\n\nI'm also itching to see how we could deal with this, but that's not the main question so I leave that to your own discretion and benevolence to answer." ]

[ "exams", "grading" ]

[ "Are there some fields where having skills in a language other than English is necessary to perform research at an international level?", "When I went to college, an old-schooled teacher of mine insisted that, because I was interested in chemistry, I needed to work on my German as it was the lingua franca of that trade. It turns out, there is absolutely no need to speak German anymore to be a successful researcher in chemistry.\n\nI somewhat thought that, since at least two decades, English was the only language required to be a researcher in any field (excepting, maybe, literature). However, seeing this question made it apparent that some graduate programs still have requirements for other languages. How useful are they?\n\nIn a word: are there some fields where reading/writing/speaking a language other than English is necessary to perform research at an international level?\n\n(Let's exclude fields related to literature and linguistics. Let's also forget about teaching, and focus the question on research.)" ]

[ "research-process", "language", "international" ]

[ "Do I have any obligations to my PhD supervisor's requests after I have graduated?", "I graduated with a biology PhD last year. My supervisor named X was pretty hands-off (which was great) and most of my project, from conceptualization to data analysis, was done by me generally without much input from X partly because it wasn't X's area of expertise. I now have a full-time job doing math. X insists I meet with X to discuss how to turn a manuscript (rejected last year as I was writing my thesis because it required significant revisions and additional experiments) into publishable form for resubmission for grant money purposes, and then work on that on my own time. \n\nSo I was just wondering whether I have any obligation, professional/moral/official/other, to comply with X's request (other than my personal responsibility to publish stuff I've done and not waste time/resources I've used), because X is not going to be paying me to spend my free time working on this manuscript and this manuscript isn't going to help me with my career. \n\nApproximate time to get this into publishable form is: 2-3 months working weekends by me to do additional analysis from existing data, and 6-12 months for additional experiments done by a person in X's lab who will require training from me. \n\nTo clarify, \n\n\nMy new job is not in academia, but I do regularly write academic math/stats papers as a part of my job.\nI am thoroughly disillusioned with academia and never intend to return.\nThe intent is to publish a paper that X can cite in grant proposals to show productivity etc." ]

[ "publications", "phd", "graduation" ]

[ "Are there any new(er) models of publishing/reviewing and if so how will they address the problems that we have today?", "I was reading this article on The Guardian about scientific publishing and peer-review process. The author raises a fair number of concerns with the existing model, most of which I agree with. The article ends with the following statement: \n\n\n ... but the need for reform is profound.\n\n\nI ended up thinking about this idea, a reform in the way we do science. By doing science I mean the whole process of writing, submitting, reviewing, publishing and measuring the results of our work (and not the actual work itself). \n\nWhile I agree with the author about the current system being faulty, sick, or corrupt (depending on the shade of glasses you look at it), I cannot really come up with a system that would magically solve the existing problems just like that. \n\nThe Arxiv idea is named in the article and from what I understand people in physics and math quite enjoy the benefits of that site (whatever it is) however with the amount of money and prestige involved, I cannot imagine how it would be implemented in fields like biology, chemistry and medicine. \n\nTo sum things up, my question is whether or not there are/have been alternative models to the existing one: blind, peer-review, hundred of journals, and metrics of \"quality\" flying left and right. If so which shortcomings of the existing model were amended?" ]

[ "publications", "ethics", "peer-review" ]

[ "If I get an article published in a journal as an undergrad, but the research is low-quality, can it hurt my chances for admission to a PhD?", "I'm an undergraduate psychology major with an opportunity to publish in a peer-reviewed journal as a second author. However, the research is fairly low-quality (it was previously submitted to a journal and rejected with very critical reviews). Would having this research published with my name on help or hurt my chances of getting into a PhD program?" ]

[ "graduate-admissions", "research-undergraduate" ]

[ "Should I send an email to the address of my former professor that wasn't explicitly given, but google out myself?", "I'm applying to PhD programs and want to ask for a reference letter from my former supervisor, who has since moved to a new university, so that his old work email is not working anymore. I've been asking him through his personal email; however, as he rarely checks it, sometime it takes more than a month for him to reply to me. One of the universities to which I'm applying has a deadline coming up in less than a month and I haven't heard from my former supervisor for a while. While panicking, I searched on Google and found his new email address. I wonder if it's reasonable to send email to that address and remind him as he never gave me the address." ]

[ "citations", "recommendation-letter", "email" ]

[ "How to Offer Review Services", "A booknote of mine was just accepted for publication. I've been in contact with the editor throughout the process, and want write an email thanking him, and also indicating that I'd be happy to be considered as a potential reviewer in the future. What would be an appropriate way to phrase this email?" ]

[ "publications" ]

[ "MLA multiple parenthetical citation essay without page numbers", "I have an older source that has no pagination. My question concerns the correct mode of multiple parenthetical in-text reference to the source according to MLA style.\n\nIn the works cited section:\n\nSmith, Alexander. \"The Problems of Writing.\" New Inquiry (1940): n. pag.\n\nIn text (version 1):\n\nSmith argues that writing is \"a problem of its own\" (1940). He goes on to refer to the \"complicated process of writing a text.\" He explains it in ...\n\nQuestion: How do I back up the second, third, etc. reference to the unpaginated source in my own text? Is the text above right or do I need to have the year in brackets every time I quote from the text? Something like:\n\nversion 2: Smith argues that writing is \"a problem of its own\" (1940). He goes on to refer to the \"complicated process of writing a text\" (1940). He explains...\n\nOr do I reference \"n.pag.\" in the text:\n\nversion 3: Smith argues that writing is \"a problem of its own\" (1940 n. pag.). He goes on to refer to the \"complicated process of writing a text\" (n. pag.). He explains...\n\nThank you very much!" ]

[ "citation-style" ]

[ "Should references in the supplementary information be included in the main text?", "I have been cutting some sections out of my article and moving them into the supplementary information section so my paper will fit within the journal's length requirements. However, some of the information (particularly the methods section) has citations.\n\nShould these citations only be referenced in the supplementary information section or in the main part of the article as well? And how would the numbering work for that?" ]

[ "journals", "citations", "publications" ]

[ "I got the same referee report from two different journals", "My coauthor and I submitted our article for publication to one of the best journals in our field. After a long time of review, we got a rejection decision by the editor based on the referee report which we received. After that we wrote to the editor and explained to him/her that the referee arguments to reject our paper are wrong and provided point by point evidence to support our conclusions. \n\nHowever, the editor did not accept our arguments so we then sent our paper to another journal which is also among the best in our field. After waiting for considerable time, we got a rejection decision from the second journal and the same referee report as the first journal. I repeat the two reports which we received from two journals are completely identical! We have asked the editor of the second journal for explanations why we got the same report and so far we have not heard any reply. \n\nBased on these facts, we believe that our paper is being rejected for some unknown personal reasons not clear to us rather than objective reasons connected with our work. In between the two submissions, we have revised our paper based on the first journal referee report. \n\nHave your ever experienced such a situation? \n\nHow should we behave in this case?\n\nUPDATE: \n\nBased on some comments below about this post, I want to express my opinion in more details about this issue. I am an expert in my working field and have reviewed several papers too. However, if somebody is asked to review the same paper more than once from two different journals, it is ethical that the referee rejects to review the paper and gives the possibility to another referee to do it. The referee can have an option to explain to the second journal editor the reasons why he/she rejected the paper initially and also point out the comments which he/she received back from the authors through the first journal (as in our case) that his/her conclusions might be wrong." ]

[ "journals", "peer-review", "ethics" ]

[ "To cite an organisation correctly in IEEE style", "My tex based on Espanta's answer\n\n@techreport{AAMI,\n title = {Recommended Practice for Testing and Reporting Performance Results of Ventricular Arrhythmia Detection Algorithms},\n institution = {{Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation}},\n year = {1987},\n address = {Arlington, VA, USA}\n}\n\n\nwhich is shown correctly now after Espanta's answer in Bibliography.\nHowever, the thing is shown in my text similarly as before :\n\n\n\nwhere AAM (1987) is shown. \nI do not know what I should have in the text body for this citation, since the citation does not have author but institution.\nI think AAMI (1987) is good.\n\nWhat is the correct way of citing this organisation in IEEE style?" ]

[ "citations", "bibtex" ]

[ "How to justify not using a certain program or API or framework because it is not free", "I am trying to write a justification as to why some tools were discarded in my project. My reasoning is that if I have 10-20 tools that more or less solve the same problem, and I have no clear insight on which one may perform better or any other characteristic like that, some kind of explanation as to why choosing one over the others is the right approach: some are simply not compatible to my particular project and others require payments. I talked with my tutor and I was told to evaluate the options, present them, and then pick one that would better fit the project. \n\nBut money was, and still is, a limitation, since there is no financing for the project, not for 10$ nor for 1000$, since we don't really know how they'll behave beforehand, one limitation in order to pick a tool was money. \n\nWhat I am doing is write a state of the art of the different options, explaining different characteristics about them: how they work, what they require, and also how they are sepparated in terms of monetization. There is open source, there is what I would call, for lack of enough vocabulary, rental of the tool, you pay per minute used, and there is contracting of services which is a model that does not even offer a price, they offer you to get in contact with them and get to an agreement.\n\nIs this a valid explanation? Am I looking wrong at the problem? Thanks in advance for the input." ]

[ "research-process", "undergraduate", "research-undergraduate" ]

