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Questions tagged [communication]

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Questions about how to communicate with others appropriately and professionally; communication etiquette.

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37
votes
8answers
7k views

Is it fine to send a message to the author of a paper if I don't understand something and want to clarify it?

I'm a Physics Ph.D. student and I have been studying one paper and had some doubt in one point. More specifically the author defines a concept in a way which is a little bit different from other texts ...
1
vote
1answer
83 views

Informative article about physics and quote on “physicists don't care about precise numbers, they care about trends” [closed]

I am writing an informative article about physics for the general public, and I was wondering if there is any quote by some famous physicist on the concept that usually physicist care about ...
1
vote
2answers
112 views

Changing interests after joining grad school

I joined graduate school in the US with interests in theoretical chemistry/chemical physics. Though I was enrolled for a PhD in chemistry, I was taking classes in physics for an entire year. This made ...
17
votes
3answers
5k views

How to address having been plagiarized by senior scholars without ruining the relationship

I recently came across a book written by two senior scholars in my field (anthropology), who cite a paper I published with a colleague two years ago. They cite us quite favorably and in most places ...
2
votes
1answer
79 views

What do you say to a professor/potential advisor when you accept the offer from their school?

Is it common to contact professors you've been in communication with to let them know that you're accepting their school's offer? Do you usually contact the professors that met with you on a campus ...
3
votes
1answer
529 views

Coronavirus, school lockdown and future uncertainty [closed]

I am a master student expected to graduate in April. I want to work as an R/A for my thesis advisor after graduation and want to do a PhD afterwards. However, the entire school is closed and I cannot ...
1
vote
1answer
88 views

How can I handle group projects?

I'm a grad student and have been assigned to a group with several other students. This is a semester long group that will work on various projects. From the start, this group has been a disaster. I ...
-1
votes
1answer
98 views

Asking about how to say to a possible supervisor to give me some time as I look for funding opportunities

I am a masters student in mathematics at an Asian University and I mailed my CV to some professors in France for phd position in analytic number theory. One of the professors said that his ...
2
votes
2answers
282 views

how to congratulate for professors's grant achievements?

I recently got the news that my prof and his colleagues were got many grants/funding. Is it common to write him a congratulation? I prepared this simple sentences, how should I wish him more ...
0
votes
1answer
136 views

How to Ask for a Shift in Graduate Assistantship from Research to Teaching?

I am a graduate student in NYC and would like to learn how to ask my advisor and my professor to shift from research assistantship to teaching? I have been working on a research project for one ...
5
votes
3answers
443 views

How to salvage a paper when the lead author gave up publishing it and refuses to communicate

I am a postdoc, and some time ago a professor in my department introduced me to her research assistant to work together on something related to their project I was not part of. I was interested ...
4
votes
2answers
345 views

Is it okay to request to do a reading project with a professor at a later time if he had politely denied it before?

I was planning to do a reading project with a professor in my institute and had asked him in the last semester whether it would be possible for me to do it under his guidance. However he had politely ...
0
votes
1answer
63 views

How to share responsibility for part of my advisor's project, which I did not create and I am insecure about?

I am a first semester PhD student, working in the planning of an experiment that is on a funded project from my advisor. I am not paid by this project, the professor has not spent grant money on me. I ...
31
votes
6answers
8k views

Journal editor made bad edits to my (accepted) paper - how do I respond?

Earlier this year I had a paper accepted to a well-recognized journal in a particular (humanities) subfield. I finally received proofs of the article, and was (more than a bit) upset at the edits. A ...
0
votes
2answers
252 views

Professor didn't acknowledge a late hand-in by email. Is it appropriate to follow up?

