text:
I believe my classmates plan to hand in a plagiarized project, how should I handle this?
In my class, we have project groups of 4 or 5 students. This period has everything to do with game development. The project is to build a XNA game for children at primary school.
Now, there is one group of students in my class, who snitched a game from the internet and are going to hand that in. I saw a Facebook post from one of the students about "their" game, and a fellow student found almost the exact same game on a Dutch game site.
What is according to you the right way of handling this -in my eyes, plagiarism? Should I inform the project teacher, to have them exposed to the exam committee?

Related question on "informing" on classmates: How to handle someone propositioning me to collude/cheat with them on an assignment?

@ff524: I am not sure how I would use that question in my situation, could you please make it more obvious for me, please?

@CharlesMorisset Thank you for straightening me up on that!

Yes, you should report it to the lecturer or TA. If you feel uneasy "snitching", you could even create an anonymous email address to send the report from. But it's the right thing to do.

Many of the answers to that question also discuss when one should/shouldn't "tell" on a cheating classmate. So, that question and its answers are related to yours.

@Moriarty: I haven't got a problem with "snitching", I actually felt I have the kind of duty to report this being class representative.
They have also "cheated" before (2 times), so I guess it's time to finally let them face the music.

I agree you should tell the TA/Instructor, but you have to confront your classmates first.  This happened to me in grad school and I called my classmates on it and said, "I'm not putting my name on this assignment if you hand it in like this and if you do I'm going to tell the teacher what you did."  They reworked the assignment.

Stop being subtle.

@DaveKaye I believe in this case is a different group, so he is not involved.

@Davidmh is right, it involves classmates from a different group.

Was being terse for purposes of getting my point across.  That they're members of another group maybe changes my opinion a little bit but looking at it from the teacher's point of view if it were my classroom I wouldn't foment the culture of students ratting each other out.  In every other profession colleagues have to learn to work out their differences.  I know academics is quite a bit more prone to indirect confrontation, but I've never been a fan.  Subtle enough for ya? :)

surprised no one has suggested "tell them to quit cheating, privately, or you're going to turn them in"

@user3710669 unless that game you linked is open-source (and it doesn't seem to be), it looks like your classmates must have written all the code themselves. I don't see anything wrong in modeling your game mechanics off of someone else's work, unless that's something your class explicitly forbids. Especially given that the game is intended for children, I can't imagine that "novelty" is more important that "good execution."

Should I inform the project teacher, to have them exposed to the exam committee?

Yes. Tell the teacher exactly what you know: that there is a game that seems very similar to your classmates' project.
As a student, it's not your responsibility to decide what is and isn't plagiarism, or to decide who should be punished for dishonesty and who shouldn't, or to start a "movement" to let the cheaters know you're onto them. If you believe you have evidence of misconduct, report it and let the administration handle it from there.

Recognize also that, depending on what the assignment was, creating a game that "looks like another game" may or may not be plagiarism. If implementation of the idea (writing code) is what counts, starting with something you found on the internet is not too bad - although you might want to attribute the source, if you know if. But if you were writing a chess game, would it be considered plagiarism? There are chess games on the internet… you may even have seen them. But you wouldn't quote all the chess playing sites you may have visited. So this advice is sound. Inform, but don't judge.

even if they copied ideas or code, that might not be a problem -- provided that they cite where the idea or code came from.  It might be another kind of problem to copy/paste code, but, depending on what it is and how it is cited, it might not be plagarism.  IMHO.

If you wish to refrain from looking like a snitch, you can just tell the teacher about that cool game on that Dutch game site a few days before the deadline. This way you haven't really said anything compromising, but you've still done what has to be done.

@zovits I'm inclined to agree with JeffE's comment to "stop being subtle." There is no guarantee the teacher will make the connection or even remember the Dutch game when he gets around to grading the project

"Stop being subtle" - the OP may come from Europe and subtleness is understood in Europe, even if it may not be in the US.

Teachers have the resources to check for plagiarism and would be able to check for such things. I would recommend checking the project through one of these resources and let them know if you could spot it, so can your teacher. Then, you protect your reputation and put the responsibility back on them. So that once your teacher spots it, you will have proof you let them know in advance how you felt about the submission.

This isn't his group's project, all he has seen of it is a photo on Facebook - not something you can run through a plagiarism detector.

I know that there is software that claims to find plagiarism in natural language texts, but compiled software? Even if they have to hand in the sources, I'd guess that many such software would go so crazy on all these getters and setters as to render the result virtually useless.

