text:
Is it advisable (or even usual) to invite a foreign member of doctoral jury to give a lecture just after the defense? Or is it inappropriate?
I will have my doctoral defense next month, in Italy. In my jury there's a foreign member, who comes on purpose from Belgium (I know him in person and I invited him to be member of the jury, through my supervisor).
I had two opposite advices.
Somebody told me that it is usual, in this situation, to invite the foreign member to give a lecture at my Department, after the defense (in the afternoon). They say that it is a great occasion, and that he would happy of doing it (or, even, he would be upset if not invited).
Somebody else told me that it is not polite, that he could feel forced and that, after the discussion, maybe he would like just to go around the city and relax.

Are you exclusively asking about politeness towards the jury members, or also about politeness towards anyone else involved, e.g. your team members? Also, customs at your place may play a role, such as the defense being followed by an extensive celebration and the expectation that you provide some food for your team rather than disappear into another talk.

Another point to consider is that, if they give a seminar, the department may be able to reimburse part or all of the travel expenses. Policies may be such that reimbursement is not possible for just serving on a defense panel.

As for advice, the other answers are all excellent. Just to answer the 'or even usual' part here: in my experience "YES".

I think it is appropriate to invite an academic to give a lecture on their work at any point, provided the invitation is politely conveyed.  Part of politely conveying an invitation is making the invitee feel comfortable declining it.
I can think of certain situations in which it is arguable that without further personal knowledge of the invitee, the invitation itself exerts an impolite pressure to accept: e.g. if you invite a job candidate to give an "extra lecture."  But I don't see why a foreign jury member would feel compelled to give an extra lecture in this situation.  Unless you know of some specific plausible reason why he would feel pressured to do so, I think it is absolutely permissible to invite him.  Since you are a bit concerned about this, I would mention in the invitation itself that the invitee can freely decline, in a way which suggests that he will not be committing any kind of social error by doing so.  Especially if you know this person, um, in person, I see no problem here.
General tip for dealing with human beings: when possible, try not to assume that they will want to do X or that they will not want to do X.  Develop enough social skills so that you can ask them which one it is.  Of course some exceptions apply...

Completely agree.  Also, speaking from personal experience, I quite appreciated being asked to give a lecture when going abroad to serve on a doctoral committee.

IIRC, there was recently at my place a PhD defense as the last talk of a half-day seminar on the topic. Pretty cool!

It is probably best to arrange for the same person who officially invited the external jury member (your advisor, thesis committee president, department chair, dean) to ask them if they would like to give a talk about current work, or any subject they'd care to discuss. Give them a rough idea of the number and background of potential attendees.

Inviting this person to give a conference can also be a way to cover some of the travel costs through the conferences budget. I think all parties involved will understand and appreciate that.

Definitely go through your advisor and/or the head of the thesis committee. They should not only know what's custom at your department but whether reimbursements of part or all of the travel expenses are appropriate or even possible. Keep in mind that a member of the jury is expected to be impartial and you would not want to make the impression of close cooperations going on (think conflict of interest). Which is also why (at least) some members of the jury should not be former co-authors (to my opinion and according to some regulations and guide lines). Again check you relevant documentation of your institution.

Lediglich einer der Gutachter der Dissertation darf zugleich Koautor der Publikationen sein. source
(Only one of the reviewers of the dissertation may also be a co-author of the publications.)

and

Im Falle einer publikationsbasierten Promotion darf höchstens ein
  Gutachter  Koautor  einer oder  mehrerer Publikationen [...] sein. source
(In case of a publication based dissertation only one of the reviewers shall be co-author of one or more publications.)

"Which is why the external referee is not a former co-author." - where in the question is that stated?

It is not. But that's not the point. Important is to steer clear of even the suspicion that the external member of the jury is not impartial - which could arouse under the pretense of a former collaboration. (Which is why it's not a former co-author either.) - If you see how this could be phrased better, feel free to suggest. Thanks.

You might write that in your opinion, the external referee should not be a former co-author. Claiming that the external referee is not a former co-author, as you did, is simply incorrect, because in my experience, the external referee is very often a former co-author, or at least someone with whom the doctoral candidate collaborated closely (in fact, that is often the only way doctoral candidates can suggest an external referee at all; they only have a handful of external contacts, and usually those are established by some form of collaboration).

@O.R.Mapper, point taken. I'll still leave the advise to check your regulations and consult your advisor. After a few years into the process it's just not the time to blow it on a formal error.

Concerning your edit: Fair enough, although it should be noted that these regulations differ wildly between universities, and even between fields at the same university. Case in point: The Promotionsordnung on environmental sciences from TU Dresden says "darf nur ein Gutachter Ko-Autor der Fachartikel sein" ("only one of the reviewers may be a co-author of the papers"), whereas that for economic sciences from the same university ...

... says "soll mindestens ein Gutachter kein Ko-Autor sein" ("at least one of the reviewers must not be a co-author"). In the question at hand, it seems like the referee has been decided upon already, and at least if that happened via the primary supervisor, the supervisor should be somewhat aware of who was a co-author for the doctoral candidate's works. Otherwise, I do agree the OP might want to check better sooner than later.

In my case, the foreign member is not a former co-author. But he is the same person who wrote a (positive) report for my dissertation when I submitted it for obtaining the "doctor europaeus" certificate. I asked it to him (I've been visiting student in his Department and I know him in person). The regulamentation allows the same person to be a foreign member of the doctoral jury. So, in this case it is already explicit the fact that he has in mind a positive evaluation of my work (however, it does not mean that he would not be impartial).

I'm struggling to see how inviting someone to present their own work could lead even a moderately cynical person to suspect a lack of impartiality towards the student.

At the end, the thesis is the work of the PhD student. But til then, the advisor rules.
What I would do as a PhD student (annd the advisor is not taking charge): call the  foreign member first, or arrange an informal phone meeting. You could pretend you will be talking about your report. Ask if he/she would be interested in giving a talk on the occasion. If yes, hand it over to your  PhD advisor.

Better not get involved directly, ask your advisor to do the asking. I'd not be too surprised if it turns out they have done so already (or are planning to), or (as some of the other answer hint at) are forbidden to do so by some regulation.


text:
Is it pragmatically beneficial to pursue a master degree before applying for a math PhD in the U.S.?
Question
One is supposed to be devoted to pure mathematics. Is it beneficial for one to pursue a master degree before applying a math PhD in the United States?
Backgrounds
The question is due to the harsh situation of undergrad students who are outside the U.S. and want to apply for a pure math PhD in the U.S. After an application process, one received no offer or no satisfactory offers. I wonder whether it's beneficial to apply for a master degree first, as a springboard towards a PhD position?
I googled online and found some similar posts. However, I found nothing exactly matches what I want to ask, such as:

One can determine whether he/she really wants to do math via a master life. while I suppose that one is devoted to pure mathematics.
To attend some required courses (for PhD applicants) which aren't available in his/her university. They don't require a lot, and in the situation I'm interested in, there is not shortcoming from this kind of restriction.

I want to know the pure pragmatic effect of a master degree. Does the fame or honor of the graduate school increase the chance of admission for students? Do (good) scores in the graduate school de facto prove the strength and ability of students? Are these more convincing than scores/works in the undergraduate school?
Thanks for information.

Wait a second: you may apply for a PhD even without having a master degree? :o

@GennaroTedesco As far as I know, almost all students apply for a math PhD without having a master degree in the U.S., but a bachelor degree is necessary. See, say, http://academia.stackexchange.com/q/19213/49364

I believe the questions are, will it help me be successful with my applications if I apply for a masters program instead of applying for a PhD; and would doing a masters help me figure out if I want to do a PhD.  Did I get that right?

@aparente001 No for the second part "would ... help ...". And usually it's not instead of applying for a PhD. Rather, it happens when one already failed to achieve any PhD positions and he/she wants to pursue his/her study. That's devious.