I missed a class where I was supposed to hand in an assignment. I arrived at my school at the end of the class, and the teacher had already left, so I sent them immediately by email. It has been a ...
3
votes
1answer
118 views

How to keep team morale and efficiency when dealing with poor communication in a mentorship-like relation

I am working in a academia-related field and the type of relationships tend to be pretty much as kind of mentor-students. I have mentored many persons in the past with very nice experiences and ...
-1
votes
1answer
80 views

Choosing the best fit sentence to mail prospective PhD supervisor

I am applying for a PhD scholarship which was posted on the university website and for that, I am writing mail to the professor. I have written about my background, academics, interests and experience....
-1
votes
1answer
122 views

Go to grad school or not? Help! [closed]

I'm having a hugely difficult time deciding on grad school. I'm almost 25 and I'm working for a non-profit, which I love, but I love the people and the mission... I'm not too passionate about the ...
10
votes
3answers
3k views

Is it fine to ask this kind of question to the corresponding author of a paper?

First some context: I'm a Ph.D. student in Physics. I have been discussing with my supervisor the objectives for the Ph.D. project and we have been looking at some papers from the field. In that case,...
4
votes
1answer
156 views

Asking a Professor to sign me to a group

I have a class assignment coming up. On the syllabus, it was indicated that groups would be assigned this week. I assumed that the professor would be assigning groups. However, last week the professor ...
1
vote
2answers
373 views

Professor asking me about my financial condition

For masters degree, I have contacted one of the professor of university of Tokyo. He told me in his 1st email reply that he would not like to have students only for 2 years. He wanted a student for 5 ...
3
votes
1answer
179 views

How to deal with a research internship manager with very bad English?

I am a computer science student in a research internship. My superior is technically a professor, but I work with a PhD student. My goal is to help them run experiments to finish their thesis. They ...
1
vote
1answer
118 views

Communicate Author or Publisher for asking detail?

I have trouble finding out an expression in a theorem (click here to the problem)of a paper by Yann Bugeaud (page 12) , and I tried to contact the author through his e-mail but he didn't reply (don't ...
6
votes
4answers
624 views

PhD Advisor to Stop Funding Me

I am going into my 4th year PhD in a STEM field. I am my advisor's first student. While things started off okay and the research had been interesting, my advisor developed a tendency to switch ...
1
vote
2answers
159 views

Performing Poorly on Mentor's Exam

I was recently assigned a research mentor in my Master's program who also happens to be my professor (in a quantitative economics course). We've had a brief meeting to introduce ourselves, and I made ...
-2
votes
2answers
571 views

Dealing with misconceptions when proposing a new idea as an outsider to a field [duplicate]

I have some ideas related to computer architecture/electrical engineering on which I would like to get feedback from academics. A professor at a university I visited has the belief that something I ...
0
votes
1answer
113 views

how to reply a professor is not available for research guidance [closed]

Thanks for your interest. But I am not available for guidance or mentorship. This is my professor's reply. I don't know how to reply back formally. I want to know if this professor can suggest my ...
5
votes
3answers
466 views

How to respond to an e-mail asking me to suggest a doctoral research topic?

With networks like ResearchGate and Academia.edu, it's easy to connect with and follow researchers from a variety of different nations and backgrounds. I personally think this is great, and I hope ...
6
votes
2answers
296 views

Physician assistant school rescinded my acceptance [closed]

I'm in a complicated situation. I was accepted to physician assistant school and was told I'm one of the most qualified candidates. I'm also a mother of 2 children (under age 3) and living with their ...
3
votes
1answer
50 views

Writing to a professor who contributed to my research paper

I was working along with a professor on a research paper during my masters in 2014. I graduated in that year but we still worked on the paper for next year. After that I moved to another city for my ...
2
votes
1answer
92 views

How to approach bad communication with my department

I am a mathematics student at a top 10 math department in the US. Something I have been struggling to handle is an on-going situation I have been facing with with the administration. When I was ...
1
vote
1answer
274 views

How do you address holders of non-Ph.D. doctorates such as an Ed.D. or Sc.D. etc.?

It is customary to call Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) holders by the prefix "Dr.", but I wonder whether the same holds for other doctorates, such as Doctor of Science (Sc.D.) or Doctor of Education (Ed....
5
votes
3answers
531 views

A senior colleague that belittles my contributions, expertise and won't acknowledge a published error that I identified

I am a PhD student and the most junior person on our small team (me, a lab manager, a statistical analyst, a wet-bench scientist, a senior statistician, and our PI). The statistical analyst has been ...
3
votes
4answers
476 views

How to find out whether my advisor expects to be author of a paper to which she did not contribute?