[ "Research plan for a first-time faculty application", "I'm in my 3rd year of postdocs and started to apply for Lecturer positions in Computer Science the UK (the entry level permanent faculty positions). As part of my interview process, I am required to give a 15 minute presentation about my current research and my three year research plan, and am looking for some advice on how to do the latter. The focus of the research plan presentation is not only on the ideas you propose, but in major part about how you plan to obtain funding for it and how many research staff you can bring in from that funding to support your research.\nI've looked through some other questions regarding UK faculty applications, research plan writing and content, which offer some good advice. However, I am looking for advice specifically targeting early-career researchers applying for their first faculty position.\nThe two specific aspects I am concerned about is the transition from postdoctoral positions where shorter-term career plans are the norm, as well as my relative inexperience with grant writing (I've recently been included in the late stages of grant writing by my advisor, but that's it).\nOf course I am not planning to take the answers I get here my only source of information; I have an advisor happy to discuss this with me and give me specific tips, and have been looking up information about funding for new faculty members online as well as through chatting with fresh hires in my department (with some hinting they rely on the informal support and sharing of more junior research staff from within their team while applying for initial external funding).\nSo, considering that I've never held a faculty position, have limited experience with grant applications (but an understanding that it is an acquired skill as well as very competitive and thus uncertain), never independently proposed a research project (tho I am always active in proposing and typically independent in choosing which approaches I want to apply to problems), and never formally worked with a PhD or a postdoctoral researcher for full the duration of a project, the questions I have are:\n\nHow "confidently" am I supposed to write the research plan? Should I write it assuming I will have a student / research postdoc available to work with, or should I also present a plan for the situation where I do not have "my own staff" for a while?\nOne major consideration is that UK faculty typically has about 40% of their time dedicated to research (rest is teaching and admin), as opposed to research staff (PhD students and postdocs) with 90+% of their time dedicated to research. Therefore the amount of research that one realistically can conduct would depend substantially on how much funding one manages to secure.\n\nHow many backup grant options do I need to include? I understand there is some grant options specifically targeting fresh faculty in the UK, so should I demonstrate that I plan to ask the appropriate parties for funding, or also try to cover the case of no applications being successful?\n\nTo summarize: I am concerned and would like advice about the level of confidence in the tone of a 3-year research plan for a fresh faculty member.\nI worry that, on the one hand, including many backup options could be seen as "setting myself up to fail", while, on the other hand, too confident a tone would make me come across as somebody not understanding the competitiveness and difficulties in obtaining funding due to my lack of experience.\n\n\nThe level of detail is clear from the format: it's a 15 minute presentation with some time for questions, so I won't have time to talk in much detail, but I might be asked to elaborate on any aspect of it. All in all, I am a fair deal nervous, and I'm not even sure I'm asking the right questions here; any advice from the perspective of applying for a first-time faculty position would be great." ]

[ "research-process", "computer-science", "faculty-application", "united-kingdom" ]

[ "Sending pre-application e-mail to two professors who are close friends but at different universities", "I am planning to apply to PhD courses at 2 different universities. \nProfessor A is at the first school, and professor B is at the second school.\n\nI already communicated with the professor A. I am also thinking of writing a contact e-mail to professor B. \n\nProfessor A and Professor B are quite close (academically), as they are working on the upcoming project as co-authors. \n\nWould it be inappropriate if I contact professor B to show my academic interest? \n\nI'm just worried that they might find it unethical to talk about my interest to them simultaneously." ]

[ "phd", "graduate-admissions", "application" ]

[ "Can I do Part III of the Mathematics tripos as a part of my PhD in Cambridge University?", "I am physics master's student in India. I wish to do my PhD in theoretical physics in the Applied Maths department at Cambridge (DAMTP). Can I apply for a PhD and do Part III as a part of it (akin to 1 year of coursework before PhD in India or Master's + PhD in US) or should I do Part III and apply for a PhD in DAMTP separately by the end of it?\n\nEven though I have good grades in all my courses, I am not confident with my skills. My institute is one of the very best in India, however I am not satisfied with my understanding of most of the subjects (and mathematical rigour in general) and there are a few topics, e.g. Advanced QFT, Advanced GR/Cosmology, which are not offered here. I believe Part III would help me in fixing these holes and I want do this before my PhD (in Cambridge or elsewhere). \n\nFrom the Cambridge website: \"Part III is a 9 month taught masters course in mathematics. It is an excellent preparation for mathematical research and it is also a valuable course in mathematics and in its applications for those who want further training before taking posts in industry, teaching, or research establishments.\"\n\nSee also the Cambridge website and Wikipedia." ]

[ "phd", "united-kingdom", "physics" ]

[ "Is it legal to use tourist visa waiver for academic visits?", "All countries have visa waiver for certain nationals, but it is only for touristic purpose. People use this scheme for attending scientific meetings (isn't it some kind of business trip?).\n\nAnyway, academic visits, in which the guest is paid, is definitely a business trip. For example, when an academic organize a paid two-week course in the host university, or when visiting for a join project in which he is paid.\n\nFor example, a German academic traveling to the United States for two weeks for working on a NSF-funded project in which he is paid.\n\n\nIs it theoretically illegal to travel without Business Visa for such academic visits?\nIf yes, how often it happens in practice?" ]

[ "funding", "travel", "visa" ]

[ "crossroads between continue working or going to a PhD", "Here is my situation, I got a MSc from a renowned university in Europe and I have been working as a lecturer in a non-EU country until now. I am in my mid thirties (upper part =)) and I have came to an important decision to make:\n\n\nI have been offered to work as a full time lecturer with all my benefits in a local renowned university in the country that I am staying\nAt the same time I have an offer to follow PhD studies in a ZA university, but I am not very keen about it, mainly because the problems with the crime rates and low salary per month\n\n\nI have seen that there are a lot of possibilities for getting funded PhD positions worldwide, but I am afraid of the following:\n\n\nThat after my studies and if I do not get an academic position in the place that I did my PhD studies, to not be able to get another academic position as the one that they are currently offering me (I will be ending my PhD at 42 years old approximately)\n\n\nI have a high interest for academia, unfortunately the universities in the country that I am working are not so much oriented to research, but only to lecturing. That is why I feel like bored and stressed to do the same task everyday, to do research is very hard because I must occupy my little free time and most of my ideas get stuck after a while (mainly because there are not other academics to talk about problems encountered along my projects)\n\nI would not really like just to end with the MSc and I feel that is something missing in my life, this has lead me to a problem of anxiety and depression.\n\nAny advice?\n\nThanks" ]

[ "phd", "research-process", "workplace", "academic-life" ]

[ "How much depth should I have into a topic before I can claim it to be one of my research interests?", "I have been applying to Ph.D. programs in bioinformatics and have already gotten interview invitations from a few of them. My background is mainly on the computational side but I am interested in applying that knowledge to biological problems. \n\nIn my application I mention that one of my research interests is modelling physiological systems (e.g. the cardiovascular system). However, I have not done substantial reading on the topic other than from a few websites and Wikipedia (mainly because of the little free time that I currently have as an undergraduate). From what I have read, I find the field to be very appealing and something that I would like to do research on. Nevertheless, my knowledge is basic at best and I am wondering if I can claim it to be one of my research interests." ]

[ "application", "interview" ]

[ "Attribution in academia", "I'm working in a university IT project as a researcher. I'm not pursuing a Ph.D. but rather working as a software developer there, designing and implementing software for the project. I learn a lot and am able to evaluate new technologies what I really enjoy. My work however is considered irrelevant compared to writing papers and project proposals.\n\nWhen presenting in front of project partners and potential new project partners my work is always shown as it is the only tangible result of the project (there hasn't even been a paper in over a year by other colleagues). Sometimes my work is presented without me and I'm unclear in which context that happens and whether my name is mentioned or not.\n\nRecently most colleagues of the project announced that they will jump ship and switch to a new project which is seen as the successor. I wasn't considered for the project and also not involved in the planning process. I'm staying in the old project which ends in about five months without having a new one, but was asked to present my work in front of an important company that is a potential sponsor of the successor project next week. I think I was asked to present because the company is comming to the same office where I'm working and they wouldn't get away presenting my work whithout me noticing.\n\nI'm unsure how to handle the situation. It could be a chance for me to get important contacts for a potential new project. On the other hand I feel used and left behind. Is it normal to present someone else's work without permission? How to protect against this behaviour? Legally the software belongs to the university." ]

[ "ethics" ]

[ "Is the Cambridge Certificate of English accepted in US?", "According to CEF, CAE and CPE are the highest level possible. If I apply to some top US university/college, will they accept a certificate from Cambridge instead of TOEFL?" ]

[ "graduate-admissions", "united-states", "language-exams" ]

[ "Moving from a R2 university to a R1 university", "I am currently negotiating a TT position with a R2 university. This is my first faculty job offer after 4 years of postdoc experience in ecology and biogeochemistry related area. My long-term goal is to land a TT position in a tier 1 and/or R1 university. To that end, is there any pros or con that I should know before signing the contract with a R2 university. Does this count against you if you are trying to apply for a R1 university after you served as a TT faculty in a R2 university?" ]

[ "united-states", "faculty-application", "tenure-track", "academic-life" ]

[ "Want to go to grad school but I lack expected coursework", "I am, or was, a math major in a big state university, and just graduated this year and I am taking a gap year. I finished my undergrad in three years and took some extra math courses. I also have one-year independent research experience with an Honors Thesis and a research award by the math department. The upper division courses that I have are : Linear Algebra, Analysis I&II, Adv Applied, ODE, PDE, Prob, Stats, Stochastics (All A's). some of them are in grad level. I also have an independent study on Fourier Analysis with Stien's book. As for the Application, I will have two very strong letters. Just haven't taken the GRE yet. \n\nI understand that relatively good grad schools take the courses that students took seriously. And my problem is mainly about this. \n\nHowever, every school's webpage that I looked at prefers students who also took Algebra and Topology, which I did not take for some reasons. But I am trying to learn Algebra with Artin's book and some more analysis with Stien's books myself in the gap year. Can someone please tell me just how much disadvantages would this bring me, and would what I am doing help with the admission process.\n\nI am getting mixed messages about this. Some people say that I am pretty much locked out of top 50 schools, my professors could not really answer this, and my friends said it is not a big deal. I am very confused now. Any suggestions would be appreciated!\n\nThanks a lot." ]

[ "graduate-admissions", "graduate-school", "mathematics" ]

[ "How to attend conferences efficiently?", "As a master's student, I've recently attended my first summer school. I waited for it eagerly since there would be learning about my research topic, interacting with other students and travelling. But it turned out to me that it combines pretty bad. \n\nEvery day consisted of multiple lectures each of 90 minutes. It's hard to keep attention for a new, quite technical material for such a long time. Sometimes you realize that you cannot ask the lecturer for an explanation since you even cannot formulate the question. Also, I've made sure (as I've long suspected) that I'm a book kind of student - I study much better with lecture notes or video records, not with live talks. As a result, I think I got (even incompletely) less than 25% of talks.\n\nThe travel part was also not so good since the school was being held in regular working hours of museums and all. I had walked a lot at evenings and enjoyed it, but compared to my regular travelling experience it wasn't enough.\n\nThe social part was good though, I think I was pretty good at networking.\n\nConcluding, it seems that I've spent my time very inefficiently. I'm sure that I'm not alone in such experience. But AFAIK schools, conferences and workshops are all conducted in this way. And I will be expected to attend them. \n\nHow can I make myself more productive in such events? Currently the only way I see is to attend only lectures I'm sure to understand and just skip others, trying to read papers and slides by myself or just hanging around the city." ]