@FrankScience - Thanks for explaining. ... Do you mind my asking, how's your TOEFL?

@aparente001 I was not asking for my own (I'm on another track). But I have a friend who achieved 102 in TOEFL (I don't know whether it's too low) and didn't receive any offers up until May. That was the end of the story on application.

@FrankScience - I don't know TOEFL scores.  If you want to help your friend, it might be helpful to get an objective view about the various components of his/her application.

The short answer to the title is yes, it can help for less competitive (foreign or domestic) students, as has been mentioned on this site several times (e.g. https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/42268/19607; see also How does the admissions process work for Ph.D. programs in the US, particularly for weak or borderline students?) but I can't find all the relevant issues in a single post.
For foreign students, there are a few different reasons why one might have trouble getting into a decent PhD program in the US:

you are coming from a very competitive location (e.g., east Asia) so by comparison you look weaker to many similar applicants; also, schools don't usually want to admit too many people from a single region
you have a horrible TOEFL score; unless your application is absolutely stellar, this will hurt you, as most PhD programs will need you to teach/TA undergrads
you come from a school that is not so well known in the US, so grad programs have difficulty assessing the value of your grades, coursework and letters of recommendation.  letters of recommendation are very important in this case, but unfortunately many faculty at these schools don't know how to write appropriate letters of recommendation--I've often found all the letters for a candidate to be completely useless.

On the other hand, master's programs are easier to get into, so if you're having trouble getting into PhD programs, yes, it's a good idea to apply to Master's programs.  Of course, before you apply, you probably won't know your chances, so my suggestion is if you are unsure, apply to some of both.
As for the benefit, assuming you go to a Master's program that is more reputable/well known, then coursework and letters there will count for more than at your undergrad for various reasons:

First, your study of more advanced material counts more.
(if you're comparing the value of work after you've done a master's program) How you have done most recently generally counts more than the more distant past.
The people reviewing your application are more likely to be familiar with the quality of education and the standards at this school.  (At the least, you are coming from within the US system.)
Last and not least, your letters of recommendation are likely to be more meaningful, because the faculty at the Master's program know how to write letters for US PhD programs, and the faculty evaluating your letters are more likely to know the letter writers and how to interpret what they say.  (Also, they'll be evaluating you on more advanced material, which is more meaningful.)

Thanks for the information. I hope that more advanced material is accessible in these master's programs, not repeatedly learning something already learned in the university (such as elementary point-set topology). After all, the expenditure of such a program is somewhat intimidating.

@FrankScience It depends on the program you're coming from and the one you're going to.  But if you're going to a decent master's program (at least a place with an active PhD program), taking courses beyond what you've learned shouldn't be a problem.  Also, some schools will fund master's students in exchange for teaching/grading, so it may not cost you anything but a little extra time.

Thanks. For the expenditure, I heard from a friend that in UPenn, the fund of TA is approximately 800 dollar monthly. The total cost (including tuitions, fees and living cost) is still considerably high. And I don't know whether courses for master programs are shared with that for PhDs, or one is supposed to be able to waive some requirements in the master program and take some advanced courses instead, but since it's for a long time that I've asked this question, now I hear from an instance a negative piece of info from the course aspect. I'll inquire more.

Can't say for sure, but in my experience, most PhD programs will accept you with only a Bachelors degree. I believe most students pursuing a career in academics go straight into a PhD program from undergraduate studies. The Masters degree is more for students expecting to get a job in a technical field outside of academia.
So in most cases, I would say it is not useful to go to a Masters program if you are looking for an academic job. Just apply for a PhD program. Should your situation change, it is easy to "downgrade" from a PhD to a Masters program and graduate earlier.

Do you have any reference for your experience? Going straightforward is apparently better, especially if there is a chance to achieve a decent PhD. We are, however, talking about the failures.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


text:
About my relationship with my mentor
I can not evaluate my relationship with my mentor. I'm in a really bad mood. For example, I went to talk to him today because he told me he would visit to my office to talk, but he did not. He had left already. Should I send an e-mail? I'm very confused about this.
Like this, he also had physical therapy, so he could not come into the office for one month, but in the meantime he did not reply to any of my e-mails. He didn't even say when he would arrive. I saw him come by chance. The other PhD student knew, but because he was writing his thesis, they needed to talk.
I was humiliated and I think he hates me. I know he is very busy but he could tell me at least "see you later." Interestingly, he is kind to people.
What I should make of this situation?

I assume when you say "mentor" you actually mean "advisor" or "supervisor"? As I found at some point, despite "mentor" being the correct word for "supervisor" in my native language, it has a different meaning in English

I meant 'advisor'.

I'd guess you are overreacting and overthinking this. Perhaps he forgot. Perhaps he had something very important come up. It is even possible that he did come, but you had stepped out momentarily and he missed you. Physical therapy might have been necessary. Lots of things.
Don't expect professors to return email immediately. It isn't like you are a group of chatty friends. Email can be an annoyance that needs to be managed. You didn't say anything about the contents of your mail. "Dear Professor Jerk,..." isn't going to win you any points. (Sorry, but you said you are in a bad mood.)
I think it exceedingly unlikely that the professor "hates" you. Equally unlikely that they intentionally humiliated you.
If this happens repeatedly over a period of time then you have cause for complaint, but professors are no more perfect than anyone else. Relax.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Crediting Authors who are not Cited in an Article but have influenced it using Chicago Author-Date System in the Humanities
How would I credit an author's particular article who is not cited in my text but who has influenced my work? I am not referring to any kind of general mentorship or any personal connection. According to the Chicago manual current online edition in chapter 15:
"Each entry in the reference list must correspond to a work cited in the text."
The problem is I am not quoting or paraphrasing this author's ideas rather they stand as a ground of influence on my approach. It seems strange that someone who has influenced my work would not be included in the reference list, meanwhile if I quote one sentence or one word of someone else they end up in the reference list.  This seems lopsided to me, even unjust.
I could consider explicitly adding a paragraph about the author's article in question and thereby open up the requirement to include them in my reference list but what if I feel that approach breaks the flow of my article?  Sometimes we want ideas to be under the radar as opposed to in the reader's face. I am open to any ideas, or possibly the Chicago style has an answer for this.

You can add an in-text citation anywhere the cited work is relevant.  It is not limited to quotes and paraphrases.

Citing isn't limited to quoting. What that styleguide says is that work should never be appear in the references first. If it did, it would be completely unclear to the reader why that reference is there.
But something like:
We proceed to argue that flumms are not necessarily evil, with an argument somewhat analogous to how Smith established the vegetable nature of oliphants in [2].
is a perfectly reasonable way to mention in your text HOW the inspiration looks like.

This question hinges on the relevancy of citing this additional source. Whether or not it is appropriate to cite the work depends on the scope of its influence on your work.
For example, if you use a methodology or structure in your paper that is unique to a certain work, you should cite this. As per Chicago guidelines, you would cite the author and year without a specific page number (unless relevant sections are distinct).
However, if you write a humanities paper on new age magic because you were inspired by Harry Potter, this is not appropriate. Even if you otherwise would not have conducted your research without having read Harry Potter, it is completely irrelevant to the paper.
It is tempting to recount the path you take researching a subject when you are writing about it, however this is rarely relevant to your thesis. Cite work when credit is due, otherwise leave it out or use a formal acknowledgement.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
How to use spaced repetition and active recall help to learn new topics, rather than just memorize them
I’ve used spaced repetition and active recall help to memorize things that I already understand. It has been helpful to me.
Here is how I did it-:

I UNDERSTAND something.

I write short notes (version 1).

I read version 1 notes. And again write some notes (version 2).

I read notes version 2.

I again write notes (version 3) and read them.

I keep doing this as much time I have. Generally doing this for 3 times ensures I remember everything. But that doesn't really help with learning new content.
How can I use this to learn new topics?