I am a postdoc and I prepared a paper that is now ready for submission. I did this work by myself. I know that adding my advisor as an author would violate authorship standards, but it is a widespread ...
2
votes
2answers
8k views

How to ask a professor via email about possible postdoc positions?

I have sent emails to a few (about 10) professors in different Computer Science research labs (related to my research interests) to see if they have any postdoc position available. However, I ...
11
votes
7answers
2k views

How can I deal with a significant flaw I found in my previous supervisor’s paper?

Suppose that I found a technical flaw in one of the papers coauthored by my previous advisor. This mistake will substantially change their major result, but their contribution will be still worthwhile ...
2
votes
2answers
1k views

Is it rude to visit a professor's office during office hours after he/she doesn't respond to my email?

I'm currently about to enter my final semester of undergraduate life and plan on continuing graduate studies (master's) at the same institution. Applications for the fall semester this year open in ...
1
vote
2answers
80 views

Manage communication with students (as advisor)

I feel a little unproductive in managing students as their advisor. I have both undergrads and graduate students, and especially with undergrads, it's hard to make them respect scheduled updates. ...
1
vote
2answers
388 views

Polite message for my supervisors who do unfair things that would totally leads me to lose my study [closed]

I am currently working on finishing my PhD thesis. For about 3 years and 6 months of my study, I am suffering from the absence of my supervisors. She always travels for 6 months, sometimes two months ...
0
votes
1answer
314 views

Polite message to my supervisor

I am at the end of my study (almost 6 months). I need time to edit my English (my supervisors do not want to help with that. It is Ok for me.). However, they asked me to add extra computation to my ...
0
votes
2answers
106 views

Permission for changing the title of a paper

I am revising a paper and want to change the title of the paper and send for editor-in-chief. My Question: Is there an formal sentences to announce to editor-in-chief and reviewers that I want to ...
2
votes
1answer
540 views

What is the proper way to ask for ideas for a research topic to a professor on a different institution that I have no connection with?

I am planning to start a new project on a certain topic, which nobody in my institution is an expert in. I have spent several weeks on literature research on this topic (by superficially reading ...
3
votes
3answers
436 views

How to politely request payment for extra hours of TA service rendered?

My TA letter indicates 90 hours working. However, I worked for 120 hours due to the volume of the students. Now my work is finished I want to let them know by writing an email to the professor. I want ...
2
votes
2answers
276 views

How can I maximize my chances of a professor of another university accepting to be my undergraduate research advisor?

Next year I'm going to college and would like to do undergraduate research in the second semester under the supervision of a certain professor, who I'll call Prof. M. There are three points against ...
3
votes
2answers
162 views

Same problem solved in a totally different way

If I solved a already solved recent problem with a totally different method, can I communicate my solution in a journal? How likely is the acceptance of my paper?
42
votes
9answers
12k views

How should I ask a potential advisor why they haven't published in the last 3 years?

I'm using a throwaway account for privacy. I know professors are human beings and "I can just ask", but, as this is the start of the relationship, I don't want to seem rude - or to seem that I am ...
52
votes
10answers
20k views

Is asking your PhD supervisor a basic question considered inappropriate?

I've done my Master's degree in Computational Mathematics. Then, because of several reasons, I decided to pursue my Ph.D. in the field of Quantum Chemistry. The problem is, obviously, my lack of ...
4
votes
2answers
398 views

Asking for the second/third recommendation letter, should I tell the referee he is writing the third letter?

Many have suggested me to include a sentence like this while asking for recommendations: "Do you feel that you are able to give me a strong reference?" I am afraid that my third referee, who was ...
2
votes
2answers
231 views

Contributing to the cause of biology (beyond research)

I've been studying microbiology for a while (undergrad sophomore). I've been finding something to do other than my regular academic work and projects. Someone told me that Nature allows freelancers to ...
21
votes
5answers
3k views

Letting another author know I'm using one of their results

Let's say I write a paper and use a result from someone that is rarely cited. Would it be polite/acceptable/unacceptable to email them and let them know of my application of their result before ...

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