[ "conference", "learning", "workshop", "lecture-teaching-method", "summer-school" ]

[ "Is it acceptable for a referee to suggest changing \"theorem\" into \"proposition\"?", "In mathematics, it is usual to call terminal results \"theorems\" and intermediate results \"propositions\" or even \"lemmas\" depending on importance and place in the overarching proof. Suppose that one is refereeing a paper where the authors have decided to call almost all their results \"theorems\", making a paper with a large number of \"theorems\" that even emeritus professors don't usually reach by the end of their career. (Such theorems include computation that could conceivably given to as end of year exams to master students. Not to diminish the importance of the paper, the actual theorems are good, but the 20 others are not theorems. There are more theorems than pages.)\n\nWould it be acceptable and well-received to suggest toning it down? Or would it be overstepping and rude? This is not just a philosophical question: I truly believe that it makes the paper harder to reader, because it is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to say. A reader does not know what is important and what is not." ]

[ "mathematics", "peer-review", "etiquette" ]

[ "Is it appropriate to ask professors to give you a mock interview?", "Suppose that an undergraduate student is preparing for interviews for Ph.D. positions in natural sciences. Is it common/acceptable to ask a professor with relevant expertise and familiarity with the student's educational background and research ability to conduct a mock interview with the student as a way to ascertain problems in the student's preparation? Or will such requests be viewed as unnecessary or \"asking for too much\"?\n\nI'm primarily interested in the acceptability of such requests in US colleges." ]

[ "etiquette", "interview" ]

[ "How can I convince my supervisor that I have enough data to support my findings?", "I am a final-year Ph.D. candidate in a physics-oriented field. Over the course of my program, I have developed a postulate which leads to some contradictions with some of the tenets of my field, and I have obtained what I would consider a suitable amount of data which both supports my postulate, and conflicts with the (pre-)existing conclusions.\nI am in the process of writing a paper on the matter with my supervisor. While initially supportive of my ideas/work, he has unfortunately seemed to change his mind recently, for a number of reasons which I find questionable. Of note, he has repeatedly stated in writing that the work is unsuitable, because I have failed to "either prove that the postulate is correct, or disprove the existing work" (according to further discussions, he believes that having conflicting data is not proof that the existing work is incorrect).\nHowever, in my understanding of the scientific method, it is not possible to prove that my postulate is correct, or that the existing work is strictly incorrect. As I understand it, all I can do is provide data which agrees with what I am trying to say, and which contradicts with what other work has concluded. While I believe that I have done a sufficient amount of work necessary to support my thesis, he is of the opinion that I haven't, and is threatening to withhold granting my degree if I don't meet his expectations.\nPerhaps related: he is an engineering professor and as far as I can tell has not published on a postulate before. However, to be fair, neither have I!\nMy questions are then:\n\nAssuming I obtained the data in the best possible manner, is my supervisor correct in that I have not reached the required threshold for my work to have suitable academic merit necessary to receive a doctoral degree? (Generally speaking - I am aware that practices may vary depending on location).\nIf not, what must I do in order to reach this threshold?\nIf so, what can I tell/show him in order to convince his that my work is indeed suitable?" ]

[ "phd", "research-process", "physics", "science" ]

[ "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. \n\nExcepting 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. \n\nWhat 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.) \n\nI'm teaching mostly lower-level mathematics at a large urban community college in the U.S. \n\nAdded: 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." ]

[ "students", "exams", "community-college" ]

[ "What is a tuition waiver (in the US)?", "A tax proposal in the US is reported to make \"tuition waivers that many graduate students receive when they work as teaching assistants or researchers\" taxable.\n\nI am currently a PhD student at a US institution. All regularly enrolled PhD students at my institution have tuition 100% covered, whether through an external grant working for an advisor as an RA, as a TA, or through a university or external fellowship. Tuition is not formally waived; money is actually moving between accounts, even if (in the case of TA's and university fellows) the money is moving from one university account to another. There is a paper record as a part of my paycheck (I also get a stipend) that shows the tuition support that is being paid out. Currently no student, to my knowledge, pays taxes on the tuition support that is paid on their behalf.\n\nI am wondering, in the context of the proposed legislation, what are the \"tuition waivers\" that would be taxed? Is it all tuition money paid on a student's behalf, as I've described above, or is it some subset of that, or is it something else?" ]

[ "funding", "tuition" ]

[ "What is it called when authors trade citations?", "Citation is one metric of researchers. That is why some of them lend citation to one another. For example, A writes a paper and cites B's work in it, and then B does the same for A, without the citations being relevant to the works. \n\nIs there any word for such academic misconduct? I can think of \"citation exchange\", but I couldn't find any reference about it." ]

[ "citations", "terminology", "research-misconduct" ]

[ "Quitting after 5 years - miserable and depressed", "I'm a fifth year graduate student in the life sciences. To cut to the chase, I hate this PhD, I hate research and I hate academia. It didn't used to be this way.\n\nI have been juggling three different projects and none of them are at the stage where something can be published. One of them was a pilot project, something that my lab or even my advisor has no expertise or basic knowledge for that matter. I have pretty much figured things on my own until we got a collaborator who really helped train me and has gotten this project off the ground. But now my advisor has decided to give this project that now has all the resources, grants etc to a new student.\n\nI'm left with two other projects that are about 3/4th complete but there are quite a bit of holes to fill in.\nI could probably finish it in the next one year or so and that's what I thought i will do. \n\nBut my advisor is not an advisor at all. She thinks I have wasted my time and now I'm left with a lot of work to do. She has told me that several times - that I'm not a hard worker and I am not like X or Y in the lab who pretty much live in the lab and have no life outside. I work 10-6 pm everyday and I know that's not a lot in the PhD world, but I feel like I am not productive beyond that. I also work on most weekends. In the past year, I have really tried to motivate myself and get as much work done as possible. Everyone around me says I'm so close and I should just stick it out for another year.\n\nBut my advisor keeps telling me that I will never graduate if I don't pick up my pace. No matter how much data I give her, she says this is not fast enough. Also she makes me re-do a lot of it if the data suggests something she doesn't agree with. She has a very narrow mindset and hates being wrong. She always chooses, seminars or committee meetings to tell me that my data is shit and my interpretations are meaningless. And of course, that I am a slacker and I'm useless.\n\nMy self-confidence is at an all-time low. I'm depressed and anxious all the time. The thought of lab or my advisor makes me want to run away from all this. To make things worse, my husband just got a job across the country and I see him once a month at the most. Ours has always been a long distance marriage so I'm not a rookie but I think I'm at a point where I really need a support system outside of lab. I have no family around as I'm an international student. \n\nI'm so miserable all the time and I just want this agony to end. I finally gathered the courage to tell my advisor I want to quit with a masters. She is furious - she told me she is disappointed in me (no surprise there) and she has spent a lot of grant money on my stipend and I owe it to her to publish. My department requires advisors to pay a stipend to every student. And it's not like I have not worked at all. She has added guilt and shame to the wide range of negative emotions I'm already feeling. She says I have wasted her money and done no work.\n\nAnyway, I'm trying to negotiate a masters so I can get out and try to find a job. I need to do something that makes me happy and regain my confidence. I don't even care what I do anymore, I just don't want to feel this way anymore. She is making it hard for me to leave. There is no one in the department that I trust will really help me out. My advisor is powerful and i don't know if anyone can change her mind.\n\nI can't take a break, that is not an option. What do I do? I just want to be told it's okay to leave. People leave jobs all the time but there is so much shame associated with leaving a phd. I also want to know if I can still find jobs in the industry. Please help.\nThanks" ]

[ "phd", "emotional-responses", "quitting" ]

[ "Is there added value in having your own presentation layout and using it consistently?", "From the perspective of a Ph.D. student, how much of an added value is it to have your own presentation slides layout, that is used consistently throughout your Ph.D. conference presentations and other talks (and possibly throughout your academic career afterwards)?\n\nHere is one such example from the Computer Science community.\n\nThis as as opposed to using existing Beamer templates with LaTeX, or built-in PowerPoint templates, or simply preparing each presentation on its own (without a specific layout).\n\nA couple of axes I can think along:\n\n\nCreating a signature layout that distinguishes one in their community\nEase of preparation of presentations (especially over time), maybe overcoming constraints with existing templates.\n\n\nNote that I am not concerned with the question of content, but just design and layout." ]

[ "conference", "computer-science", "presentation", "design", "slides" ]

[ "They shared the code, but then, I found key errors in their work. How do I criticize this in my research paper?", "Associate Prof. X is committed to reproducible research and makes his code available. He authors a paper with Dr. Y and others. \n\nDr. Y is the first author of the paper and the code is shared on Ass. Prof. X's website. It is clearly stated in the paper that the code produces the graphs in the paper. \n\nI downloaded the code, ran the code and found it works well i.e produces the same graphs in the paper. However, the code was not descriptive and easy to understand (Apparently, the variables which makes it easy to read has been changed to something difficult to understand except with much effort and time). Anyway, I studied the code and was able to clearly understand the meanings of various parts of the code. I gave the variables their proper definitions while generating the same graphs\n\nNow, I find the graphs for some figures are not provided, then mailed Ass Prof. X, who after a while informed me that first author Dr. Y will send the code. The code was sent and I was able to understand this paper.\n\nCurrently, I am about making an extension to this work. However, I observe there are some errors in several equations in the paper which adversely affects the behavior of some graphs! Furthermore, on a deeper investigation into the paper, some inferences and propositions were made based on some of the mistakes within the paper! At a time I tried contacting Dr. Y about something I wanted to know better about the paper but I didn't get a response.\n\nThe challenge I have now is, I want to present my own paper and as well make corrections to these mistakes since it directly extends this work. How do I handle this? Do I say for example: \"We corrected equation (y) in [ref] and thus, the graphs behave like this?\". Also, I am thinking that since I got the code for some of the graphs (via email), I should thank the authors for sharing the code (for those graphs). However, I am not sure this is appropriate as the public gets to know implicitly that the code for some of the graphs are not provided in the paper.\n\nNote that, I appreciate and consider it as an obligation to be straightforward in my research!" ]

[ "publications", "errors-erratum" ]