You have used this before apparently, so how did you use it then? I assume also on a new topic, right?

i used it on already understood topic to memorize. huge difference.

What sort of thing do you think you need to "memorize"?

I mean I am studying for university exam, so I need to memorize.

Memory is an important part of learning, but not all of it. There are many techniques to help you remember stuff, but you're forgetting another important aspect of learning: practice.
Employing whatever you're trying to learn also helps with learning.


text:
Is it acceptable to do a meta-analysis for a systematic review done by somebody else?
I hope I'm asking in the right place. Otherwise, I apologize.
I'm a medical student and I want to do a systematic review and meta-analysis on a therapy of a certain disease. In the literature, there are around 5 clinical trials. I found one systematic review done in 2014 that included 5 clinical trials. However:

2 of those 5 studies are trials of 2 therapies combined.
For reason 1, a meta-analysis could not be done.

My question is: is it worth it and publishable to do a meta-analysis on the 3 remaining studies, which include ONLY one therapy?

Welcome to Academia SE! This is an interesting question (one whose answer I would personally like to know), but I suspect that the question might be outside the scope of Academia SE because it depends entirely on the results of the 3 remaining studies (that is, are they consistent or do they contradict each other). As such, the answer depends on "the content of research", which is outside the scope of this site: https://academia.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic. So, I recommend that you ask your advisor or an expert colleague.

It seems unlikely that anyone on this site would be able to give you “correct” advice on this topic. I would recommend that you ask your advisor if you have one. However, I can offer some general remarks as someone outside your field.

If you are interested in this question and think it to be an important one to answer, it is worthwhile to pursue, even if only for its own sake (your learning).
If your colleagues/advisor also think it is interesting, this might mean that it’s worthwhile to pursue it to publication.

That is to say, consider the readership for such a study. Would a journal want to publish your results? (Have journals in your field published studies like this before?) Would this benefit others in your field? Considering questions like these might help you find your answer.

If you learn something from it, then it is "acceptable". But whether it is publishable is another issue.


text:
Are international students required to submit certificates (diplomas) when applying for a PhD in the US?
I have completed my BS and MS from India and am applying for a Ph.D. in the US. I just want to know, are international students required to submit certificates along with their transcripts even if the certificate requirement is not mentioned on the program website?
I am confused about whether I should submit the certificate with my transcripts or not during the application. Because if I submit my transcript and if the university does not require it, this might indicate that I cannot follow the instructions. Again, if I do not submit the certificate and they require it, then this can delay application consideration.
And about the application consideration delay, I have another question, if I submit my application (before the deadline, with all the documents and fee) and if application consideration is delayed for some reason (after the deadline), will this mean that my application will not be given full consideration even if the problem is solved? Will be considered a late submission or something?
Almost all the universities have quite similar instructions for uploading the transcripts but they do not have any information regarding the certificates for application review process.
So, what should I do? Suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks...

What kind of certificate are you asking about?

Such as BSc and MSc certificates. On the university website, it has been noted that unofficial transcripts are required for the application review process. Scanned copies of the transcripts should be uploaded. So, should I submit the scanned copies of my certificates along with the transcripts? What do you think?

In the US these are normally called diplomas, and no, you don't need to upload them. It is superfluous since the transcript should show the awarding of the degree.

Diploma certificates don't normally need to be uploaded and will be specifically asked for when needed. The transcript should be sufficient in all cases as it should show the awarding of the degree and any honors attached.
In the rare case that the transcript doesn't show the degree awarded you might be asked for more, but if you are asked late in the process the normal deadlines won't apply as long as you are prompt.
Relax, and just submit what is asked for. The US system may be different in many ways from the one you are most familiar with.

For the benefit of future readers, other certificates, such as those given for  some online courses, aren't required either and probably wouldn't be considered even if sent.

wow, thank you for the explanation sir...

Just follow the instructions carefully. I suggest you do not submit more than what they ask for, this can lead to a negative impression. Carefully go through different sources to see if you have the complete list of documents they need.

In case of doubt you can always send an email and confirm if the list
of documents that you are submitting is complete.

For reasons of fairness, mostly, all documents need to be submitted before the deadline. You can still do it only if you have a written confirmation that you have an extension to submit the remaining documents later. Otherwise it is a late submission. But again, check with the university.

Thank you. I have also decided to do the same thing, as the university does not mention anything about certificates, so I have decided not to submit it now. I guess if anything is further needed, then I will be contacted, am I right ??

I have submitted two applications so far. And the universities have received all of my documents and my application is completed, I have checked the application status. But let's say that after the deadline (December 01), during the application evaluation process, they ask me to submit the certificate. So, in that case, If I submit the certificate if requested, then will it be considered as a late submission? Please let me know your thoughts.

If they ask you for something "after the deadline" then your compliance can't be considered a late submission. But this is unlikely to happen in any case.

@DonaldH. - In general, US bureaucracy is much less by-the-rules and more flexible than you would expect.  Note this doesn't always work in your favor.


text:
Should I report my GPA on applications for an MA if it is not required?
I am applying to a Master's program using an online application where I must report my prior university education. The field to report my undergraduate GPA is not required and would anyways be verified by using my transcripts before admission. It would, however, be more convenient for the application committee to get a feel for my undergraduate record if I were to report it voluntarily since they would not have to immediately match my application with my transcript. It should be noted that other materials (like a statement of purpose) are separate documents.
How will reporting or not reporting affect my chances of admission? Are they more likely to reject an application where they can immediately see a lower GPA, or one where they are unsure of what it is at first? I feel that my GPA may be a potential weakness in my application and would prefer not to have it advertised.

If you think it is better than average, volunteer it (if there is a convenient free text field).  If average or worse than average, don't volunteer it.

"Average" is difficult to measure. Remember that the average GPA of the MS applicant pool is almost certainly higher than the average GPA of an undergraduate program. Competition can be stiff.

I'm pretty sure that they have thought it all out. There is probably a clerical service that puts things together for the committee before they even look at it.
Report what is needed but there is no advantage in doing more. Spend your efforts on letting them know how you will be a good candidate. If your record is lacking, but you have improved in the last years, you can write about the improvement, of course. But a number is just a number and will be viewed along with a lot of other things.


text:
Do bachelor programs in Germany with no Numerus Clausus accept any a level grades?
I am planning to apply to a bachelor program in Germany with no Numerus Clausus, using my cambridge A-levels.
If I am eligible for a direct admission, does this mean that I can be sure that I will be accepted regardless of my A-levels grades?

I have no idea why anyone would downvote this question. It is obviously a specific question, asked in good faith.

I agree. Perhaps the sloppy spelling?

One reason to close this question is that it's about undergraduate admissions.

@AlexB. seems to me that it's a perfectly good question, but it's about undergrad admissions, which are specifically listed as off-topic in our help section. That's ideally a reason to flag it for closure rather than to downvote, though.

According to the German Constitution, (Art. 12 GG), every German has the right to chose their own education institution, if they have the formal qualification. Under the European principles of free movement and non-discrimination, this effectively includes foreign EU citizens.
Therefore, if there is no Numerus Clausus, this usually means that every EU citizen with an Abitur or equivalent foreign degree will be admitted to the study program and at the education institution of their own chosing.
However:

There may be additional language requirements for foreigners.
There may be additional selection criteria, defined by the local university, for study programs that are offered only at few institutions.
The recognition of UK A levels as equivalent for the purpose of university admissions may become an issue after Brexit.

To be on the safe side, you should contact the student advisory service of the university at which you are planning to apply well in advance.

