All Questions
18
votes
4answers
562 views
Do extracurricular research/activities in graduate school negatively affect your future?
I'm the kind of graduate student that finds many research topics interesting and wants to participate in lots of student organization activities related to science and academia. But recently, one of ...
6
votes
1answer
50 views
What sections should I include in the Project Description section of my NSF grant proposal?
I am a Ph.D. student, and I am writing my first proposal to the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) for a research grant in the field of chemistry.
One thing that I have found very confusing is ...
13
votes
4answers
1k views
What is the difference between Ph. D programs with coursework and those without it?
I have been looking into PhD programs in the Engineering field, and I have found different types of programs, such as some with coursework, and others without any coursework.
What is the practical ...
8
votes
2answers
193 views
Add personal information to paper after the blind review?
I am writing a conference paper of the first time, and the conference I am targeting requires anonymized submissions for the peer review. But at the same time, we (as in, my research group) are ...
8
votes
3answers
179 views
Would transferring to a better school in the middle of a graduate program irreparably hurt my professional connections and academic reputation?
I did not get accepted into any good graduate programs. For various reasons, I feel I could do much better if I reapplied next year. This question isn't about the feasibility of doing so, but of the ...
14
votes
2answers
369 views
Sending a paper to a 'Letters' journal
I am at the cusp of finishing my PhD, and my advisor and I have decided that it is time to publish since there seems to be no hole in the theories that I propose. I have always maintained that I'd ...
73
votes
13answers
4k views
How to avoid procrastination during the research phase of my PhD?
I just finished all of my coursework for my PhD program, and am entering the research phase of my degree with a topic already in mind. I've already started the research, but I'm already finding that ...
5
votes
3answers
123 views
Is a research assistantship considered full-time employment?
For something I'm applying to, I need to know if I'm considered a student, a part-time employee, or a full-time employee.
I am a graduate research assistant with a yearly stipend. No other ...
3
votes
1answer
76 views
Expectated undergraduate semesters and Requirements for Graduate Students
I have been wondering recently about how graduate schools and in general anyone who reviews my academic record views coops. By coop, I mean a semester taken off from undergraduate studies to work in a ...
3
votes
2answers
89 views
Author Ambiguity in PubMed Search
Given a (rather large) list of authors, what is the best way to find the number of publications by each author? The big problem here is author ambiguity (which John Smith, etc.) - the author list we ...
-1
votes
0answers
87 views
How is academic career progression different in Germany vs. USA [closed]
How is academic career progression different in Germany vs. USA
in terms of supervision, giving credit in papers or academic freedom.
7
votes
3answers
301 views
What metrics are used to judge a mathematical journal's quality?
The metric I see most on the internet and on journals' home pages is the 'Impact Factor'. Are there any other metrics that are considered as important as (or more important than) the Impact Factor?
15
votes
4answers
1k views
Is there any world-wide ranking of conferences/journals?
I know it's rather difficult to establish a ranking of publications, especially because the ones in charge of establishing values for venues might be biased by their field, and several other aspects. ...
7
votes
2answers
93 views
Capitalisation of “Section” and “Chapter” in a CS Ph.D. Thesis
I am submitting a Ph.D. thesis fairly soon and my supervisor has flagged my use of capitalisation in "Section" and "Chapter" as possibly incorrect. I have googled about a bit and I see mixed opinions.
...
4
votes
3answers
209 views
Math Major and Grad School — Necessary?
I decided fairly late in life (21) that I feel like studying mathematics. I've always been interested in higher maths, I've just been daunted by some of the esoteric notations and theorems. But, no ...
6
votes
2answers
84 views
Are law review publications helpful for gaining acceptance into a PhD program?
I'm currently finishing up my J.D., and I plan on practicing law for at least a few years. However, I'm also considering returning to school to study CS. In the meantime, I plan on researching and ...
6
votes
2answers
167 views
Why does the copy editor want Nature to be “Nature (London)”?