[ "Still waiting for comments on my draft - what to do?", "Some weeks ago I completed the first draft a paper. I then decided to approach one of the experts in the field, who is working at the same school as I. She seemed interested and were willing to read the draft. However I sent her the draft ~ 5 weeks ago, and I have not heard from her since then.\n\nI am now wondering if this is normal? Can I send her an e-mail and ask if she has looked at it yet (or is that considered inappropriate?). \n\nI am getting quite stressed about this, the reason being that my advisor expects a draft of a new paper soon, and it would be valuable to have her comments before I talk to my own supervisor (who knows less about the subject I am writing my paper about)." ]

[ "writing" ]

[ "Get in touch with potential advisors, although I have no clue what my topic might be?", "I am in the Humanities, and I have a rough idea about the general field I want to work in. I have identified several professors who also work in this field. However, I am not sure how I can now find a topic for my dissertation. I am reading and reading, but as of now, I do not have a great idea. \n\nI was thinking of getting in touch with the professors who might be potential advisors, but I am not sure whether that's a good idea considering I do not know my topic at all. I do not want to come across as naive - esp. since they are all at prestigious institutions.\n\nIf you think it is a good idea to get in touch, then I am still clueless about how to go about this, and what to write. I want to be honest but would like to avoid looking like a fool.\n\nPS: I am in the Humanities, I think it's important for this question." ]

[ "graduate-admissions", "graduate-school", "thesis", "professors", "research-topic" ]

[ "Are 'Dr' for medical doctor used in the same sense as a PhD?", "My dentist is Dr. Wang and my physician is Dr. O'Connor but I also refer to my professor as Dr. \n\nAre these the same titles? Did they all achieve what it took to get a Dr. title?" ]

[ "terminology" ]

[ "Springer special issue status", "I submitted a paper to a special issue of a Springer journal.\n\nThe notification was supposed to be few days ago.\nOn that day, the current status became \"review completed\" and \"Submissions with Production Completed (1)\".\n\nHowever, today the status changed to \"Reviewer Assignment Pending\" but there is still \"Submissions with Production Completed (1)\". \nDoes it mean that the paper is gonna reviewed again? (even though it has already been reviewed) or does it mean that an editor is going to make the final decision ?" ]

[ "publications", "journals", "paper-submission", "springer" ]

[ "How does one reference work in Oxford Style for a Website without an Author or a Date of Publication?", "How do you reference work, Oxford Style, for a Website without an Author or a Date of Publication?" ]

[ "citations" ]

[ "I need certain courses not covered in my undergraduate studies, can I take them at another institution?", "I recently got accepted into a graduate CS program (provisionally), but I need to take two classes that my undergraduate studies didn't cover. Now, where I got accepted those courses aren't offered until the fall which poses a problem for me. I would only be able to take one of the graduate courses without those missing courses in the fall.\nQuestion:\n\nCould I take those classes at another institution I'm not enrolled in?\nIf so, is there a database I could search comparable CS classes?\n\nI know the standard procedure would be to contact the graduate school's admissions director and see what they recommend, however I feel like I've already annoyed them when I had to defer my summer acceptance. So, I would like them to have all the information needed in order to make that discourse easier for us both." ]

[ "coursework" ]

[ "Are there guidelines for choosing colors in figures?", "Are there guidelines how to choose colors for figures in papers? I know that about 5-10% of the population see colors differently. How do I create a figure that has to have at least 4-5 different colors in it and make sure everyone will be able to see it and distinguish between the components." ]

[ "publications", "graphics" ]

[ "What is the meaning of Immigrant Background in a job application?", "I am in the process of application for a job. One of the questions is about immigrant background as follows:\n\nApplicants who state that they have immigrant background will be\nassessed in accordance with the requirements of summoning at least one\nqualified applicant with immigrant background to the interview\nprocess. Immigrant background implies that you are born in another\ncountry than Norway or have immigrated from another country or that\nboth your parents are born in another country.\n\nCould you please help me understand what this is? Is this question for those who already live in Norway and want to apply for that job? I live outside EU." ]

[ "job", "faculty-application", "norway" ]

[ "Stuck completing master's thesis, how to overcome poor choice of topic and supervisor at this stage?", "I'm in the second year of a master's program, working on a thesis. I am not getting enough help from my supervisor because he has a different methodological background from me. I am also not finding enough evidence to complete the thesis, and the topic has been very difficult to research because almost nothing is written about it. I am dreading completing this degree. What are some constructive ways I can deal with this issue and complete the degree? Is it possible at this point to make it through the degree and succeed despite my poor choice of topic and supervisor?" ]

[ "thesis", "masters" ]

[ "How to approach potential PhD advisors", "What is the correct way for a new PhD student to approach an interested faculty member to discuss becoming their student?\n\nIs it better to come with a few thesis project ideas prepared to pitch? Or is it better to come in expecting to have the faculty member to pitch them to the student?\n\nTypically, the student has a year or two after joining a group to formulate an actual research proposal - but at the beginning of the program, when approaching potential advisers, there is only limited time, and limited knowledge of the lab's current focus and planned future projects.\n\nOf course, the answer depends very much on the actual faculty member in question. But in what ways does it depend? Are there any aspects to the decision that remain invariant?\n\nI am in the physical sciences (biology) but to make the question useful to more users, perhaps it may be better if we could have answers covering the peculiarities and commonalities of this question for different fields." ]

[ "phd", "advisor" ]

[ "Chosing a suitable Ph.D. program in Mathematics", "I am new to this webboard so I am not sure if I can ask this questions here (I am sorry if it is not suitable).\n\nI am currently pursuing a MS degree in Pure Mathematics in a university in America. In a half year time, I will earn the MS degree, and I would like to continue to Ph.D. program. The thing is, for almost two years I spent time at this university, I had a really hard time. I believe that the math program here is quite strong, and I feel that my academic background is not suitable to stay here any longer. So I am trying to find another university to attend Ph.D. program.\n\nTo be more precise, I think that I am interested in Number Theory (might be either algebraic or analytic) and Analysis (Real analysis). I also can do relatively good in Algebra. So what I am looking for is a suitable university with relatively decent program in number thoery or analysis (or algebra).\n\nThe suitability here I suppose that I mean the program is not too intensive. I do not want to go to the best 50 math graduate school since I know that my academic insight does not that good. I am looking for a university with acceptable Ph.D. math program with relatively easier qualification requirements. I am not sure how to select universities which match my requirement. It is also hard to ask for suggestion for choosing a less intensive Ph.D. program to my advisor. (Most of the time, people are looking for a good best-25-math-grad school. So there is almost no information about a decent or relatively lower math Ph.d. program. That why I decide to ask it here)\n\nIf anyone experienced my situation or can suggest what I should do, please leave the advice below.\n\nIf you need more specific information in order to give more helpful advice, please mention it." ]

[ "phd", "graduate-admissions", "graduate-school", "mathematics" ]

[ "What to include in Abbreviations and symbols?", "My supervisor asked me to make an Abbreviations and Symbols part to my thesis, as I use a lot of mathematical equations and variables. Now, obviously I won't put every variable (and abbreviation) into this list. What should the criteria be for putting an entry to the list? I also have tried to explain the variables where I'm using them, is this now redundant when done in conjunction with the list?\n\nAdditionally, should the symbols and abbreviations appear in the list in alphabetical or appearance order?" ]

[ "thesis" ]

[ "Should I send reminder to a professor in a school I applied to, for an introduction email I sent two weeks ago?", "I have applied to 4 PhD applications in Computer Science and I have sent an introduction email to a professor in each of the schools I have applied to. In this email I first introduced myself and then mentioned one of their papers I'm interested in, and at the end asked them for any time they can give me to meet them in person and talk to them about my future plans. \n\nBut, I just heard from one professor and the rest have not replied my email after two weeks. How could I write an email to remind them about my old email I sent them? \n\nI googled and did not find a concise answer. Any help is appreciated." ]

[ "phd", "graduate-admissions", "professors", "email" ]

[ "How can I tactfully ask a professor to bring requests to me earlier?", "I'm a PhD student. A professor that I collaborate with (not from my university) asked me on two separate occasions to help with grants that were due in a week. In both cases I managed to squeeze out 20 hours to help him, and he paid me out of his own pocket (not using grant funds).\n\nHow can I tactfully ask the professor to bring requests to me earlier in the future? I guess one way is to simply decline future requests that I cannot handle. But I want to preserve goodwill when possible - I could quote him an insane hourly rate if he again approaches me at the last minute, but some people might view that as me taking advantage of the situation, even though it's not my fault that he approached me so late. (The rumor mill can always turn white into black.) The best solution, in my opinion, is to successfully persuade him to approach me early." ]

[ "funding", "professors", "communication" ]

[ "Is the correlation between learning a subject and having high grades strong?", "I've found myself in a paradoxical situation. I have failed modules over and over, many modules, some modules more than once. One of the failed modules was introduction to computing. After passing it I felt an urge to write lecture notes because I though that the \"official\" lecture notes made by two teachers of the computer science department were too shallow and unappealing. I took some time to write it and publish in a free webhosting service. \n\nNow I'm feeling like continuing that type of work, expanding it to more modules, such as physics and calculus. It seems that explaning things with plain english, doing comparisons and following a straight path is kinda easy for me. Although I did fail so many modules so many times.\n\nIs the correlation between learning a subject and having high grades strong?\n\nConversely, is the correlation between not properly learning a subject and having really bad grades strong?" ]

[ "teaching", "grading", "learning" ]

[ "My undergraduate thesis project is a failure and I don't know what to do", "So I'm writing my undergraduate thesis and I have written around 80% of it. My project was to develop a device to use in the lab, but my first prototype doesn't work at all and I don't know if I should just write that it didn't work. I don't have time to make another one. I have to finish this as soon as possible because I'm starting grad school at a really good university :(. I haven't told about it to my supervisor. My question is how bad is it to present a failed attempt at something like the development of a device.\nI hope someone can help me." ]

[ "thesis", "research-undergraduate", "negative-results" ]

[ "How do I add my ORCID to papers authored by myself?", "I have a few papers that have already been accepted and published.\nI recently signed up for an ORCID.\nIs is possible to add my ORCID to these already published papers,\nand if so, how do I do this?\n\nResponse to comment\nIdeally, I would like my ORCID to be listed on the paper itself or on the official website of the journal article.\nNevertheless, I would consider having the paper listed on my ORCID profile to be a good partial solution." ]

[ "publications", "digital-researcher-id" ]