In addition, there will be some process for getting your A-levels as formally recognized as sufficient. As henning wrote, this should be no problem, but I would expect an additional administrative process. The student advisory service or the international office of the university should be your point of contacts.


text:
Can I use my first name instead of last name?
I am a Korean with my first (given) name comes last and my last (family) name comes first, just like many other east asians. So, I write my name as "Aaa Bbb Ccc", where "Aaa" is my family name and "Bbb Ccc" is my given name. There are literally several millions of other Koreans who also have "Aaa" as their family name, and many of them spell it in English in the same way. Imagine citing a paper written by a Korean with family name Aaa. How can people possibly distinguish hundreds of Korean researchers with the same name working in same field? For this reason, I want to use my given name (which is still quite common, but far less common than my family name) instead of my family name. For example, I want to be cited as [Bbb Ccc, 2020] instead of [Aaa, 2020]. Is this possible to do? I don't mind to be called as "Dr Bbb Ccc", and actually I prefer that way; imagine being called as "Dr Aaa", where there are 8 other "Dr Aaa"s in the same department! Of course I have to deal with other problems, like being called as "Bbb" or "Ccc" which is just like "von" and "Neumann" instead of "von Neumann"; but I think that is less annoying than being one of those "Aaa"s. Is it possible?

How do other Korean researchers and authors handle this?

Also, see first answer of https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/78468/is-it-possible-to-keep-publishing-under-my-professional-maiden-name-different

Also related https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/125135/taking-an-academic-pseudonym

@henning--reinstateMonica  As far as I know, almost all Koreans just accept being called as "Dr. Aaa". I don't know anyone who tried what I want to try.

@AnonymousPhysicist I guess you are saying that this is possible to do. How can I do this? Maybe writing my given name as my last name when I submit an article? Is this okay (ethically) even when the submission system of a journal explicitly mentions that the last name means the family name?

From the opposite direction: How to interpret division of Korean names when citing articles?

@user132994 The submission system is not that relevant.  The author list that is published should match what was submitted in the manuscript, and if it does not you should be able to correct it during the proof stage.  https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/55665/what-does-the-typical-workflow-of-a-journal-look-like

@AnonymousPhysicist Thank you!

@BrianTompsett-汤莱恩 I thought the situations in your link and the links above are slightly different, because those questions are about using some other first name, and mine was about using my first and last name but just exchanging their roles. But I guess, I can think like I am using a pseudonym which is my first and last name in reverse order. Then those links at least partially answer my question. Thank you!

Use a digital identifier such as ORCID - https://orcid.org
It would be impossible to address all the different naming conventions so you can distinguish yourself in every subgroup. But with ORCID, it would be easier to track your publications and work compared to sifting through your duplicates on google or a database.

That sounds good. I somehow already have one but didn't quite know why one needs it. Thanks!

In my field (computer science) there is absolutely no restriction on the name you publish under. At no point in the publication process have I had to prove I am the person I am publishing as (perhaps some T&Cs contained such terms, but I suspect that's to address fraud etc). A well known professor publishes using his middle name, and I suspect most people don't even realise that's not his first name. As long as you are consistent with the name you use, you shouldn't run into any issues.


text:
Guide to reviewing a scientific article
I'll be reviewing a scientific article soon and I've not done this before. It'll be reviewing a popular article on an astrophysical topic. Undergraduate level but I'm open to any level of guidance.
Is there a guide/textbook out there that describes how to write such a review in science?

If this is for a journal, they may have suggestions for reviewers.

treat the authors how you want to be treated as an author, the rest is objectivity, honesty, knowledge

I suggest you look at the other reviews where your review will appear. Then you can write yours using a similar style and level of technicality.
You can also ask for guidance from the person who asked you to write the review. That might be best done by offering particular paragraphs as examples of what you might say.
I doubt that there is a "guide" anywhere to help you with this, other than general guides to good writing.


text:
Should I include proofs for known theorems in a doctoral thesis in mathematics?
In general, in a thesis we recall the theorems of other mathematicians before stating our results published in a scientific journal. My question, is it essential to give the proofs of these theorems (for example these theorems are mentioned in the first chapter  of the thesis) or I will give the outline of the demonstration or only the statements ?

This is something you should discuss with your adviser. It really should depend on the theorems; how important is including their proofs to the understanding of what one has done? Also, how long are their proofs? And how much is your own work using proofs which build off of those theorems? There's no simply response here. You'll see both dissertations and papers where relevant theorems have their proofs included, and others where they are referenced.

Even if it is not my demonstration I can put it in my thesis or I have to use another version of the demonstration? Thank you

@TheoryNombre This is the sort of thing you should discuss with your adviser also. But yes, reproducing a proof in your own words as long as you are noting that the proof is from a given other source is generally fine.

It would be very unusual to include someone else's proof, particularly if it is available in print. For unpublished work, you should make sure their author is fine with you including their result and/or proof. Even if the proof is unpublished,  you may want to check with your advisor.

@AndrésE.Caicedo is it that unusual? I've seen a fair number of theses which includes proofs from sources that were in print when they are pretty obscure, or when I'm going to modify their proof and it is useful to first include the proof, or when it is a very short lemma. And I've seen a fair number of even published  papers which include something like "for completeness, we include the proof here" which is from some other source.

@JoshuaZ Yes, all those cases happen. There is a difference between a short argument and something that takes several pages, introduces various new ideas, it is not yours anyway, and only appears in the background section of the thesis.

There is also the case where a proof is given with relatively few details in the literature, and the dissertation includes a more detailed proof that is more accessible for non-experts.  This occurs with some frequency.

@AlexanderWoo Yes! There are a lot of times where when I want to understand something in the literature, I have trouble, but some dissertation or even a masters thesis has an easy to follow version.


text:
Could your adviser make you commit to work on your paper before signing your graduation form?
Here is a peculiar situation I face but I don't think it is uncommon in academia.
My adviser asked me in an email to commit to continuing the work to publish a paper from my PhD work before signing my PhD dissertation form
Let's assume the worst case scenario in which I will not be able to work on this paper in the future.
Does my adviser have the power to revoke my PhD if I will commit in an email, but I will not be able to continue the work to publish this paper?
What do you suggest me to do?

I am not a lawyer, but this type of promise strikes me as a good example of a contract that is very likely to be ruled unconscionable, and hence legally unenforceable, if a court of law were ever to consider the matter.
In a more academic context (since academia sometimes obeys unwritten rules that don’t always coincide with the written law), your adviser’s requirement strikes me as unethical and highly problematic. Your adviser’s job is to approve your dissertation if, and only if, they judge that the work that you have done to date meets the requirements for a PhD. A PhD is not indentured servitude and your adviser cannot exert control over your life into the indefinite future, or indeed into any future that extends beyond the moment they sign that piece of paper. I see it as highly improper for your adviser to attempt to impose such a requirement. If I were a colleague of your adviser who heard about their behavior, I would lose a lot of the respect I hold for them, assuming I had such respect to begin with. And if I were a university official hearing a demand from your advisor to revoke your PhD over a breached promise of this type, I would laugh them out of the room. Of course, I cannot guarantee that other academics would have the same reaction.
I can’t advise you how to proceed, but some options that I can think of are:

Make the promise and be true to your word.
Make the promise without planning to satisfy the requirement. The rationale here is that a promise obtained under coercion is ethically void and you are not bound to satisfy it. (Again, that is the notion of unconscionability I was referring to earlier, but in an ethics rather than legal context.)
Do not make the promise. Explain to your adviser that the demand is inappropriate and hope that they will be convinced, or possibly negotiate to get the adviser to relax the unreasonable condition so as to allow for uncertainties about future events.
Complain to relevant authorities at your department and/or university.

Some people might think less of you for choosing option 2. Personally I think each of the choices I outlined above is reasonable and moral, although option 2 is certainly distasteful and I would try to avoid it if I could.
Good luck!

I think your suggestion that this is, in any way, a contract is misplaced. Your #4, if acted upon, would chance destroying a relationship. Such a "promise" is just noise.

I will follow option 1 or 2.

Good. You'll be fine. But publish it if you can. That is always a good thing. Even if you delay.