@Raphael if the source code is posted online, I generally find that googling a snippet is enough to find matches. Additionally, code style is very personal. Mixed code styles are very easily detected. The best anti-plagiarism measure for projects is small, incremental submissions, or better even, mandatory version control.

College is competitive enough without having to compete against cheaters lazy enough to represent an entire work that is freely available online as their own. Grading is often quite subjective, and your work should not be compared to work of those working outside your class's structure.
You don't need to give the information to the instructor with your name on it. You can leave an anonymous note to the professor (and give a copy to the department chair if you want to ensure they will at least investigate, because the temptation is to sweep it under the rug).
You need to be careful not to overstate your case. Just state that you believe they may be passing off that particular work as their own, point to the evidence, and let that stand and do not pursue the matter (unless you have hard evidence, the instructor and the department sweep it under the rug, and you feel the need to act further, but be careful because you may quickly become a target for political retribution yourself.)

Mind your own business - it's not your problem.
If someone working in your group suggests or does plagiarism, or someone tries to plagiarize your work, or does something which could affect your mark or your academic record, go ahead and report them.
But you shouldn't get involved with this. It's not your job to police other students behaviour. It doesn't prevent you from learning, nor does it prevent you from getting the grade you deserve.
You are laying yourself open to unpleasantness and ill-feeling between you and your classmates. Other students who are honest, might resent you or feel that you will be surveilling them in future. You might end up with your own behavior being closely watched by classmates who are trying to get you in trouble. It is also possible that the information you have is wrong or that you have misinterpreted it. For someone who is innocent of cheating or who has been co-erced to be disciplined for plagiarism is a serious thing to have on your conscience. In some (rare) situations various forms of cheating are tacitly being tolerated by the teacher, and you will be seen by them as 'rocking the boat'.
In short, you have a lot to lose and very little to gain by reporting them.

It's not clear to me how anyone but the teacher would know who the "snitch" is (unless he tells people, of course)?

@jwg I disagree. We have moral obligation to report wrong doings and discourage unfairness. If you see someone shoplifting would you not report it to police because it doesn't concern you?
About possibility of misinterpretation, it is up to the authority, teachers in this case, to conduct fair and thorough investigation, it's not the student's fault if he is simply reporting suspicious behavior, doing of which should be encouraged. If the offending party was innocent, that's fine, no harm done, but if they are not, it would have been unfair to other hardworking students on other projects.

@MobiusPizza reporting wrongdoings and discouraging unfairness are two different things. The claim  I would not report shoplifting in all circumstances, although I might in some, depending for instance on whether the shoplifter was in dire need, and whether the shop owner would suffer from the loss. Note that is already a different situation as the act is illegal (a rule accepted by society) whereas cheating on a piece of coursework is not.

@ff524 So you are saying whether or not something is right to do depends on the possibility of getting caught?

@jwg no, just disagreeing with your argument that "You are laying yourself open to unpleasantness and ill-feeling between you and your classmates" - I don't really see how the classmates would know

@ff524 By reading about the case on a public forum for example?

@jwg I don't know how they would identify who "user3710669" is in real life

Mind your own business - it's not your problem. Oh but it is. What if a scholarship is involved and the plagiarizing group got better overall mark? They're studying game development. What if after graduation they get better job opportunities?

@profitehlolz People often make these type of arguments but they are basically bogus. Life is not graded on a curve.

But the class certainly could be

@ff524: I would not rely too much on the anonymity/pseudonymity of the user profile (http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/07/got-an-account-on-a-site-like-github-hackers-may-know-your-e-mail-address/) nor on the staff not (inadvertedly) exposing me (http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21401/should-i-chase-up-confidential-feedback-not-being-sanitised).

I disagree with tying whether to take action or not to whether their grade affects yours (or other ways how it could possibly affect you directly). But I think the part " It doesn't prevent you from learning, nor does it prevent you from getting the grade you deserve." is most important. Likewise, I would not tie the action to whethe or how much you risk to have the classmates react unpleasantly - but all the more to the risk of false positives: harming someone who did not plagiarize. And yes, false accusations (also when given in best intentions) do cause harm. all in all +-0

I agree with jwg. I don't intend to be rude, but I would call this squealing. It shouldn't be your stuff as it doesn't hold you from achieving what you want to achieve. Actually after the grading took place, if you detect that your grade has been dimished because of the 'exceptional' work of the other group, well then it is another situation. In this case you could still think about reporting the issue.