[ "How to change to Mathematics PhD program following M.S. in Computer Science?", "I wonder if anyone can give me some advice about how a computer science graduate shifts career to mathematics? I'm currently doing a Master's degree in computer science and i was thinking about doing a PhD in pure mathematics? so I was thinking is this transition feasible? how can I make this leap of faith?\n\nKindly note that currently -after graduation- I nearly don't do mathematics anymore, currently all what I am doing is writing software and administrating open source operating systems. In undergrad levels I took an introductory course in discrete mathematics and some calculus courses.\n\nsomeone told me: Yes, the transition is feasible but it requires I take some courses and attend some math classes even as a special student (no degrees, no exams). But I thought I can get other opinions and views." ]

[ "graduate-school", "career-path", "computer-science", "mathematics", "changing-fields" ]

[ "should I publish in journal that has no IF", "I have written an article in the field of Information Systems and Security and I would like to publish it in a journal. From downloading the Scimago journal rank, I decided to publish in a journal called International Journal of Intelligent Information Technologies (IJIIT). The scope of the journal is really promising for my paper and appears to be in the quartile Q3 of Scimago. \n\nMy concern with the journal is that it has really low bibliometrics, I didn't find its Impact Factor, and and has an H-index of 12. The only thing the journal has is something called \"Emerging Sources Citation Index\". Wikipedia says that most journals with the Emerging Sources Citation Index index are predatory journals.\n\n\nIs publishing in journals with no Impact Factor a bad thing for my carrier?\nCan I verify whether this journal a predatory journal or not?" ]

[ "journals", "disreputable-publishers" ]

[ "Should you cite a paper that clarifies the name of a mathematical object?", "Suppose I am writing a mathematics paper and discover some object and call it a \"thingy\"; not knowing of its existence outside of my discovery of it. \n\nLater while doing some unrelated research I come across a paper that uses my \"thingy\" and it turns out to be well known object called a \"doodad\". \n\nShould I cite the paper that gave me the vocabulary to describe a well known object if it only gave me its name?\n\nThis is my first real paper so I want to get my citations right." ]

[ "citations", "mathematics" ]

[ "Is postdoc experience valued by industry?", "I have recently finished my PhD and am currently considering my options. I have come to the conclusion that the teaching or the \"publish or perish\" nature of academia isn't really appealing for me. \n\nI have been talking to several people regarding my thoughts and I have noticed an interesting difference in opinion; senior academics have been stressing the value of doing a post-doc before a potential move to industry, whereas industry contacts say that it's much better/easier to do the move to industry within two years from dissertation. I inquired further asking whether or not the postdoc years would be valued by companies, and the answer was essentially that: \n\n\n unless the postdoc years are immediately relevant to the applied job, it wouldn't really give any seniority, as companies want to nurture their own culture and staying in academia for \"too long\" might lead to certain \"habits\" not appreciated in corporate world. \n\n\nI want to get further opinions on the matter; is doing a postdoc valued by industry in general? The field is life sciences and bioinformatics, if it makes a difference.." ]

[ "career-path", "postdocs", "industry", "bioinformatics" ]

[ "How to focus on a single area during PhD?", "My PhD supervisor says that I am overly curious and spend too much time studying lots of different area. However, he does say I am generally doing well and on the right track.\n\nI am usually keen to meet new researchers, and I also spend time helping other PhD students to understand papers, even if they are not directly related to my field. I tend to keep studying a topic until I feel I fully understand it.\n\nThis has led my supervisor to believe that I am not working up to my true potential and just moving among areas too much. I have asked him directly and he says I just need to focus on one thing at a time, which I have started doing. I am just curious as to whether it is normal for PhD students to change and be immersed in different topics frequently, or am I just thinking too much? What strategies can help with staying more focused?" ]

[ "phd", "research-process" ]

[ "If I publish my PhD thesis chapters, can my thesis be later still published as a monograph", "My supervisor told me that it is not required to publish my papers before submitting my thesis.\nWe are required (in German universities), however, to published our monograph thesis later as a book.\nOne of my chapters is already published as a book chapter in Routledge (it's too good an opportunity to miss). The published chapter is not entirely the same as my thesis chapter, as the Routledge editor edited it too (asking me to add this and that, which I did).\nNow, another chapter of my thesis can be published in a conference proceeding too, if I so wish.\nI understand that this is common practice for a cumulative thesis, but can it also be done with a monograph thesis?" ]

[ "publications", "phd", "thesis", "books", "monograph" ]

[ "How does one get involved in technical committees in international conferences or commissions?", "How does one get involved in technical committees in international conferences or commissions? Does one need an invitation or does one volunteer him/herself? Also, why are many relatively more experienced or outstanding academics often not involved in these committees?\n\nI think the first part of my question has been answered before in this site, but I would be interested to know the answer of the last part." ]

[ "professional-association", "program-committee" ]

[ "Dealing with the feeling of incompetence and team competition", "To preface, I imagine this might come off really immature, given that I am 30 years old. I joined a university as a PostDoc after completing my PhD 6 months ago. I am yet to publish anything after joining here, I have been feeling burnt out and disorganised. I was planning to join the industry within a year of joining (It was initially envisaged as a one-year contract, but it got extended for three more years, due to my professor getting new funding, but that's beside the point). My professor is very understanding, and he is very motivated. His team is getting into theoretical machine learning and the papers he published are already making strides and catching everyone's attention.\n\nI, on the other hand, am just starting in the area of data science. I am an average coder, and my math skills are also pretty average. If I work hard I can crank out some papers ( that is how I finished my PhD), but lately I have been feeling very unmotivated and distracted. I have a few family problems (I am gay from a conservative family), but that is no excuse for not being motivated, I know. I tried out to be a data scientist at an internet advertising firm but was rejected after the on-site interview following a Skype interview, the reason being that my practical skills were not on par (I did a mainly theoretical PhD, and my knowledge of practical algorithms is lacking).\n\nOn the other hand, my colleague who is a PhD student under my prof (only 25!) has been publishing and his works on machine learning (also theoretical), have been attracting researchers from companies like Facebook and Google, at a recent conference. As for me, the very idea of going to a conference again gives me shudders.\n\nI am out of ideas and out of steam to be honest, but I really want to create pathbreaking research and join a top company to start my career as a data scientist. But I feel lost.\n\nTo have a good CV for an eventual job hunt, I need at least one good publication during this year of my post-doc but all the work I have done have led me nowhere to be honest.\n\nFor context: I did my PhD on random graph analysis.\n\nI really need some guidance. I know I should have figured this out already given I am a 30 year old graduate, but unfortunately I haven't. I can blame that on my depression, but how long can I do that for? Anybody who has been in the same situation as me? Any input is welcome." ]

[ "postdocs", "productivity" ]

[ "What to do when you publish a paper that accidentally included a wrong or irrelevant citation?", "My paper was published and later on I found that two references were mistakenly included with the third reference, which is the correct.\nMy phrase looks like this:\n\n\n I am worried about this (Smith 2001; David 2006; Magnus 2007)\n\n\nand this is the correct form that it had to be:\n\n\n I am worried about this (Smith 2001)\n\n\nso the references \"David 2006\" and \"Magnus 2007\" have nothing to do with the cited phrase and they never did that work; and were not meant to be included but maybe it was a problem with reference management software that I used at the time.\n\nI wonder if this will cause a problem to my paper or even plagiarism/retraction.\nI am really worried about this and any advice is more than welcome." ]

[ "publications", "citations", "authorship", "plagiarism", "retraction" ]

[ "What is the standard scientific conference poster size and quality?", "What is an ideal poster size for scientific conference?\nShould it be printed on paper or flex or photo paper?" ]

[ "conference", "writing", "science", "poster" ]

[ "Is it OK to inquire about paper status after 7 months (2nd round) review?", "I submitted a paper to an applied-mathematics journal in May 2015, and the first round review took a bit more than seven months. I only received one referee report (there would usually be two), which was generally positive. I submitted the revised draft in mid January 2016, and it is “under review” ever since.\n\nI inquired about the status about four months ago and only got a reply from the journal staff, basically saying that my message has been forwarded to the handling editor (nothing from the handling editor though). I am wondering if it is OK to inquire again? How long should I wait before I make an inquiry on a paper status (without being too pesty).\n\nThe journal states that its target processing time from submission to final publication is eight to nine months, and it typically gives reviewers two months." ]

[ "publications", "journal-workflow" ]

[ "Should I provide TOEFL/IELTS results for a PhD admission?", "So I'm a citizen of non-English speaking country, but my master's program in STEM field is fully conducted in English. Should I provide TOEFL/IELTS results when applying for a PhD program in USA or Europe? I accept that it may vary and depend on a university and country, but what should I expect in common?" ]

[ "phd", "graduate-admissions", "language-exams" ]

[ "Do you need to cite generalizations in introductory paragraphs and topic sentences?", "Suppose Jack Smith writes an article proving that Renaissance ideology can exist in the modern era through technology, and that this proves that the ideology can be reconceptualized in other regards, too (through art, literature, etc.).\n\nIf I'm writing a research paper that at some point argues that a modern form of Renaissance ideology can exist, naturally I should use Smith's source as evidence.\n\nThis is the way that I'm presenting the material in my research below:\n\nIntroduction\n1. Among the questions that this paper will answer is - can Renaissance ideology exist in a modern setting?\n2. In Chapter 2, it will be established that Renaissance ideology and thought is expressed and recreated in the modern era.\n\nBody paragraph/chapter 2\n1. Renaissance ideology can exist in a modern setting.\n2. Jack Smith proves this in his work entitled _____, scrutinizing the role of technology against Renaissance thought.\n\nSo, is this order of presentation credible, or do I need to mention Jack Smith the moment I even touch on this idea of Renaissance contemporaneity in the introductory paragraph and topic sentence of chapter 2? Keep in mind that Smith is talking about specifically technology, while I'm speaking in a more generalized sense of the ideology existing in various capacities of contemporary society. Is it enough to use him as evidence supporting my more generalized argument?" ]

[ "plagiarism" ]

[ "PhD article: Structure to compare results of two algorithms", "First of all, please accept my apologies if I commit any mistake when asking my question, but it's my first one on this vibrant community.\n\nI am finishing my PhD, and I am writing an article to publish soon. Basically, this is the picture:\n\n-There is an algorithm, \"A\", that is 4 years old.\n\n-I created an algorithm, \"B\", that improves \"A\" in a %\n\nI think the following scheme may reflect the investigation, but; \n\nDo you feel this is a good skeleton for the article?\n\n1. Introduction\n2. Definition of the problem\n3. Investigation goals\n4. Classic Algorithm Description\n5. Improved Algorithm Description\n6. Results\n7. Conclusions and discussion" ]