@Buffy yes, you’re probably right about #4, but when an advisor is behaving abusively, complaining is certainly an option to consider.

@Buffy the advisor is asking OP to commit in an email to doing something in exchange for granting approval of their PhD. Sounds like a contract to me, and the question is specifically about whether it is enforceable (although OP didn’t use such precise legal language). Not sure what you mean about the word being misplaced.

Yes, this is exactly what I intended to ask. Is it enforceable or not? Admidettly, I'm not familiar with these terms.

@user2512443 I don’t know, I think you’d need a lawyer to answer that question.

Abuse of power is another term for this.

There is also the semi-nuclear option: If you have someone in the same group you trust preferably at a reasonably senior level, though even a post doc might do, ask them for advice. Don't ask them to intervene, just advice. Often they will actually try and help you and a bit of gentle peer pressure might prompt your advisor to see reason without losing face. (Speaking from experience.)

Note that option 1 increases the likelihood of receiving a positive letter of recommendation from your adviser.

Frankly, I'm woking in a company that makes me very reluctant to come back to academia. so their recomendation letters are worthless to me

I suggest that you make the commitment and try to stick to it. It would be good if you get it done. But nothing bad can happen if you don't. It would be unethical for the advisor to even suggest revocation.
This sounds more to me like a strong endorsement of the quality of your work and that it should be seen by more than just your committee. I doubt that it would enter their mind to try to harm you. If your work was poor they would have no reason whatever to suggest you publish it.

I already defended. They think I will not continue working on the paper. And, it is possoble because I am very busy with both my presonal and at work, and they know that.

Again, it sounds like encouragement and nothing else. Maybe their choice of words didn't resonate with you, but it sounds to me like the intent is "This is really good work. I want to see it published. Promise me you'll get that done." In my own case it took a few years to publish my dissertation work but it came out in the end. And for much the same reason you state.

Thanks. Maybe I'm over analyzing it. I wish he knew how to frame it better.

It may just be an anxious time for you. It is for many.

This sounds more to me like a strong endorsement of the quality of your work. Um, no, this sounds like an unethical and abusive act of attempted coercion. Well-intentioned, perhaps, but coercion nonetheless.


text:
If I write an unsuccessful grant proposal with one PI, can I reuse those ideas on a different proposal with a different PI?
I'm a PhD student in social science, currently preparing for grant or fellowship applications with two Principal Investigators (PIs, formally in charge of the project if the grant proposal is successful). Specifically, I'll apply for a postdoctoral fellowship with PI #1 and co-write a research grant with PI #2.
As there is no guarantee that I would be able to win the fellowship or grant, I'm working on this with two different PIs (Neither of them currently have a funding to support a postdoc. It's been only a week since I started communicating with each of them, so they don't know yet that I'll be working on two different proposals).
I'm going to suggest research ideas to PI #1, and suggests different, but pretty similar ideas to PI #2 (Let's call them Proposal #1 and Proposal #2). The thing is that I would like to pursue research ideas in BOTH proposals in the future even if I end up with only one PI.

There's an overlapping research question between Proposal #1 and #2. If I pursue this question with one of the PIs, would the other PI be upset about it? I'm concerned that the other PI might think that s/he contributed to the development of the idea (which hasn't happened yet, but likely to happen as we elaborate my initial idea for application).

Suppose the Proposal #1 is accepted, while Proposal #2 is rejected, and I end up working with PI #1. In this case, is it still okay for me to pursue or study research ideas from Proposal #2 without having PI #2 involved? Or should I bring PI #2 as a collaborator? If I must bring PI#2 to pursue research ideas from Proposal #2, I feel like I need to be cautious about which ideas to present to each PI because I don't want my research ideas to be bound to a specific PI.

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated!

Would anyone please tell me what the acronym PI stands for ? Thanks.

@Job_September_2020 see edit.

The title of your question suggests that you want to submit the second proposal only if and once the first has been rejected. The body suggests parallel submissions. What's your plan, exactly?

Generally speaking, it is fine to seek multiple sources of funding for the same project.  However, you cannot accept multiple sources of funding to do the exact same thing without permission.
You should check with the program managers of the funding agencies.   Program
managers say they spend much of their time looking for duplicate submissions and rejecting them.  However, if one application is to a government agency and another application is to a private foundation, that might be fine.  Or if the applications are to governments of different countries, that might also be fine.
The PIs should understand that it is normal to seek multiple sources of funding.  But tell them what you are doing and ask them if they are okay with it.


text:
What procedures should I follow if my preprint is stolen and published in a journal?
I am surprised by the fact that a journal published an article that I have had in arXiv for a few months. The date of publication is after the date that I posted on arXiv. The submission date in the journal is not mentioned.  What procedures I should follow?
Some information to clarify the situation:

The article published in the journal is a total plagiarism. They changed only the name of the title.
The article is published in a journal in the name of other authors.
My article (that is in arXiv) is already accepted in another journal (but not yet online) and the date of acceptance is before the date of publication of that of the other authors.

Do I understand right that you never submitted the paper to the journal or authorized publication (for example, some Creative Commons licenses would allow publication with no notice or additional permission), and that no coauthor did so either?  Did the journal article appear under your name, or was it plagiarized?

the published article has you as a sole author or another guy? is it a clone of your arxiv paper? is it a peer reviewed journal or scam one? Also, I think its good to name the publisher of the journal.

Is the journal you found your arxiv article in a reputable journal, or is it a crap journal?

Did you Google the "authors" of the stolen paper? Are these real people?

@seteropere: No, please don’t. See this meta discussion.

I really wish somebody stole some stuff from the pile on my desk and published it sparing me all the headache of typing, proofreading, etc. Why does it always happen to other people? Sigh! Anyway, if your submission date precedes theirs, then you should have no problem with publishing your own work as planned, and if you bother to look at some journals in certain languages, you'll realize that you should be thankful to the thieves to publishing your paper without introducing a few brilliant mistakes or making it totally incomprehensible. Just inform the editors and forget it.

See also http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17145/plagiarism-and-the-arxiv-or-other-preprint-servers

The outcome of this issue (whatever it may be) is likely to pose an answer to this question of mine (and be awarded a bounty in the next week).

I believe the first thing you need to do is to contact and email the editor in chief of that journal and give him/her a link to your arxiv paper.
He/She a long with the editorial board have to retract the article (hopefully, with a big red X stating that the authors have plagiarised citing your arxiv work).

This answer assumes that OP is dealing with a journal that would care enough to fix the problem. Suppose that the journal is not reputable and the "authors" don't exist. What should OP do then?

@MadJack I do not know. Unless stating otherwise, I would believe the journal editor would deal with this seriously and retract the paper. There is no reason to believe the opposite.

On the plus side, if the journal is disreputable, the plagiarizing authors are unlikely to gain from their misdeeds, since publication in that journal will not increase their academic reputation.

@MadJack in that case the OP could contact the publisher of the journal that did accept the paper. Publishers are known to file copyright infringement claims against others who redistribute their articles after publication. If the OP has signed a copyright transfer agreement, perhaps the same process could be invoked even though the article has not actually appeared in print yet.

@MadJack: In that case OP should read this question.

Thanks for your answers, but I want to know if there is an official procedure in relation to the Copyright. I dont know if arxiv ensure a Copyright or no. If there is an authority that can intervene. Should arxiv do it?
Thanks again.

Copyright Status
Perhaps you gave away your copyright.
Review your copyright status on arXiv. Copyright status can vary as described here including public domain.

Even then, publishing the paper under one’s own name would be academic misconduct and should violate any reputable journal’s guidelines.

@Wrzlprmft Yes, but the copyright angle offers legal options beyond depending on the honor of a journal’s editors.