What's so wrong about "squealing"?

It's the ghetto "don't be a snitch" ethic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Snitchin%27

In response to the use of the word "squealing" in a pejorative sense, I would draw your attention to the old phrase: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."


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Incentives for independent researchers to work on reproducible research
For the sake of high-quality science diffusion, there is no doubt that reproducible research is a good practice as it helps to demonstrate the robustness of the proposed methods and boosts the possibilities of getting more citations for a published paper. Needless is to say that it also allows new researchers to continue the work of a previous mentor. For students wondering if they should or should not release their code in a public repository, this was a topic already discussed here: Is it beneficial for a student to publish their research code and data?.
However, my understanding, from this material, is that reproducible research is a practice followed by institutions in which the government takes charge of the salary earned by researchers, their equipment, and travel expenses. Given that public funds are used in this context, there is no point in publishing results in places that would keep the knowledge inaccessible to the people who need it (and pay for it with their taxes). In fact, many journals offer now the possibility of publishing papers as Open Access. Obviously, this exempts the case of national security affairs that need to be kept in secret.
For independent researchers or non-granted students, the things change a little bit, as they don't have to follow the reproducible research practices because they pay for most (if not all) of the expenses during their studies. My question is, what are the incentives (if there is any) for this group of people to release their code on the internet if they are not looking to exploit it commercially? Is reproducible research something that they can use to improve their chances to get a job in academia or an R&D department in the industry?
Note: by reproducible research, I am taking the definition stated here: all the results from a paper can be reproduced with the code and data available online.

I'm not sure what you mean by reproducible research. It reads as if you mean being able to independently run a given program on a given dataset to verify the results. I think a better definition requires much more. Can the hypotheses of a study be accepted via completely independent methods, data, and models? It isn't about the honesty of the first reporter, it is about the likely truth of the statements. Running the same code on the same data isn't independent in that sense. Please explain a bit more what your understanding is.

Unfortunately, though you ask a valid question, I think the definition is too narrow and flawed. There is a problem in the scientific world that many reported results can't be validated based on further study. While making the process transparent (which is what your definition enables) it isn't quite the same thing. Even scientific studies done at 95% confidence, if done well, will report the wrong result 5% of the time, by definition. One learns more by, say, running a given code on a different data set, or different code on a similar-not-identical set. IMO, the term used is misleading.

Oh, I see @Buffy. The definition of reproducibility that the LCAV provided does not consider the confidence degree that you mentioned. Perhaps, can we talk about soft reproducible research? Anyway, does it represent an incentive for independent researchers?

See the meta: https://academia.meta.stackexchange.com/q/4366/75368 for a discussion. Thought experiment only.

Thanks @Buffy, here is an example of RS in the LCAV sense: https://github.com/hanjiepan/FRI_pkg

"there is no point in publishing results in places that would keep the knowledge inaccessible to the people who need it (and pay for it with their taxes)" - oh yes, there is a very strong point, namely the possibility to get even more money. Whether or not the people who conduct research, or those who are in charge of such people, aim for getting the maximum amount of money out of it is a different question, but I don't think it makes sense to claim "there is no point". Furthermore, the idea that tax-paid material must be available for free is by no means universally accepted, as evidenced ...

... by the existence of plenty of countries where lots of government-funded research is conducted, yet no general obligation exists to provide the results to taxpayers free of charge.

In general, I feel this question conflates various different things. For instance, at some point, you talk about publishing enough data to make results reproducible (e.g. data + example code of test software), whereas in other parts of your question, you talk about whether or not to go the route of scientific publication at all. Likewise, while certain institutions may follow and promote the practice of producing research in a reproducible way, that does not mean that this is actually the incentive for those employed at said institutions to follow the practice, rather than, say, becoming a ...

... successful/reputable/highly cited/acclaimed researcher by making "good" (e.g. well reproducible) contributions to the body of scientific knowledge. At the same time, self-funded researchers probably wouldn't go through the hassle of the scientific publishing process at all if they are actually hoping to keep their findings secret and use them for their own closed source product.

Oh... wow. Thanks for you insights @O.R.Mapper, I wasn't aware how grotesque was my question and how bizarre is to ask for incentives when doing reproducible research.  If a researcher want to do science he should just release his code for the sake of the humanity. The self-funded researchers who doesn't know how to commercialize a product or that doesn't know how to align their interest with the academia should be ashamed.