[ "publications", "phd", "thesis" ]

[ "How can a masters student compensate for lack of solid foundation in basic math and CS fundamentals?", "I am a graduate student in Computer Science (in the U.S). I did my undergraduate study in India. \n\nMy fundamentals in Math and CS importantly are shaky. I often feel insecure in class where my peers seem to understand in depth about fundamentals that I have been taught differently (now I think about it -- mediocre standard at best). \n\nI have been working my way through math using Khan academy. For CS I study them as and when needed. But I still feel a major gap in my approach and would like to get some suggestions on this." ]

[ "masters", "computer-science", "coursework" ]

[ "Should I drop out of the IB Diploma Program if I am about to graduate with an associate's degree?", "I'm a junior in high school who goes to an IB (International Baccalaureate) school in the US. I also have been taking enough community college classes to graduate with an AA in Computer Science before finishing high school and I believe that any damage dropping out of the program would be completely nullified by a full associate's degree. In addition to this, I am currently a software engineer (part-time) and I think that I wouldn't have enough time to manage all three things in my senior year with the EE, CAS Project, and 2 extra classes I would have to take as a full diploma student.\nIs it a good idea to continue with an IB Certificate, SWE position, and Associates Degree in lieu of staying on the IB Full Diploma possibly having to sacrifice completing the degree and/or staying in my software engineering position in my senior year.\nIMPORTANT FACTOR: I intend to go to UC Berkeley as my #1 choice so a fairly selective but not ultra-selective school. I don't really want to go to a private school. I am attending a California community college which gets me guaranteed 1:1 transfer of credits to any UC school. That's why the main point of contention I'm facing is that I might not be able to complete the degree and/or stay on as a software engineer (which is extremely highly viewed by companies and likely also by schools) if I stay in the IB Diploma vs dropping to the IB Certificate.\nThanks in advance!" ]

[ "united-states", "undergraduate", "community-college" ]

[ "Citing in two connected sentences", "I read the answers to this, however I'm searching for an elaborated answer on how two (or more) sencentes are oubviously from one source, and hence can be cited with one citation at the end of all sentences:\n\nFor example to reduce a really long sentences: The thing varies in dimension A, because of <long explanation with many commas>. Consequently, it is categorised as 1,2 or 3 [Mr. Twit, 2013]. \n\nAre linking words like consequently, therefore and so on enough to signal that is originates from one source? Can I swap the dot (.) and the citation [Mr. Twit, 2013] to indicate that the citation does not only belong to the last sentence?\n\nBonus question: If I write a whole paragraph and add one citation at the end, does this imply that the whole paragraph is quoted?\n\nIn gerneal I'm trying to reduce he-said-she-said structures, as they are akward and hinder the information flow." ]

[ "citations", "writing-style" ]

[ "Possible to change supervisor for Ph.D defense in Germany?", "Currently I have reached the final stage of my Ph.D study in Germany. Nevertheless, I want to find a new supervisor within the same university or in other German university for Ph.D defense, is this possible? \n\nLong story short, due to the fact that my current supervisor could provide hardly any technical advice nor funding support for my PhD project in the last 2-3 years, the relationship between us became unpleasant and I seldom communicate with him (what can I expect?). Few months ago he told me that he would cancel the duty of supervision because of poor communication, but I can still defense my thesis under his name. I guess the actual reason why he was mad because I was not giving him the source codes of my work (literally for free).\n\nNow my Ph.D thesis is almost finished (time mainly spent on numerical solvers programming based on open-source codes), and I want to find some professor who could at least give me some advice for my final work, and finish my Ph.D defense within 3-6 months. Assuming my future supervisor would agree with this (potentially continue working with him/her after the defense), but does this violate some regulations for Ph.D degree which requires someone staying in the university for a minimum period of time (e.g. enrolled semesters)." ]

[ "phd", "supervision" ]

[ "Would creating an online flash card deck for GRE study help overcome a weak TOEFL score?", "My TOEFL score is 85, but the minimum requirement of the school I'm applying to is 90. My GRE verbal score is also not very good. However, I have dedicated a month to contribute to the community of people studying for the GRE (more specifically, I have built a well-designed and information-rich Anki deck). Here is what I can sell in the SOP (they are the last two paragraphs of the What are you working on now? part):\n\nOnce complete I posted it on my website, and the result is incredible. Every month there are approximately a hundred visitors visit my site to download it, and within a couple months this popularity has pushed my site to the front page of Google*. Another good news for me is that I haven't forgotten a single word since.\nAlthough my TOEFL or GRE score might not be high yet, the scores themselves don't reflect everything. After all, English should be a medium to communicate, not the opposite. I plan to upgrade the deck to make the it more consistent in the future.\n\nBut I'm worried that my application will be screened out before the SOP is read. Even if it is read, after all I built it to learning GRE vocabulary, not to training speaking or listening (my speaking score is only 18). I can take another TOEFL exam, but I want to make sure that my English has improved enough so that the money spent to retake it will not be wasted. It should technically not be a problem, if the deadlines are not coming.\nMy questions are:\n\nIn schools that care about the scores, is there a way to make the committee read the SOP first? Like the professor I'm following sending an email to them to rescue me?\nAfter that, do my scores still matter?\nI also have created a deck just for the speaking test, but haven't published yet because I still can improve it. And if I explain that I have generate a feasible, scientific plan to improve my English, with studies back up in psychology and/or neurosciences, would this helps? The only thing it needs is time.\n\n\n\n* Just google gre anki\nRelated questions:\n• Do admissions care how close a TOEFL score is to the minimum?\n• Why do universities place a weight on GRE/TOEFL scores?" ]

[ "graduate-admissions", "statement-of-purpose", "gre", "language-exams", "toefl" ]

[ "Is it normal for a Professor to make unsolicited contact with potential Masters students via LinkedIn?", "My friend recently moved to Canada and she holds a BSc from an overseas university. Her school wasn't world-famous but wasn't bad either. For the past year she'd been studying English and preparing for the GRE to get ready for admission into a North American university.\n\nApparently there is this professor in the US who'd found her on LinkedIn and is interested in having her as one of his grad students. He has been very encouraging, even keeping in touch via Skype while my friend was on vacation. He's told her that if she gets a good score on the GRE he will be able to admit her. He has also made promises of grants.\n\nMy friend is married but she is young and quite attractive. While she had a decent GPA her university wasn't all that amazing. Also her command of English isn't very good. All of this is making me suspicious about the intentions of this professor.\n\nI have worked with some very nice professors but none of them took time on a regular basis to voluntarily stay in touch with a prospective student. I could understand why one might look for bright and amazing students on LinkedIn, but the fact of the matter is my friend did not have her full academic records published on her profile (just a few examples of her projects and volunteer work, but no grades or GPA).\n\nDo you find this scenario normal? I am having a hard time giving this professor the benefit of the doubt." ]

[ "professors", "social-media" ]

[ "Prerequisites for RTDb (tenure-track assistant professor) position in Italy", "I have read that a prerequisite to apply for a RTDb (tenure-track assistant professor) position in Italy is to have held a 3-year RTDa position in an Italian university or an equivalent 3-year postdoc position in another country or to already have received a national associate professor habilitation. Is this information accurate? If yes,\n\nMust the three years have passed at the time of the application or at the time of the appointment to the position?\nDoes the habilitation have any requirements about the years of postdoctoral experience?\n\nAlso, what are the characteristics of a RTDa position in Italy and how do they differ from a postdoctoral contract in other European countries?" ]

[ "postdocs", "tenure-track", "early-career", "italy", "habilitation" ]

[ "What are the boundaries between draft, manuscript, preprint, paper, and article?", "In the terminology for a peer-reviewed publication to be submitted to a reputable scientific journal, what are the differences and characteristic properties of the following?\n\n\ndraft\nmanuscript\npreprint\npaper\narticle\n\n\nMy own take on it would be that my text is a draft until I submit it to a journal, at which point it becomes a manuscript. When the manuscript is accepted it becomes a preprint, and when it gets published it becomes a paper, which is synonymous to article.\n\nWould that be an accurate summary? Would anyone have corrections or additions?" ]

[ "publications", "terminology" ]

[ "How to \"become familiar with the literature\", inter alia to find appropriate method to publish independent research?", "This is a more basic question than, and not a duplicate of, this question. That question was answered, basically, with \"become familiar with the literature in that field\" and read that literature. So that question is answered, but leaves me with this more basic one.\n\nI'm a senior software engineer albeit with only a BS in CS. I'm not that in touch with new ideas in such as red-black trees (not new now but newer than my undergrad degree), the latest ideas on to optimize hash tables, and the like, except as they pick up use in commonly used libraries such as Boost, or otherwise spread in the industry. My questions are:\n\n\nI'd like to be more of an early adopter. How do I even find such journals or other publications? Note I'm with a financial firm in Japan and I doubt it has any journal subscriptions. I'm not sure how to see if any local universities make their libraries open to non-affiliated independent researchers.\nI've developed a new type of memory pool that can maximize locality of reference of allocations. That should allow an application to substantially improve performance. I'd like to publish it, if 1) it's not \"too practical\" for a research journal and 2) if a survey of the literature shows no-one's already invented it. OTOH, I don't know how to do that survey.\n\n\nAlternately, is simply trying to put something like this in Boost or GNU libraries or on github the most reasonable approach?" ]

[ "publications", "journals", "computer-science", "independent-researcher" ]

[ "Using typographical variants of the same letter as mathematical symbols in a paper", "Sometimes I struggle in choosing notations for a mathematical paper. There are probably no explicit rules, but unwritten conventions. In a discussion, is it proper to use different typographical variants of the same letter to denote different variables?\n\nFor example, is it acceptable to use an italic K (), an upright K (K), a blackletter K () and a calligraphic K () for four different variables in one section?" ]

[ "writing", "mathematics", "writing-style" ]

[ "Is re-discovery plagiarism?", "I have a hard time understanding statements such as:\n\n\n Scientist X discovered Y in 1960 and was subsequently rediscovered by Scientist Z in 1980.\n\n\nHow does one prove that plagiarism has not taken place? This is also extensively observed in some really old math theorems, chemistry and so on. How does one prove that the similar work produced was as a result of one’s own independent work and not resulting from another’s. Even if something was re-discovered subsequently, why is it even given merit?" ]