My comment wasn’t critique, just supplementary information.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
Is it realistic to deal with a huge undocumented code base for master's project?
I'm currently pursuing a Master's degree in a STEM field and working on a thesis. For my master's thesis, my advisor suggested I expand the code of the group's  software and add new features to it. However, is very large (some files are thousands of lines long) and hard to read. It consists of many different files  and there are hardly any comments that explain what the functions do,  the meaning of the variables, etc. There's no documentation that  explains what the functions/classes do. It seems like whenever I am focusing on  what a function does, there's multiple functions/variables in it that  are defined in another file and those functions/classes themselves are hundreds  of lines long
While my advisor has mentioned he is open to helping me with whatever  questions I have, most of the problems I'm having are related to the  code, since it's so gigantic and I don't even know where to begin to ask questions. But the prof doesn't know much about the  code, so I have to ask the postdoc whenever I have questions about the  code. However, the postdoc doesn't even know alot of the code (he knows c++, but most of the code was written by a former postdoc), and  told me I should email that former postdoc to  answer my questions about the code.
I've spoken to some people about this, and they've said this is a very bad situation. Should I leave this group and join a new one, even if it means I  have to delay my graduation by an extra semester(assuming that I will graduate on-time if I  continue with this current group)?
It's been a month since I joined this group and I hope to finish by next spring, but I don't know how realistic that goal is.

For me, key questions are in what topic/field your thesis is supposed to be, and exactly what "expand the code" means? If "expand the code" means e.g. applying novel algorithms and analysis in your STEM field then it might be fine (but I would still be vary). If it means fixing/adding random stuff to their code base it doesn't sound like a thesis topic for a STEM master's degree.

As for what he means by 'expand the code', he wants me to add a new function/analysis, so that it handles dynamic, not just static, cases. It's not like I'll just fix or add random stuff. BTW, I mentioned in another comment above that it won't be easy for me to move to another research group even though I'd like to

My advisor knows about C++ and OOP. When I asked him how much effort he thinks it'll take, he just said it depends on me. He thought I'd understand the code well enough by now since I told him before that I have a decent amount of programming experience (I guess I lied by overestimating my coding skills). This is considering the fact that I joined the group a month ago and did not ask about getting documentation/comments from the former postdoc until recently. BTW, other students have told me they don't recommend working with this advisor. I only joined since I have no other options

I would be very wary of taking on this thesis topic.  There's a huge amount of programming effort here, but you're not trying to get an MS in software engineering, so this will necessarily be a project in which you spend most of your time doing work that is actually outside of your discipline.  Furthermore, there's a risk that either you'll never be able to understand various aspects of the code or that you'll misunderstand things and then make changes that break the code.

So should I leave this group and join a new one? If I do so, my graduation (assuming that I will graduate on-time if I  continue with this current group) will be delayed by a semester. While it is tempting to leave, not just because of the poor code, but because I'd like to work with better people in a research group, I also do not want to delay my graduation

@csx I have to second Brian Borchers - this sounds like a very risky undertaking. In fact, IMHO this doesn't sound like it should be an academic thesis project at all (I envisage a software engineering project to be more...systematic & constructive), but rather something you would get paid for. Considering how you've described the situation, I'd personally take the delay.

Graduate student research assistants are being paid to work for 20 hours a week on a research project.  However, they also generally get the chance to do work that actively contributes to their MS thesis and results in publishable research.  This looks like a lot of work with little chance to do any publishable research.  That's not a very good deal for the student.

I intend to got to industry after i complete the Master's, so I don't need to produce publishable research. And I want to work on numerical modeling after I graduate, so maybe programming alot is good? But yes, I am not interested in getting an MS in software engineering

It won't be easy to join a new group. To get the MS,  I need to complete 2 semesters of a thesis course, and I'm currently in the 1st semester. My goal is to get credit for the 2nd semester by completing the thesis next spring. If I leave now, I won't receive credit for the course this semester and it may hurt my gpa. Also, I'll have to re-take the 1st semester of this thesis course in the spring & complete the 2nd semester in the summer
Also, before joining this group, it took a few weeks of asking many profs, and it was only this prof and a couple more who were willing to take me on

What do you plan to do for your thesis project, since rewriting this code clearly won't lead to a thesis?

As for what the prof means by 'expand the code', he wants me to add a new function/analysis, so that it handles dynamic, not just static, cases. It's not like I'll just fix or add random stuff. That's our plan for the thesis project. Is this a sign I should leave this group?

This isn't a complete answer by any means and this is very far from being my field, but I wonder if there's a possibility of an alternative before you jump ship. Could go to the existing postdoc and ask him if there is any project related to the code base, that you could do in the time available, that would help move his work forward? Then take that idea back to the supervisor, saying that you've talked it over with the postdoc. You might get a bit of informal supervision and you could work on a portion of the code that you could be advised on...if it was technically possible, everyone was amenable etc.

sorry to hear about the difficulties. I used to be a graduate student too and most of my current friends who I interact with almost daily are graduate students. As Greg pointed out, this scenario is very common but certainly far from ideal. I understand your concerns very well since I was in this scenario not too long ago. I was debugging a code written by a earlier post-doc which was in C++ and I was only a novice at C++. My supervisor knew that I was a novice at it and he did not know much about the nitty-gritties of the code. However, I was only debugging the code so did not need enough expertise to add new features. In the end after a couple months of effort I was able to fix the code. That was my story.
However, in your case there are 4 possibilities:
1) Your supervisor envisions some useful features but has no idea how much effort it is to implement it or thinks it may not require much effort but in reality it does.
- (Bad scenario)
2) Your supervisor has somewhat of a good idea of how much effort it is and needs you to do it so that you could use these new features in your work (to follow) and write up a thesis based on it. - (Not a bad scenario unless you have your own different likings for topics you want to work on for your thesis).
3) Your supervisor has somewhat of a good idea of how much effort it is and needs you to do it just as something useful for the group besides your thesis. -(Not a bad scenario unless it takes more than a month or two and absolutely can't go in your thesis).
4) Your supervisor has somewhat of a good idea of how much effort it is and needs you to do it because it will be useful for the group and it is going to take several months and does not help you advance in your field or cannot go in your thesis. -(Bad scenario)
Now, you need to figure out which scenario you fit in broadly. The way to figure out is to discuss and ask questions to the post-doc in the group as well as your supervisor. Ask for a meeting and discuss your concerns (perceived as not the best thing to do- but in reality it is indeed the best thing to do). Many students worry about their supervisors judging them negatively. This worry needs to be suspended since something greater is at stake. Proper communication will eventually lead to good results and in turn a good judgement anyway. Again, you need to discuss and understand how useful this project is for yourself. Then you need to come to a consensus wit others about how long it is expected to take and if it is worth your time to do it. Lastly you should also discuss and put some safeguards in your plan, i.e. a timeline where you expect smaller goals of the project to be completed and if it does not work out the way you want what will be plan B?
And another important thing: If the project or other possible projects that you could take up in this research group do not interest you at all, then you should look elsewhere.
Hope this helps. My best wishes.
Feel free to ask more questions in response.

My advisor knows about C++ and OOP. When I asked him how much effort he thinks it'll take, he just said it depends on me. He thought I'd understand the code well enough by now since I told him before that I have a decent amount of programming experience (I guess I lied by overestimating my coding skills). This is considering the  fact that I joined the group a month ago and did not ask about getting documentation/comments from the former postdoc until recently.

As for what he means by 'expand the code', he wants me to add a new function/analysis, so that it handles dynamic, not just static, cases. It's not like I'll just fix or add random stuff. BTW, I mentioned in another comment above that it won't be easy for me to move to another research group even though I'd like to

Hmm. Well yes it depends on you but your supervisor should have some idea about how much time it would take for someone with your level expertise. Anyway, going though someone else's undocumented code is never fun unless you are an expert. If you have some confidence to go ahead with the project then you could study the code a little more and come up with a plan to implement the features you are asked to (or maybe fraction of them). If you feel you are making good progress in a few weeks then stick with it till you can. If you feel it is going nowhere, then you could try to change project.