@JFonseca: Sorry, my comments appear to have been quite unclear. "how bizarre is to ask for incentives when doing reproducible research" - that's not bizarre at all. As I said, the incentives are just probably neither the institution's practice nor the expectation to keep a marketable concept secret. "he should just release his code for the sake of the humanity" - no, as I wrote, it may happen for an increase in reputation or becoming more well-known in one's field. As for your last sentence, I'm afraid I do not understand what you are trying to say.

Yeah, please disregard the last part. Thanks for the clarification @O.R.Maper :)

You shouldn’t need incentives to do “reproducible research”, you should do it because it’s good science and doing good science (and showing that you can) is good for your career. Open Access for tax-funded research is important too but really a separate discussion. You should be ensuring your results can be reproduced even if you’re in a private company or publishing high impact papers.

I hope I understand the intent here well enough to offer guidance. I don't think there is any inherent incentive for most researchers to publish more than they do. The current system works well enough for them, so the added effort makes little sense.
The reason that many US government agencies publish more than the minimum is that much (most?) government funded research here has, traditionally, been considered as owned by the American public. Public Domain, if you like. On an orthogonal dimension, the fact that a lot of science has become politicized, implies that many want to be as transparent as possible so that the inevitable conflicts and charges can be openly refuted. But an additional reason is that "public servant" researchers are also generally interested in others being able to leverage and extend the work they do - for the greater good. They don't work for a profit motive and so have little incentive to hold things close.
If individuals want to publish code and data, it is, for the most part, permitted, as long as journals don't impose restrictions for reasons of copyright, etc.
However, a beginning researcher should carefully consider what openness implies. In particular, while you retain copyright (which you can license), you complicate the possibility of obtaining patent on your ideas. It may even be that others, with whose policies you disagree, can use and monetize your ideas against your wishes. Openness in general is good, and being willing to "reveal all" is commendable, but be aware of the implications when you do.

"I don't think there is any inherent incentive for most researchers to publish more than they do." .. or would like to. I think many researchers would like to publish quite a bit more, if just they had the time and other resources available.

Thanks, @Buffy and O.R.Mapper, is there any standard way to determine by beforehand if a journal is fine with you if you decide to release your code on the Internet? I am asking because it may exist some conflict of interest if your code is also used to generate the figures included in the paper.

My question is, what are the incentives (if there is any) for this
  group of people to release their code on the internet if they are not
  looking to exploit it commercially? Is reproducible research something
  that they can use to improve their chances to get a job in academia or
  an R&D department in the industry?

Whether independent or not, the incentives for publishing your software code and/or data resources are:

Some conferences/workshops encourage the submission of papers devoted to new code/resources (i.e. a quite easy publication).
Assuming your code/resources can be found, gain popularity and are useful to the community, you can get a lot of citations: every time somebody uses them, they will refer any paper you ask them to cite (this must be clearly stated in the license info).
Mentions of your open-source software / open-access datasets in your CV are seen positively in the academic community (for the reasons that you mention), so it increases your chances to get an academic job. It can also be seen as a showcase of your skills when applying in the industry.

So overall yes, it does strengthen your research profile.
However it can take a lot of time: polishing the code, writing some clear documentation, maintaining the software, etc. So there is a trade-off between devoting time to this or to other research activities. I assume that this question is especially important if you are an independent researcher.
Edit following OP's comment: for independent researchers it can be a good way to keep in touch with the research community, especially if you don't have the time or financial resources to go to conferences.
Disclaimer: my field is Natural Language Processing, which involves Machine Learning with unstructured data. Results often vary depending on the dataset and the exact experimental setup, and reproducing an experiment can take a lot of time. Thus reproducibility is a major issue in the field and open access resources are strongly encouraged.

Thanks @Erwan! It is also a way to keep in touch with the researching community (when your job and career do not match) and receive valuable feedback to improve your contributions.

Good point, I'll add it to my answer.

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Asking the teacher if we have a lecture to attend or not
Good morning miss
We are wondering about our next session! If we are obliged to attend Saturday lecture or we are asked to wait till they make some schedule changes as they promised us
Have a good day

I have no idea what your question is saying.

Exactly. I, too, have no idea what your question is saying.

We have a lecture this saturday but we were asking the administration to modify the time table therefore we won't study on saturday but we don't know yet if they made some changes or not yet so we are asking the teacher for a clear answer about attending Saturday's lecture or not

What are you asking us?