[ "plagiarism", "publishability" ]

[ "Does disability impact on prospects of employment in academia?", "The impression I get in my field of research (theoretical chemistry) is that candidates for postdoc and more permanent research positions are judged partly upon their publication record. I suspect this is true of other fields, particularly the sciences.\n\nI suffer from a long term chronic illness which means currently I cannot work full-time. I manage 75% of full-time hours working on my PhD currently, so while I am well enough to do research, I am not well enough to do as much as I'd like. I am concerned that, should my health not improve, this will prove problematic as I try to move from being a student to an employee. My academic output would likely be less than an able-bodied person in the same position. While it may be of the same quality, there would be less of it. \n\nThere is legislation in many places that prevents discrimination against disabled people, but I suspect this would not apply where candidates are being judged based on previous academic output. My worry is that because academic employment seems so performance/output-oriented, I will be left behind, even if my work is of good quality. \n\nThoughts and experiences regarding how disability is treated in academia, particularly with regards to selecting candidates for a new position, would be greatly appreciated. I would also welcome advice on how to mitigate the possible issues arising from this.\n\nI was initially unsure whether to post this, as it would be possible for potential employers to identify me from this posting. However, I think this topic is important to discuss and there are potentially other PhD students in the same situation as me." ]

[ "job", "disability" ]

[ "Should I give up on trying to get into a PhD program?", "I majored in philosophy, Late in my undergrad career, I decided I wanted to get into linguistics instead, so I applied for PhD programs. I had a 3.95 GPA, had taken around 15 graduate-level courses as an undergrad (5 in B and 10 in A), good recommendation letters (I think) and an interesting writing sample. In linguistics, publications don't really matter much in PhD admissions. I was also at a top 10 institution for linguistics as an undergrad. I applied to 8 schools, got rejected by 6 and waitlisted by 2 top 20 programs. By strange luck (they said so in their emails), despite both schools having gone into their waitlists in previous years, they did not do so that year.\n\nI decided to take a year off and do some research in order to write a better writing sample, which I did. Everyone told me that was the main weakness of my application. I figured I should have a better chance then. Strangely, I did even worse (better in one regard, actually): I reapplied around 6 months ago, and I got rejected by 8 and waitlisted by 1, which is ranked 2 in the world in linguistics and literally my dream school. Again, despite them having gone into their waitlists in previous years, they could not accept me because they weren't able to go into their waitlist again. I even got rejected by the university I did my undergrad in, by the professors who wrote me my recommendation letters, even though I was a perfect fit for their program and they knew how I could handle the coursework and do independent research. \n\nI've enrolled at an unfunded (for the first year, apparently I should likely be able to work as a TA during the second year for funding) MA program since I have no other choice. I'm going to have to live on graduate PLUS loans for at least one year. My question is, should I even bother applying for PhD programs again? Maybe I'm just not good enough. Should I just look for a job instead and ditch my masters program? I know for a fact that this is the only thing I want to do for the rest of my life, but if I can't do it then I might as well give up now before going into debt. I can't even imagine doing anything else with my life though." ]

[ "phd", "application" ]

[ "A professor invited me to their seminar when I enquired about working on a master thesis with them: did they reject me?", "I am a master student. In the next year I need to start my work on master thesis. I have sent letters to two professors in the same group, stating my interest, and have asked if they have a suitable project for me. One said that he is retired and cannot take long term responsibility, but he invited me to join a seminar (closely related to my interest), funded by their group. The other professor also invited me to the seminar, but said nothing about the project.\nI mostly believe that the latter professor has rejected me, but I am not sure, is my intuition correct?" ]

[ "thesis", "masters", "communication" ]

[ "How should I let a professor know that I don't want to work for her?", "I am interested in the research of two professors, (one more so than the other) at a university I am applying to for PhD (let's call one Ms. E - less interested and Mr. K - very interested). I met both the professors and both seemed to be interested in getting me on their research team. I had a second meeting with the Ms. E and she asked whether I was talking to any other professors. I told her about Mr. K and that was it.\n\nNext thing I know, Mr. K under whom I was actually planning to work, emails me saying I should continue my application under Ms. E. \n\nNow I am confused as to how to navigate this problem. They both had planned to pull some academic strings to get me in as soon as possible (I am an international student) and both have promised me funding. I had not verbally committed to anything with either but only told them that I was interested in their research and wanted to talk to them about it further.\n\nHow should I let Ms. E know that I would rather work for Mr.K?" ]

[ "phd", "etiquette", "professors" ]

[ "Does the time taken to do a PhD affect post doctoral applications?", "I am a non EU PhD Student in Germany in Global Studies. I am now in my 8th year of a PhD program, which is quite dysfunctional. However, with a lot of difficulty, I am about to complete the PhD and hand it in.\nI am looking at post doctoral opportunities but am worried that the long time I took to complete the PhD would affect me negatively. I have published quite widely, presented work at international conferences, and am in my late 40s now. I began my career as an academic (masters in 2008) after a long career as a journalist." ]

[ "phd", "career-path" ]

[ "What is the difference between a teaching assistant and an instructor?", "It seems to me that the terms \"Teaching Assistant\" and \"Instructor\" refer to a variety of positions. At some places, a teaching assistant is responsible for things like helping the actual lecturer by handing out papers, grading homework, etc., and instructors hold recitation sessions.\n\nAt other places, I saw the term \"instructor\" referring to the lecturer giving the course, while a teaching assistant is the person doing anything else (recitations, grading etc.).\n\nIs there some widely accepted definition of the two positions?\n\nFor context: The question arose because I wasn't sure whether I'm using the correct terms in my CV -- I am a math graduate student, and I would like to make a distinction between jobs in which I only graded course assignments/final exams, and courses in which I held recitation classes* (and also participated in grading the final exams). Is it OK to use \"Instructor\" for the latter? What should the former be referred to as?\n\n*In the course I'm currently teaching, the recitations are planned and written by the ones giving them (without the professors' supervision). Also, the people giving the recitations are not necessarily grad students (some already hold a PhD). I'm elaborating on that because from what I've seen, some of it could be relevant for the definition of the job." ]

[ "cv", "teaching-assistant", "terminology" ]

[ "Does any publication venue make rejected papers available for download?", "Is there any publication venue that makes rejected papers available for download?\n\nI am most interested in the field of computer science, and English-speaking venues." ]

[ "publications", "rejection" ]

[ "Conflict of Interest statement for journal submission", "Does anyone know what \"Conflict of Interest\" is? I am submitting a paper to a journal, and they ask me to attach a Conflict of Interest. Is it the same as Cover Letter?\n\nThanks in advance for any help!" ]

[ "journals", "paper-submission" ]

[ "Alternatives to sewing (or any habit) to stay focused in class", "I struggle with staying focused during lectures. However, while listening to online lectures, I started sewing and it has made life so much easier. I am able to listen and follow along. When the time comes to do practice questions, I do a lot better than I usually do.\n\nSo the problem is, I cant take my needle and thread into an in-person lecture. Are there any alternatives that I can try? Or should I just talk to my professor and see if I can sit in the back of the class and sew? I don't want to seem disrespectful, but I've tried so much to improve and this has been the most effective thing by far.\n\nTaking notes doesn't usually help. I get so caught up in taking notes that I miss the material. If I just try to listen, I zone out. \n\nEdit regarding duplication:\nI saw a similar question someone posted asking how to focus in class. I found the way to do that. My question is more like, \"What is an alternative I can do that won't make my professor think I'm being disrespectful? (Looking for something that is academically acceptable) \" Or is it appropriate to go to my professor, explain the situation, and ask to do what helps me?" ]

[ "lecture" ]

[ "Working with PhD student instead of professor", "I'm currently an undergrad, and our university has a research program that I'm taking part in. I was hoping to get the chance to work with a professor, but in reality I just worked with the professor's PhD student. In fact, throughout the whole semester, I've only met the professor once at the start of the semester. I have other friends who joined the same program under other professors, and they also shared the same experience.\n\nIs this normal for undergrad research programs? I'm just concerned because for example if I need recommendation letters in the future, I don't think the professor knows me that well (and I don't think the PhD student is allowed to write one?)" ]

[ "research-undergraduate" ]

[ "Admission into top engineering graduate programs with a GPA just below the cutoff", "I'm applying for a master's degree at top graduate schools for robotics, such as MIT. However, I've heard that the recommended minimum GPA for these schools is 3.5. My GPA is actually 3.45. I know the supposed \"cutoff\" isn't rigid, but I'm worried because I don't have any publications either, although I have several years of highly relevant experience working in a number of research labs. With a difference of 0.05 points, will it be rounded to a 3.5 in the admissions reviewers' minds, or is this the final stroke that would send my application straight to the trash bin?" ]

[ "graduate-admissions", "masters", "gpa" ]

[ "Location, life and applying for faculty positions", "I am 5 years into my postdoc, which has been up and down but I now have a decent publication record. I like what I am doing, am ready to manage people and can't wait to get out of the lab and no longer be a postdoc. I have many ideas and not enough hands. But, it is becoming clear that to be \"successful\" one has to be willing to look absolutely everywhere for a faculty position. I am in New York City, I moved here for my postdoc from London, UK, and love it here. I have friends and a support system, a husband, a great apartment. Aside from that it is relatively convenient for flying to the UK to see my family - who have a lot of problems, which I am struggling to deal with. Although I think I might want to have a faculty position, I want to be here more - and I think I need this to feel happy. My family problems has taught me that life is too short to be miserable and do things that will make you unhappy.\nMy boss is going all out promoting me to her PI friends and telling them how great I am, asking around for positions and introducing me to people - which is incredibly supportive. But she keeps suggesting places I just can't see myself living in, and says I need to be open minded. The fact is that I simply do not want to. What would you do? If I tell my boss this, I feel like I'll lose her support and need her on my side for the next step (which also I wouldn't mind being in industry). I am really confused and don't know how to have this conversation with my boss or if I should at all. Any ideas?" ]

[ "job-search", "faculty-application", "work-life-balance" ]