Because I know some people here may not be completely familiar with computer science and "documentation", I'm including this to help people get a better grasp on the scenario.
The Context
Somewhere in life, if you work with code, regardless of whether you enter research or industry, you are likely to come across magic code.
In most cases, the magic code works. No one knows how or why, and the original magician developer has likely moved on. So we have a product that works, but no one knows the incantations methodology that was used to produce the results.
An example of magic code:
c=["6B8CFF","B13425","6A6B04","E39D25"];a='0155000555540ABEC02EFEFC2EBFBF2BFEA803FFF00A6A002A69A8AA55AAF9D76FFD557FF5555F0541502A00A8AA00AA';with(document)for(i=0;i<96;write('<br>')){h=('000'+parseInt(a.slice(i,i+=6),16).toString(4)).slice(-12);for(j=0;j<12;write('<rp style="padding:1 8;background:#'+c[h[j++]]+'"></rp>'))

No one, not even people with knowledge of this language, will instinctively know what this snippet of JavaScript does. It draws a picture of Mario
Writing code like this, the developer will know what they're doing, but no one else will. It is a remarkably efficient time and space-saving technique if you don't have to explain to anyone what you're doing.
The caveat about uncommented code is that somewhere down the line it falls apart and becomes impossible to improve or understand. Someone before you most likely took the code and coded on top of original uncommented code, and kept kicking the documentation down the line for someone else to handle, i.e. saved time now for an eventual time cost later.
At this point, it sounds like the "later" has reached critical mass, where progress cannot continue unless previous progress has been documented.
Leaving the project removes you from the problem, but the problem still exists, and will land in someone else's lap, and if the code is as bad as you indicate, this is application is on development death's door.
What you should do about it
You should meet with your advisor to discuss your concerns, as well as these issues:

This code, while functional, does not follow standard coding convention, and will likely need to be brought up to standards before development can continue.
Documenting of undocumented code is time-intensive, but ultimately improves future developments Documentation can easily take a fair percentage of the actual time spent coding. If this code has been developed for 4 years, I wouldn't find it unreasonable for a new person to take several months to document everything, or a few weeks to document the important stuff, while leaving the guts intact.
Possible alternative projects such as retrospective analysis and improvement of the application for improvements, while corrolating your actual topic with how it is being handled by the code.

I don't think your recommendations are particularly realistic. There are reasons why this code base was developed without following standard good practices, and it's a common scenario in academia. Given those reasons, expending a great deal of effort to fix this code base may or may not be something valuable to this research group.

The short answer to your question is, yes, it is realistic in the sense that it is a common scenario, and no, it is not realistic in the sense that it can seriously hurt your career and you may not want to get involved in a quagmire like this.
The long answer: scientists are notoriously bad in developing and managing codes. As a result, you often end up like 30 years old undocumented FORTRAN codes that run only a Win95 machine. It may sound exaggeration, but I used to have an old PC because certain software could only be compiled with certain Fortran compiler which has last version running only Win95 or older systems.
The situation therefore common and obviously it can be very tiresome to fix all this. If you don't think it worth the effort, don't get into it. On the other hand there are cases when the code can do magic and important magic. In this case it is an opportunity to you to became a magician and an expert in a tool that needed by many, but for obvious reasons, can be used by only very few. In other word, if it is an important program, it may pay of on the long term.


text:
Which GPA (cumulative or major) is more important for graduate admissions in the US?
I live in US. In some applications it is asking to enter your cumulative and major GPA. However I am wondering which GPA is more important and which one is used for admittance famous graduate schools (Top 10) in engineering program?

First of all, remember that GPA is more of a negative filter than a positive filter.
If you do not have an excellent GPA in your relevant major, then you are definitely going to have trouble getting admitted.  The GPA outside of your relevant major is less important, but it will still raise major questions if you have, say, all As in major and all Fs outside.

What about "upward trajectory"? For example, my major GPA is > 3.5, but my overall is ~ 2.7 because for my first 2 years I didn't want to be in school and messed around before dropping out and getting an associate's degree and coming back.

@jaska An upward trajectory always helps.

Most admissions offices look at it as a case-by-case thing, not just quick passing over?

I have a buddy who was an admissions officer some years ago, and he said, "major."
In graduate school, you will be taking mostly courses either in, or related to you major. Therefore, your "major" GPA is considered a better proxy than "cumulative" GPA for a graduate degree.
In graduate school, there is much less emphasis on being "well rounded" and more on "specialization." If your non-major grades are decent, and your major grades are good, that's what counts. My friend had a 3.9 GPA in the engineering major, and only a 3.3 overall.

Note that this might not apply for scholarships which often ask for overall GPA specifically (or require a minimum; e.g. Clarendon for Stanford @3.7).


text:
Does taking graduate course as an undergraduate increase chances of getting into graduate school?
I would like to know does it help if I take a graduate course related to my major in engineering as an undergraduate and do very well in it? will it increase my chance of getting to graduate school in case if graduate school committee sees the graduate course in my transcript?

Yes, it will help!  In fact, you can repeat the procedure and expect it to help even more.

There are two specific reasons why it will help:

It shows that you can work at a high level;
If the course is in the area where you are applying to study, it shows that you have investigated that specific area and have some level of commitment to it.

However, in my experience the graduate level course may not compensate for poor or patchy performance on the undergraduate programme that you're meant to be completing at the time (not saying that this is the case, but I've seen some try). Some recruiters see patchy UG performance with additional courses that you didn't need to take as an indication that you can't focus on the most important, immediate task. In either case, I'd expect detailed questions on why you took additional graduate courses, and how you balanced your workload, at interview.

Yes, I think most admissions committees would see this as good evidence of your preparation for graduate study.

It really depends on the student and the graduate course(s). Consider two students.
Graduate courses are unlikely to help a student with a strong academic record and a near perfect GPA, but no previous research experience and recommendation letters that only speak about classroom abilities. There will be little doubt from the admissions committee about the ability of this student to learn advanced concepts and the weakness of the application is the limited evidence to evaluate research potential.
Graduate courses may help an applicant with a good record of relevant research experience and recommendation letters that focus on the research, but a weak academic record. The weak part of this type of applicant is fear over the ability to learn advanced concepts. The ability of a graduate course to sway the decision of the admissions committee will depend on both the grade and the content of the course. Anything less than a B in a graduate course is likely a disaster and it may take an A to sway an admissions committee. Similarly, taking a course that is unrelated to your research interests or is viewed as a "soft" topic will likely decrease the value of the course.

I would say overall, yes.
My school offers what's called a "project course" and it's intended to get senior students aiming for their masters experience with research and writing a thesis. You speak to a professor in your faculty who's research revolves around a topic that interests you and you will write an honours thesis related to that under their supervision throughout the year. I study Computer Science, so my project courses also contained an application aspect. If I want to get into grad school, they will see that I have built a large program, written a thesis, and worked under the supervision of a professor at my institution. All desirable traits in a grad student.
It is very, very common for students who take these courses to get their position as a masters student under the same professor the very next year. Definitely something an academic advisor will recommend you do.

It is not clear to me that this is a graduate course if it is aimed at "senior students". Further, I think this is a relatively unique course that it is difficult to draw inferences from it.

We have multiple course offerings across several faculties, and from my own network of friends at a variety of different schools across the country, they have the same opportunities. Although it may not be a graduate course, it is a course where you can prepare a thesis and application on graduate level content. This serves the purpose of preparing senior students for their masters degree by giving them experience working with a professor. Hope this clears it up a bit.


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What grading policy applies to undergraduates taking graduate courses?
I have heard that the range of grades in graduate school shrinks and grades mostly range from A to B-. What if an undergraduate student takes a graduate course, what is the grading policy for him/her?
The reason why I am asking is because he/she is in a graduate course so his/her grading can't be different from others, but getting B- for an undergraduate student does not mean he/she is failing, so his/her situation is different from graduate students.

