93
I don't know what field you're in, but in mine, writing such a paper would be viewed as unnecessary and perhaps a bit strange. You seem to feel that you don't deserve your place with this supervisor, and so you need to prove your worth, or impress them, by writing a paper. This is unecessary, as you have already impressed them with your project idea and PhD ...
91
Actually, it is quite appropriate. You could also ask for a list of the professors who previously taught the course. You could then ask them if they are willing to share materials to help bootstrap the course.
In fact, the administrative assistant might not have easy access directly, partly due to the pandemic. But the professors would normally retain their ...
45
I have worked with supervisors who are very humble while successful to those who are extremely egoistic due to their accomplishments. In my personal opinion, it is not wise to give Godly status to any person. He is your PhD supervisor, a famous one, but there are thousands of famous people in this world. And fame is subjective. Be professional, be polite and ...
45
An important thing to note here is that often these dropped headers don't happen because the email is merely short, but usually because the email chain starts to approximate a conversation, i.e. a quick succession of short replies. So the formalities shift from those of writing letters to those of talking in person. So maybe take some cues from there.
In ...
32
Showing interest is nice, accusing people is not. So, show interest, something like "I saw your article XXX in YYY and I am working on something similar. I was wondering how exactly you dealt with ZZZ."
20
In my experience, it should be fine to drop the salutation given that the other person has done so before you in that same chain. But if in doubt then err on the more formal side. It's always a good idea to emulate the email style of the other person in a one-on-one chain (unless you have some reason for wanting to maintain formality).
16
Even though you have not indicated where your Ph.D. studies are going to be, it is clear from your description of your advisor's behavior that he is not expecting special deference to him.
I would say that the way to show him respect is to trust him when he says "don't do that." Then learn as much as you can in the program, and accomplish great ...
15
Disclaimer: Customs and individual preferences can differ, and this is my best guess.
I wouldn't recommend that you show particular deference to your advisor, just because he is famous. Be respectful and polite of course, and deferential to some extent, but it's not necessary to be more so than if your advisor was lesser-known.
I wouldn't recommend ...
10
I usually find it's good to start and end formally, but for little in-between messages that are around one line and easy to answer it's fine to be informal. Unless the person is really arrogant, they won't find it disrespectful if you do this (especially if they've done it first), although it depends a bit on your relationship to them. Maybe something like ...
9
The first thing I did when asked to teach already existing courses was to ask the previous lecturers for copies of syllabi, teaching materials, exams, tutorials....
Probably depends a little on office politics, but I was just handed everything in a nice manner and took over from there.
9
This probably is a bit culturally determined, but almost anything polite will do. I personally prefer your second formulation, but others might not. Don't overthink it.
But in a first mail to the author(s) I suggest asking questions that can be answered fairly simply/quickly and don't ask for too much. If it seems like it will be a lot of work to reply, then ...
8
Contacting researchers for clarification is good practice. Before you do, ask yourself why you think the authors did not provide enough details. In formulating an answer, you may find they did provide enough details. Otherwise, you'll have established a better understanding for what you need to know, and you can put that to the researchers. Always be humble ...
8
Receiving an email starting with "No action needed, just an update" adds an infinitesimal amount to ones workload.
Wondering about whether some project is still going on, if its time yet to check in on the junior people involved and writing a request for information does take mental energy and a bit more time.
5
It is completely appropriate, and can be valuable in the context of the greater curriculum. When I used to teach classes, I would ask the previous lecturer for the syllabus. Most importantly, I would also speak to whomever is teaching a follow-on class to see if there's something that should be added or removed based on the changes to the general ...
4
Best way to show your gratitude and respect would be to do good/great work during this program. Show that he made the right choice.
4
I suppose that standards differ, but in my experience (CS) posters don't need to be all that refined. Unless your standards are different, I suspect that you could put enough together to inform people about your project, its current state, and its direction, if not the conclusions that aren't yet ready.
Many posters are "work in progress", rather ...
4
I was for 5 or so years a university researcher and co-wrote a few papers. I would have been thrilled if someone had written to me asking a sensible question (they never did) but horrified if they had found an error.
Professors, on the other hand, can be time poor, so it will be best to write to the most junior author if this is an option.
In my experience ...
4
So long as what you write is not rude or arrogant, nobody will care much.
The important thing is to ask some specific questions. If you just asked me for "details of methodology" I would hit the delete button, because I'm not going to write a comprehensive reply that is probably longer than the published paper telling you every little detail about ...
4
Provided that you don't get pushback from your advisor or committee, I think it should be fine. Those are the main concerns about style for a dissertation. If you send it out for publication, the editor may accept it or not.
But write it they way you think it should be and consider any advice you get from folks that have influence over you.
3
A simple email is really all you need. Thank them for their help and update them on your recent progress, say by mentioning that you have been accepted to ...
Don't bother with gifts as they will embarrass many people and might be considered improper. The one exception I can think of is the situation in which you are from a different country or culture. Then ...
3
If the paper is published it is because the editor (and presumably the referees) believe there are enough details either in the manuscript per se, in the references or that the procedure is sufficiently well-known not to waste time on it.
Thus I would encourage you to be very careful in suggesting there is not enough information: it might not be enough ...
3
I do the adjunct hiring for my community college department, and we have a certain set of problems that we see repeatedly. One is people teaching a course at the wrong intellectual level (usually too low). Another is not assigning enough work or not giving enough feedback. I would not want a newly hired person to go to an administrative assistant, get a ...
3
I certainly wouldn't recommend sitting on the project for a number of years. Science moves on and so do the participants.
But, even if you have to take a different, lesser, role, you can probably move forward with the project.
I don't know if you need a "diplomatic" response, just an honest one. If you can stay connected with the project, if even ...
2
First of all, Well done and Good luck mate! I hope you make full use of this opportunity.
Secondly, don't be that cautious or THAT MUCH courteous. As you have said that your professor does not care much about what others think of him. Actually, most of the high-profile academics (at least in my humble opinion) think that way. This humbleness, coupled with ...
2
In the one department I have taught in, it was stated that you have to run the course along similar lines to previous/other instructors (some courses run w/ multiple sections so they need consistency). So absolutely, ask for the existing syllabi. And good luck with your first teaches!
2
You should also check to see what classes have your class as a pre-requisite. You want to ensure your students are prepared for what follows.
2
A possibility to consider in addition to the other answers: there may be a syllabus template, and you may be required to use it. So yes, ask for existing documents.
2
Let's get more templated. What about this?
To: %Corresponding author% Subject: %Paper title%
Dear Prof. %NAME%,
With a great interest I read your paper on %TOPIC%. Since I work in
a similar area, I would like to %short presentation of what you want% [e.g., to compare my approach [1, 2, 3] to
yours].
Do you have %your actual inquiry, detailed%?
Thank you ...
2
A while ago I also read a paper and had a question which was not answered in the paper (or maybe it was and I just wasn't capable of interpreting it).
I searched for the address of the main author and wrote a polite, kind email without much fluff (because I had often heard that scientists don't like fluff).
I also mentioned that I had asked another scientist ...
2
There is no international standard of etiquette. Cultures differ so much between countries (and within countries) that I think it would be impossible to agree on the details of such a thing. What you are discovering is part of the fun of collaborating with other people from different countries: you get to indirectly learn about the cultures and working ...
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