I have noticed that the copy editors of at least two publishers (the American Institute for Physics and American Physical Society) do something weird when they copy-edit my submitted papers. For all ...
19
votes
2answers
417 views
How to evaluate students? Resources on educational assessment for higher education
Most academics are involved to some level in teaching classes and evaluating students. I never got a proper education in teaching, unlike what we had for research, and neither did any of the lecturers ...
29
votes
1answer
545 views
In what tense (present/past) should papers be written?
That is, should it be present tense or past tense?
Should there be a difference between the abstract, main body and the conclusion?
Does the field of publication have any impact?
8
votes
1answer
132 views
How important is to maintain an online/digital presence for a graduate student? [duplicate]
I am a graduate student in the physical sciences working towards my Ph.D and planning to finish in less than two years from now. In this age, where data mining/collection/analysis and then ...
18
votes
2answers
534 views
How long before PhD graduation should I start applying for post-doc positions?
My earliest PhD graduation date is 10 months away. Funding permits me to stay 1–3 months longer, so the final date is still uncertain.
It is never too early to make contacts for possible post-docs. ...
4
votes
4answers
435 views
Putting PhD Dissertation on Facebook
I am told that one of the best ways in which to disseminate information/knowledge/findings from doctoral research is to put your dissertation on-line. By default, many universities make the ...
-5
votes
1answer
127 views
How hard it's to obtain a doctorate in Math from UC, Berkley? [closed]
I'm a final year student of M.Sc. in Mathematics. I want to pursue Ph.D. from UC, Berkley. But I've heard that UC, Berkley is the home for extremely talented peoples and of course I'm not among those ...
3
votes
0answers
83 views
How much can you share unpublished forum articles?
There are some journals, such as Behavioral and Brain Sciences, that publish a single target article per issue, followed by 20 to 30 commentaries on that article, and then a rebuttal/synthesis from ...
2
votes
2answers
192 views
Why is Howard University still predominantly black?
Today, I read the name “Howard University” on a list, and since I had no idea where it was, I looked it up. I was amazed from their website because, well, most people on the photos there are black!
...
0
votes
1answer
176 views
Going to Europe for BSc from U.S. - Grad School in U.S? (physics major)
Due to some rather odd circumstances, I've been contemplating if it's a wise move to go to Europe to complete my BSc.
Currently I'm finish up two classes at a CC (community college) here, and ...
10
votes
5answers
178 views
Effectiveness of grouping students to balance skills
In the past, when forming student groups in class I've always allowed the students to form their own groups, which has certainly made them happy as they tend to form around social circles. As a side ...
12
votes
2answers
128 views
Negotiating with journal publishers about intellectual property of the paper?
One of my colleagues told me authors after acceptance can negotiate about the intellectual property (IP) rights. It is frustrating to wait for peer review long times, and after acceptance publisher ...
4
votes
3answers
161 views
How long do PhD students typically take to come up with their research proposal?
Especially if you are someone who is entering a PhD with very broad interests and little depth of knowledge in your field.
5
votes
3answers
124 views
How much flexibility does one have in selecting their PhD coursework in the first year?
For instance, if someone is working as a Phd in computer-science, but on a neuroscience related topic, she might need to take some neuroscience related courses. And some CS courses might not be any ...
25
votes
6answers
453 views
What incentives do academics have to write text books?
As noted in this question, academics should write research articles. In many fields, these are way more important than books. It's original research that counts for getting a PhD position, a post-doc, ...
12
votes
4answers
392 views
Why do universities support faculty writing textbooks?
Textbooks take a lot of time and effort to write, so why would a university support their faculty to do so? The author can make a good profit from a textbook and I am guessing the institution doesn't ...
23
votes
8answers
1k views
Should academic papers necessarily carry a sober tone?
I was reading this paper titled "Optimal Symmetric Rendezvous Search on Three Locations." While talking about the history of search problems, the author mentions the following anecdote in passing.
...
14
votes
5answers
624 views
Is it a bad idea to submit a paper merely to elicit reviewers' comments?