I tried to make the title more focused; if you don't like it, please revert.

@jakebeal I think your title describes a different question (i.e., it implies something more like "Are undergrads graded less strictly in grad courses?")

@ff524 I think it's actually more like "are undergraduates graded more strictly?"  I found the original problematic because it presumed different scales. Feel free to re-edit if you have a better idea though.

@jakebeal Oh, I understood that the OP was explicitly asking about universities with different scales. user59419, can you clarify?

@jakebeal I tried a title that applies to both interpretations, at least until the OP clarifies :)

@ff524 Good call --- I like the new version.

The grading policy when I took graduate courses as an undergrad was identical to that of the graduate students. If I received a B, that meant I performed B-level graduate work, as an undergraduate. It shouldn't be interpreted as anything else aside from what it actually represents.

This surely varies massively from university to university, and especially between universities in different countries.

In my experience, it's not that the grade range shrinks because the graduate students are graded differently, but instead because of the following three factors:

Graduate classes typically focus more on illumination than on certification in their grading policies (see this answer for more on the distinction)
Graduate admissions mostly filters down to a population of people who would have been getting pretty much only As and Bs in their undergraduate classes too.
Graduate students often have less classes or more closely related classes, enabling them to focus their energy more effectively.

Thus, the undergraduates are likely to be graded against exactly the same standards as the graduate students.  If they're well-prepared, interested in the material and willing to put the work in, they'll probably earn the same A and B grades as well, and also will deserve them.
Why then, is a "failing" grade for a graduate student a "good" grade for an undergraduate?  It's just that the expectations of graduate student performance are much higher, as also indicated by the previous point on filtering at admissions.

To some schools, the masters program is mostly a cash cow that subsidizes undergrad and PhD programs, in which case none of the above applies.

In my experience, it's precisely that the grade range shrinks.

@ff524 Are those masters' students then segregated into their own classes away from both undergrads and Ph.D. students?  If not, does it make a difference to grading policy?

No, they are not segregated. In my experience, when the university specifies different grading scales for UG/G (e.g. A-F for UG but only A-C may be given for G), the grading scale is typically applied based on the course code (which specifies UG or G), not the student.

@ff524 Wow... I've never heard of actually not allowing graduate students to get D or F before.  At any of the institutions I've been involved with, grad classes have the same range as undergrad classes.

I meant (A-C,F), not (A-C). Failure is always an option :) See e.g., NJIT or Mizzou

@ff524 Fascinating, thanks: I've never seen that before.

When an undergraduate student takes one of my graduate courses, they're graded in exactly the same way as the graduate students in the class.  Numerical grades are assigned for individual homework assignments, exams, and projects, and a weighted average is used to compute a percentage grade for the entire course.  Letter grades are then assigned on a scale where 90-100 is an A, 80-90 is a B, etc.  I reserve the right to ease that scale (e.g. at the end of the semester I might lower the cutoff for an A to 88% or even 85% if I feel that the cutoff was too high.)
Our university has no rule that explicitly prohibits undergraduates from taking graduate level courses (although the courses may have advanced undergraduate prerequisites that would keep out all but the most advanced undergraduates.)  However, since the graduate courses won't satisfy requirements for the bachelor's degree there's little incentive to take a hard course that will only be useful as an elective.   Most of the time when we see undergraduate students in graduate level classes it is because they're in our 5 year BS/MS program or they're committed to going on to graduate study somewhere else.  These are highly motivated students who are generally well prepared.
It's certainly been my experience in teaching graduate courses that most of the grades that I assign are A's and B's, and that this is very different from undergraduate courses where I often assign lots of C's, D's, and F's.
However, this happens mostly because all of the students in the graduate program are students who consistently earned A's and B's as undergraduate students (they wouldn't have been admitted otherwise) and they typically continue to perform at the same level as graduate students.  In those few cases where a graduate student does earn a grade of C, D, or F, it's often because of some significant non-academic problem (illness, depression, death in the family, etc.) rather than lack of ability or effort.
At the undergraduate level, the majority of low grades (D's and F's) are assigned to students who simply don't put in an effort to pass the course.  A few undergraduate students try hard but genuinely lack the ability to do well.
When undergraduate students who are well prepared (with A grades in advanced undergraduate courses) take my graduate level courses they typically do almost as well as the graduate students in the class.  When poorly prepared undergraduate students have attempted to take my graduate courses they've often ended up withdrawing from the course or failing.

I do not know what school you are teaching. But in top schools in US almost most of classes are curved because the exams are really tough so based on your grading most people failed the class.


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Group members barely doing any work but studying a lot for exams
As a university student, how should I deal with students in our group who barely do any work, albeit they study a lot to get good grades in their exams?
We've talked to them, but they are convinced they are actually doing stuff (but most times, when we do face-to-face work, all they do is to sit there awaiting for the project to be completed).
When we're not doing face-to-face work, they simply slack.
Should I let the professor know? Quit the group by my own whilst handling my own version of the project? Or what should I do?

Is it a mandatory part of the course and is there someone in charge of the group?

@NathanaelFarley yes and yes (the professor manages the groups)

Is there a member of the group who is in charge, or is the professor (whom I assume is the one who will mark the project) in charge?

@NathanaelFarley all group members have equal authority, the professor will mark the project result indeed

Kick them out of the group.

There are basically 3 options I can personally see:

Do nothing

Normally with this kind of assessment there is some scaling of marks based on effort/share of the work. If the professor has indicated that, I would personally do nothing.

Talk to the professor

If you are still concerned about the group effort, talk to your professor about it. It's likely this activity is designed to help you navigate group dynamics and your professor will likely be all too happy to help you learn.

Talk privately/one to one with the 'offending' party

If you feel that neither 1 or 2 is appropriate, try talking to them directly. Try not to confront them. Instead, look for reasons they may not be contributing as much. Perhaps they feel unable to contribute. Listen to them. If they feel they are already contributing enough or that everything is 'done', maybe suggest additional things they can do. The main thing to remember is to try and persuade and listen rather than accuse.


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How do editors assess urgency of submissions?
How do editors assess urgency of submissions? Speaking about the same journal.
Urgency's context is 'your paper is not of sufficient urgency for our journal'.
Do they have specific (confidential) guidelines which they distribute among themselves?

Which field is this?

mdiener : physics

In the phrase you cited, my intuition is that "urgency" is a more polite way of saying "relevance". I am not familiar with physics though, so I am not sure if this interpretation is correct.

There are some journals which try to guarantee expedite review and publication processes -- typically less than one month, even 1-2 weeks, for the review process -- for short papers which can have a significant impact on rapidly developing fields.
In physics, examples of such journals are Physical Review Letters (PRL) and Applied Physics Letters (APL). The word letters in the titles aptly recalls the above qualities.
From the About section of PRL, we can read (emphasis mine):

Authors gain high visibility, rapid publication, and broad dissemination of their work.

and

If presenting a new technique, or methodology, it should play a pivotal role in future physics research, and make apparent its immediate consequences for physicists.

From the Criteria For Publication section of APL we can read:

Timeliness: One of the questions on the reviewer's checklist is: "Is the paper especially important, interesting, and timely enough to warrant rapid publication in Applied Physics Letters?" A fraction of papers, which report new results but in a mature field, do not fulfill the condition of timeliness required by APL, and should be submitted for consideration as a Communication elsewhere.

Thus, for instance, one might not have much chance in publishing on PRL a work about classical mechanics, which is a well established and no longer rapidly developing field, but might have a much better chance in publishing an innovative work on, say, quantum point contacts.
If your submission was sent to such kind of journal, the editor, on the basis of their knowledge of the field, might have decided that your work would have not had an immediate impact on the field, and it would probably fit better in a journal with standard reviewing and publishing times.