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Academia has convinced you of things that are not true.
Your post has a strong air of imposter syndrome about it, but let's assume that you are largely correct. You managed to qualify for a PhD with an undergrad record that was not truly excellent, but you still managed to qualify for a PhD. Most undergrad records are not sufficient to do that. GPA of 3....
11
Sorry, almost certainly imposter syndrome. You have the misfortune of having studied with (other) good students and you are probably comparing yourself unfairly. Abysmal grades: irrelevant. Self study: yay. Pity: unlikely. Extra time in degree: entirely common. Your fault: maybe, but so what? Own your future.
Take a deep breath. Have a culturally appropriate ...
10
Be kind to yourself. Give yourself a break.
You are not amongst the best? Of course not, in academia you are only one amongst the brightest. There is always a bigger fish. This is no longer necessarily the case when you leave academia. Being amongst capable people are an opportunity for you: to learn.
Do you enjoy research? You say, yes. That's the most ...
4
I was recently introduced to this site: hypothes.is (I have no affiliation). In essence, any PDF with a URL when opened with their layer allows you to see comments and highlights from anyone else who has chosen to use it, or sub-groups you can join or arrange.
I have not seen anyone in academia use it, but perhaps you could start. It does seem like it could ...
4
Yes, the use of unattributed material, or use of quotes without indicating they are quotes even with attribution, is plagiarism.
If it's just a few sentences in a long dissertation, it's plausible that some of it was due to lazy note-taking, like copying the words of others into an intermediate document and not realizing months or years later that they were ...
4
Yes, is the short answer, and in fact it happens all the time.
Go check out the journal Acta Astronautica for just one example - it is a journal about technologies and techniques for space exploration. Many of the articles outline advanced space mission concepts and are done entirely in simulation, both because it is expensive (thus there is no budget to ...
3
In principle, it is possible to make changes up until the point that final proofs have been submitted. However, at a well-run journal any attempt to add an author after acceptance would require approval from the journal's editor, and they would likely require an explanation for why this change is being sought before agreeing.
The reason for this is to guard ...
3
My impression from reading the comments section of papers that do allow comments, especially those on any topic of broader interest, is that, like most content on the internet, it's mostly junk. I'd expect the same of other types of annotation.
Therefore, you would need to design a whole platform around people not only providing their annotations, but also ...
2
Unfortunately in academia there is really no objective way of measuring your success to keep you “motivated”.
Many factors that most people would think as indicators of success such as; grades in graduate school, number of publications, praise from advisor, praise from colleagues, number of grants obtained etc, although shows maybe you are on the right track,...
2
Unless by mischance you are contacting people who are not actually respectable (on the world stage), the sorts of issues that worry you are non-issues.
The more genuine issue, assuming the above, is that more-expert people will not immediately have the same enthusiasm for your ideas as you do. For many possible reasons, including that they and their group ...
1
It is common practise to ask domain experts for help and, where appropriate, to offer co-authorship. As professors are busy, you might want to seek more junior researchers. (I'll refrain from explaining how to write an email, since you can find answers on this website.)
1
In this type of question, context is everything, and so it's hard to give an unequivocal answer. That being said:
I'd in general have no trouble with someone, in a Ph.D. defense, article, whatever, giving their own definition of a concept, as long as they demonstrated an awareness of what the more standard definitions are, and articulated why it is ...
1
In other countries, the viva-voce is called "defense" for a reason. The onus is on you to defend your use of the definition, in particular, if it deviates from the industry standard.
1
You may want to have a look at https://www.meta.org/ - you can create research interests and the search engine then suggests relevant articles for you (or tries to), based on machine learning.
1
Get out of academe. Start looking for industry jobs, immediately. You will almost certainly be happier. Imposter syndrome or not, you are miserable. With a degree from a top 50 school you will land a comfortable industry job, and not be poor. Many companies will allow you to do your own research, and the fact that you do not have a driving passion for your ...
1
Sounds like a research career is not a great fit for you. As you are no doubt aware yourself, a strong track record of published research is crucial for success in academia. But it is just one of the things you need. You also need to have a lot of enthusiasm about your work, so that you can get other people (especially grant committees and universities where ...
1
Leave it behind for a few years. If its right for you you'll find your way back to it. Go backpack in a foreign country. Live with people completely different than you. You've lived in a bubble of academia for too long and have lost touch with other aspects of your self. Reconnect with those aspects and latent talents and interests will surely emerge.
I ...
1
Science is never complete. If the work that you have done in your master's thesis has been worthwhile, the most likely outcome will be that other researchers will want to develop your work further. Since this is the standard state of affairs, there is a standard place for describing future work in your thesis. This place is at the end of the Conclusions ...
1
In order to remain motivated in academia, it is important to keep the goal of becoming a renowned professor and maintain an inner belief that this goal can be accomplished. This motivation should be one's ultimate aim – not fame or fortune per se but recognition for making contributions to our understanding of how the world works, which will help shape the ...
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