Some days ago I was talking with a friend of mine, who is currently a post-doc at the illustrious Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) working on humanoid robotics.
He was quite disgruntled because ...
14
votes
4answers
325 views
Is it considered a self-plagiarism to reuse (published) abstracts for talks?
When writing an abstract for talks at conferences, workshops, etc., I often wonder if it would be considered a self-plagiarism if I copied a few sentences from a paper that is already published. ...
22
votes
3answers
279 views
Do teaching evaluations lead to lower standards in class?
In the somehow recent past, teaching evaluations have become obligatory in many universities/departments in Germany. I've also heard that sometimes these evaluations are used in formal ways to decide ...
25
votes
7answers
625 views
Researcher with the same name in a different field
I would like to get some advice on what may or may not be a problem, namely the lack of unique identifiers for scientific authors.
So there is a researcher with the same first and last name as ...
2
votes
1answer
88 views
What level of knowledge and expertise is usually expected from someone just entering a PhD in computer science?
If someone has bad grades and limited programming experience, can they afford to rely on their first year of coursework to come up to speed with the field? Or is it a better idea to take some time off ...
11
votes
6answers
543 views
What systems are most effective for monitoring student attendance?
I work in the Computing and Mathematics School at my university (UK). This year the School has adopted a fairly aggressive policy regarding student attendance. If a student has a poor – or zero – ...
13
votes
5answers
621 views
Too burnt out to continue MSc
I finally realized that there is a term for the situation I am in,"burned out". What can I do to recover from a short term burnout?
I am at the the last four months of my MSc program and I haven't ...
5
votes
1answer
171 views
Advisor-student meeting patterns in very high-end theoretical research
This is related to my previous question: “What is the optimal number of times one should meet one's PhD. advisor?”
I want to know of specific details of advisor-student meetings, frequencies, ...
8
votes
2answers
133 views
Are book reviews peer-reviewed? Are news articles peer-reviewed?
A couple of simple questions:
Books are not peer reviewed in general. Are book reviews that appear in academic journals peer-reviewed? Since they represent personal opinions, I would think they ...
2
votes
2answers
102 views
Taking into account courses from another university
I think about starting studies towards Master Degree in Computer Science abroad, I finished my bachelor studies few years ago, but I didn't stop studying, during these years I finished few courses of ...
25
votes
6answers
1k views
Stack Overflow reputation in CV
Should I mention my Stack Overflow (and other Stack Exchange sites) reputation in my CV while applying for a post-graduate position?
6
votes
3answers
164 views
Are contributions to conference proceedings considered to be “archival” publications?
While technical papers are generally considered to be "non-archival" and journal papers "archival", I couldn't find a clear statement about papers that appear in conference proceedings. Does it matter ...
6
votes
0answers
112 views
How does a university award honorary doctorate?
Important scholars (e.g. Nobel laureates) regularly receive honorary doctorate from different universities. I know that the Board of Trustees (or a similar board) reviews available nominations and ...
5
votes
5answers
652 views
Changing my handwriting for the PhD qualifying exam [closed]
I am a guy with very distinct handwriting, and let's just say I have noticed some interesting grading trends in one of my classes. I'll add that my advisor and the professor of this class also have ...
6
votes
2answers
124 views
Recommendation Letters for MS CS programs
I have graduated nearly 5 years ago and I want to get a Computer Science Master's degree from an above average school in U.S. or Canada, preferably a thesis based degree.
However, I am having ...
16
votes
3answers
336 views
How do I make sure I get strong recommendation letters for faculty positions?
I would like to ask Prof. X, a distinguished scholar at a top school, for a recommendation for a tenure-track academic position. However, I only want him to write me a recommendation if he is going to ...
10
votes
3answers
450 views
What is the minimum one should expect from the day-to-day supervisor?
What minimal responsibilities can a student expect from their day-to-day supervisor?
In my institute, we usually have the head of the institute as the formal supervisor, followed by another ...