Dear Professor
We have not received information whether the time table has been modified, after we made a plead for it. Do we have a lecture on the Saturday as in the old time table? Thank you for your answer in advance.
Regards
You

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Is it worth to provide additional transcript with low GPA in extracurriculum courses?
I am going to apply to PhD programs in pure mathematics (target programs are mostly in U.S. and Canada). My GPA from state accredited universities is 3,5 for bachelor's and 3,3 for master's. These GPAs are not very good, but above cut-offs for almost all programs.
In my country (Russian Federation) also exists practice when strong worldwide known research centers (like Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Steklov Mathematical Institute, Independent University of Moscow, etc.) provide free additional classes for senior students. I took 13 such courses and have certifying transcript, but the total GPA for them is about 2,92 out of 4,0.
I am in doubt, is it worth to mention such experience and provide transcript? 13 extra classes in addition to official BSc and MSc degrees are seem to be a good proof of my interest and motivation (I know that in U.S. most students took less 13 math courses in their bachelor studies). On the other hand, I am afraid that a low GPA in these non mandatory activities may affect my application as well.

is it worth to mention such experience and provide transcript? — Most US graduate programs (and I expect the same in Canada) require your complete academic history, including transcripts from all previous institutions.  So whether it's worth it or not, you must provide this transcript.

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Contacted the head of a group I want to join, but she didn't reply. What to do now?
An institution in New Mexico is offering a scholarship to people that want to join the institution, and I think I may be a good candidate. I contacted the head of the group I would like to join, with a long mail introducing myself, my work, and my passions, and what I could bring to the group. On her page in the Institution webpage is clearly stated that she is the person to contact for who wants to join the group.
Now 6 days have passed and she hasn't come back to me yet. What do you suggest me to do? I can find on the internet other people that work in the same group under her supervision. Should I contact them? Should I wait more? Should I write again?
I doubt she just found my professional figure uninteresting, as it really matches what they are looking for. Maybe my mail was too long, she put it aside, and forgot to reply? Should I write her again?
Is it maybe uncommon to contact directly the head of the group you want to join through a scholarship?
Thank you.

6 days is not too long IMHO. Especially if you wrote "a long mail"...

She hasn't replied yet - perhaps she is busy with classes, perhaps waiting to accumulate enough responses to make it worthwhile going through them to make a decision, perhaps just happily contemplating the nice change in the weather indicating fall, perhaps working on roasting green chilies. (The second might be key - I don't read applications one-by-one as they come in. I prefer to look at them in batches where differences become more apparent quickly).

This was not my application. This was just a mail i sent to introduce myself less formally and to ask her how was I as a potential candidate. Is common to do here in the uk, what about the states?

6 days is not a lot of time to wait. After 2-3 weeks I would send a short followup.
In general, long emails are bad. The advice I try to follow is keep them 3-4 sentences if I don't know the person and they aren't expecting an email from me. Give them the opportunity to either ask for more details or to setup a call.

Thank you, I had no idea that 6 days was not too long.

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Research associate salary
I am a professor working with an undergraduate in computer science in the US who is interested in working in my lab for one or two years post-graduation to gain research experience before applying to PhD programs.
Commonly, undergraduate research jobs during the school year or summer are unpaid. However, this is a bit different since research would be their primary job responsibility.
I am wondering what is the salary norms for these post-bac / undergraduate research associate positions? Are they normally unpaid, or are they paid essentially minimum wage?

What does your department or HR say? Why do you want to take advantage of someone like that?

You can't ethically employ someone for a year or two without paying them an adequate salary!

@WolfgangBangerth, I can't speak for this person, but at my institution, the students either get academic credit or pay, but cannot get both.  Nearly always they prefer academic credit and are thus unpaid.  This is not an option during the summer, because the registrar doesn't offer summer classes, so we always pay undergrads during the summer (and as a side note, their FICA status changes as well because they are not enrolled in classes at that time).

"salary norms for these post-bac / undergraduate research associate" Are you asking about post-bacs or undergrad RAs?

I'm not sure whether this is something that varies enormously with in the US, so I'm not voting to close. But I'm also conscious that answers saying "$n-$m" will become outdated quite fast, so I suggest focusing not on specific figures but on how to find them out.

@yourfriendlyresearchadmin I read the question as saying that the person wants to work full time after graduation, not as an undergraduate student assistant for credit. They wouldn't even be students any more at that time. I do not think it ethical to let someone work for free full time for 1-2 years.