[ "I have been accused of copying two lab reports from the previous year even though I had done everything by myself", "Today I got accused by my professor of cheating and copying two reports I submitted. I had a formal meeting with the professor where he tried to push me into admitting I cheated by showing me the surprising similarities. Even though I continuously denied it, he went forward to go to a formal hearing in the university where a panel will judge the outcome. I am currently freaking out. I know I did not cheat from anybody and I feel like the similarity could be due to a similar thought process (which sounds ridiculous). Should I just say that I did not cheat and stick with it? Or should I ask if I can redo the reports (though it sounds suspicious)? The reports were 68 percent similar and I feel like the odds are against me even though I did not do anything. \n\nEdit: the software used was turnitin and I do not hav access to the original files to get time stamps. I literally can only deny the allegations. The only reasonable explanation is that the professor taught us in a similar manner and our report writing manner was similar due to the fact we have taken the same courses a year apart and had the same professors who molded our report writing skills." ]

[ "undergraduate", "plagiarism", "grades", "cheating" ]

[ "Potential conflicting grad school interview events", "I've applied to several programs at several different graduate schools, and if shortlisted for interview, I expect to receive invitations by the end of January and most of them hold their visit and interview event on just two weekends in Feb. I already received an invitation, but the date will have a conflict if I receive an invitation from a few schools that I actually prefer over this one. I expect to hear from those school over the next week, but I don't know if it is ok to keep them waiting for my response to interview invitation. Is this ok to respond for making arrangements a few days after receiving the invitation?\n\nNote 1 - The event is a 2-day event, so it is not just a short interview with me, so I am worried they might not be able to rearrange a different date only for me.\n\nNote 2 - I have already read this and this, but my question is different! It is about whether I should keep the first one waiting to avoid a potential conflict with the interview for a preferred program." ]

[ "graduate-admissions", "interview" ]

[ "How to obtain Microsoft code signing certificate for signing supplementary material for scientific article?", "Our research results (mathematical models) can be supplemented by rather convincible and impressive visualizations of both scientific concept and experimental data. We produced this demonstration material in the form of executable files that could be downloaded from our website to run locally. The material is written in real programming language, not a wrapper around some third party tool. They were initially written as Java applets, now we converted them into stand alone executables.\n\nTo look somewhat \"correct\", the executable to share in these days must be digitally signed (here is the full explanation). Unsigned Java applets cannot run at all in these days. Unsigned MSI installers still run, but display various nasty warnings that may scare of half of the audience.\n\nOur research group is not a company like AG or GMBH, so it is not included into databases where that allow true companies to be verified and obtain certificates rather easily. We really cannot register a commercial company just to sign our demonstration material.\n\nThis only leaves an option for the researcher to obtain the certificate as individual. While theoretically the procedure exists and appears simple (just present a few documents to the Notary), in reality we failed multiple times because for the certificate issuer such a researcher is a \"strange person from the street\" with not enough trust to issue this electronic document. One of the main they argumentation was that my citizenship does not match the country of the residence (that is, I would say, very common between scientists that move between positions over the world). Also they said they do not like how the Notary has done his job with document signing, while it was an official Notary, and I am not sure if any other could do better. I am in German speaking country, the instructions were in English and the Notary even said he is unable legally follow them. Finally they asked me to hire a true lawyer rather than just a notary, and at this point we were forced to withdraw.\n\nAfter the long pause I have applied for the certificate for the second time, but to avoid wasted time and useless expenses with the Notary, tried to discuss these two problems with the provider in advance. As a result, my application has been immediately cancelled. Rather tough approach, I would say.\n\nHow is this problem supposed to be solved? Is there any institution or process that would allow researcher to sign his code for online sharing, using his academic identity as part of the trust? Random providers offering to issue such certificates rather cheaply basically do not want to go into any talks if you are not a commercial company." ]

[ "supporting-information" ]

[ "Books/resources about how to write a good Thesis introduction", "I would like to know if there is any reference book about this topic.\n\nI found the \"They Say/ I say\" book useful to write the Thesis discussion, but feel I need some guidelines on how to tackle this other part of the Thesis.\n\nThanks" ]

[ "thesis", "writing", "methodology" ]

[ "Publishing: quality vs. quantity", "I am nearing the end of my Ph.D. I need to publish a bit more, but am unsure what to do. So far I have published two rather large articles with my supervisor, where we develop new methods. I have also published a smaller article along with an external collaborator, where some of the new methods are used. My supervisor thinks we should publish another large article together, while I lean more towards two small ones alone. I am not guaranteed a post doc anywhere yet, and will most likely have to write my own grant application. What would be the best thinking in terms of securing external funding afterwards?" ]

[ "publications", "funding" ]

[ "Realistic time frame for GRE scores to appear in My GRE account", "I'm looking to take the GRE soon, and wondering what is the realistic timeline in your experience for the scores to appear in the My GRE account. \n\nETS states scores take 10-15 days for scores to appear. I've read on other forums that it takes considerably less time than that. \n\nMy program allows reporting of the official score, and allows ETS to submit the GRE upon admission. \n\nThanks" ]

[ "gre" ]

[ "How many online courses have been removed due to accessibility laws?", "Is there any research/study/survey/database that tried to quantify how many online courses/videos/audio lectures/other educational materials have been removed due to accessibility laws such as the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (mirror)?" ]

[ "united-states", "reference-request", "legal-issues", "disability", "audio-video-recording" ]

[ "Workshop(s) for application to Marie Curie postdoctoral Fellowships (formerly IIF, IEF and IOF, now just IF)", "I believe there are workshops offered to people who want to prepare application to Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowships (now part of the Individual Fellowships offered by them). I am trying to find out when the next workshop is or the general schedule of such workshops over the year. \n\nI tried to find online information on them, without much success, I noticed some heavily charged workshops that happened before. My questions are:\n\n\nWhere can I find information and schedule of such workshops? \nAre they always held by the authority/organization offering Marie Curie fellowships? Or, there could be other universities wanting to get Marie Curie postdocs and hence could offer a workshop?\nIs there a \"local\" workshop for a region, for example, people from Spain might not want to travel to Germany etc.\nAre there free ones, or is a fee always required?" ]

[ "job", "postdocs", "workshop", "eu" ]

[ "Do UK universities have a special obligation to advertise jobs externally?", "I often hear it said that all jobs have to be advertised externally before anyone can be appointed to an academic post in a UK university. However, this rule about having to advertise externally is certainly not true in general in industry where the only obligation one might have to avoid discrimination claims is to advertise the job internally.\n\nIs there a special obligation on a UK university through some public sector regulations, maybe, to advertise all jobs externally? I'm asking about UK universities in particular." ]

[ "university", "united-kingdom", "legal-issues", "policy", "recruiting" ]

[ "How to call colleagues who was once your professor or advisor?", "After finishing my PhD in the US, I am now working in a university in an Asian country where I studied for my master. All of my colleagues are 20 years senior than me and are full professors except one. I am wondering what I should call my colleagues. Should I address them as "Teacher" if I've ever taken a class from them? (One of them is my master advisor which is especially awkward for me to call his name.) Or should I address them by their "First Name" to emphasise that our current relationship is not teacher and student anymore? (They usually call each other by First name since they are all in similar age group, seniority, and male?)\nBy the way, I've been in this position for 1.5 years but I never call them by their first name, it's usually ‘Teacher’ if they previously taught me; or "Teacher xx(Last name)" if they never taught me. Would that be awkward if I just change how I call them now?" ]

[ "etiquette", "professors", "university", "colleagues" ]

[ "Is this our fault? corringendum vs erratum", "We have been advised that a recent article of ours was incorrectly published as article type y instead of article type x. Article type x and y are very similar, having the same word counts, similar structure, and the same fees. It is just that the name of the article type (x vs y) is different.\nIt was our error for selecting the incorrect article type when submitting the article, but the article's title and some of the responses to the reviewer made it clear which article type we were aiming for.\nThe journal would now like us to issue a corringendum that states 'This article was supposed to be published as an x type article rather than a y type article'. However, I am wondering if this is more suitable as an erratum? i.e. that the journal was to blame for this error." ]

[ "publications" ]

[ "Should I inform other project's members about my work on an idea which they are not initially interested in", "I'm a PhD student working on a research project consisting of 2 teams. My team (team A) is on the practical side, we provide the problems related to our research and evaluate the theoretical solutions provided by the other team (team B).\n\nFew months ago, I had an idea related to the work of team B and thought it would help to improve the quality of our research. I raised it during our project meeting but everyone was not interested and decided not to pursue it further. So, I decided to do it by myself. As the research was not in my supervisor's research interest as well, he did not pay much attention to it but still encouraged me to do it and publish a paper if possible. I occasionally gave him a brief progress update.\n\nMy effort paid off. I manage to publish a paper (in which I am the only author) and am planning to apply it into the project. At the recent meeting, members of team B were furious and accused me of bad teamwork as I did not inform them while working on something related to the project, especially when the idea belonged to their work, not mine.\n\nI wonder if they are right and I should inform them my research, even though they were not interested at the beginning." ]

[ "research-process", "projects", "collaboration" ]

[ "How likely is for the head of some University/Institution to ask other professors for further details related to the candidate?", "I am thinking of applying at several Biology PhD programmes and for this I need several recommendation letters. Have you experienced the situation where the head of the targeted Department asked the person that recommended you further details about you, even though the letters already contain references to your work/behaviour in the lab? How much does the content of the letters count?\nAny shared experience will be greatly appreciated!" ]

[ "phd", "recommendation-letter" ]

[ "Lecturer with anxiety. How to survive in academia?", "I've been a long time member of academia.SE but I created this alt account because the question is a bit embarrassing. I finished my PhD 4 years ago and after a 2 year postdoc at a different university secured a contractual lecturership. During my PhD I never realised I had fear of public speaking, because I always felt secure presenting in front of my supervisor. Even at conferences, his presence in the audience was enough to keep me relaxed.\n\nFast forward to my postdoc, I was mostly working and publishing by myself. So, even if I had to present something it was to my coauthors, with which I am okay. But as a lecturer doing research part of my time, I am involved in projects and seminars where I am expected to present my latest work. Being on my own has brought out my inner anxiety, so much so that I choked during a presentation, had to drink water to calm my nerves and apologise for my breathlessness and slurred speech. That was the most embarrasing thing in my life. Please note that the anxiety is not the result of me not publishing or doing research. I have published more than most in my department. Knowing that hasn't helped with the anxiety though. I am constantly making excuses to get out of project presentations and seminar talks. Fortunately, the anxiety is less intense in teaching and I am able to manage. \n\nHow do I survive as an academic? Now even conference presentations seem daunting. I can publish exclusively in journals, but how do I get out of giving project and departmental presentations? How can I politely refuse to present without revealing my situation? Or better yet, how do I fix the whole thing? That one bad presentation has really messed me up." ]

[ "career-path", "presentation", "lecturer" ]