@WolfgangBangerth, I read it the same way.  In my experience helping faculty get folks on payroll, they usually don't have experience with the hundreds of possible positions and rely on their current experience (e.g., no pay for undergrads who get academic credit) and don't realize what rules are out there for slightly different positions -- e.g., FLSA could kick in and after graduating from undergrad but not being enrolled in an academic program, which ironically means they could make more than being a graduate student.  The laws are really complicated.

There's usually a particular job title for this sort of post-bac student; I've encountered "Research Intern" and "Junior Scientist", there may be a different title that is normal at your institution. To me, in the US, "research associate" is usually a title for a postdoctoral researcher.
These jobs are not well-paid, but the compensation is much better than minimum wage. I would guess an equivalent of $18-25/hour minimum (if the low end of that is near the minimum wage where you are, then you're in a high cost area and should be paying on the higher end if not above). Comparable to a grad student stipend, at least (though without any tuition to remit). They likely qualify for standard benefits, as well, and in the US it's legally required to provide health insurance for someone working full time so that's definitely included.

Just to show how varied titles are, "associate" doesn't have that connotation for me, but I believe it. I have also seen "technologist" and "research professional."

Research administrator from the US here.  I do appointments and payroll, so I have some background for you to explore at your institution.  All of the rules will vary based on your institution and even your state.
One question is which office will offer the job.  If the person is classed in an academic position, different rules apply than if they are classed as staff under an HR office.  The reason is that there are different federal laws that apply to academic vs. staff positions.  One specific example is how the US Department of Labor defines "trainee".  Each institution has to define "trainee" given these guidelines and be consistent.  This is why some institutions class students as employees and others do not.  So in this way, I advise you to look into how your institution is defining these jobs.
With that being said, one of the pitfalls of a potential hire not being enrolled in an academic program and also not having a PhD is that some places will argue that these individuals fall under FLSA.  You will see that the FLSA pay standards are quite high, and in fact could be substantially more than those in a PhD program -- it's a real dilemma.  Note the substantial increase that will be effective 1 Jan 2025.
At my institution, it's easiest if we can hire someone as a temp, but that is not always the need of the PI, who may want a year-long commitment, and our temp jobs do not offer this option.  Our staff positions come with substantial fringe, severance, and other costs.  You will need to be thoughtful and ask a lot of questions of your research administrator and payroll offices in order to get the correct appointment type.  I agree with the prior answer that "Research Associate" is usually more senior than postdoc.  "Research Assistant" is usually the more lowly position.  It is best to communicate the attributes that you are looking for and not a specific title.  At my institution, we have hundreds of flavors of positions, and knowing the attributes means we will find the title for the PI that matches the attributes.


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Dealing with imposter syndrome on the job market
My imposter syndrome is focused around the academic job market (which is different than other posted questions), and it comes in two parts:
(1)
My feelings of being an imposter have been exacerbated by poor treatment and abuse from my PhD advisor over the years who has, in moments in frustration, remarked derisively that I have the worst technical ability of any student in the lab, do not fit in, and would have better off with an advisor working in more applied topics. The only reason why he kept me employed as his student was because I worked hard, said 'yes' to every thing he asked me to do and basically failed to set any personal boundaries, allowing him to step all over me. These repeated remarks have been extremely cruel and I have thought about quitting and even ending my life several times. That being said, I know deep down that there is some truth to his comments.
Fast forward several years, and I am privileged enough to be interviewing at some very prestigious universities for academic positions (top 5 places). But I am fully aware that this is largely due to my brilliant and extremely controlling advisor who has been the driving force behind the success of a lot of my work.
While my other prestigious letter writers have raved about me and written exceptionally strong letters, I can't help but feel that they do not know the truth: which is that the image that they see of me is one that is carefully crafted by my advisor. But once I graduate and leave the influence of my advisor I will stumble and not meet their expectations.
(2)
I am exceedingly anxious about interviewing at these top 5 institutions due to a fear of being looked down upon by faculty who are clearly, and quantitatively more intelligent and brilliant than me. I have heard of stories where faculty will just ignore you at dinner if they've figured out you're not at their level of intellect.
At most places however, even at slightly less prestigious institutions (top 5-15 places) I do not get this anxiety. The faculty are more down to earth and I can typically find faculty who are on a similar 'competency plane' as me, who I can relate to. But that is not the case at the most top institutions.
I am also quite introverted. I am never the center of attention (in fact I hate it), and I do not naturally fit the mold of the social and intellectual butterfly that can wow people at dinners.
Even if I get an offer from these prestigious institutions, I am hesitant about taking the offer given that I may always be a "small fish" in a big pond for the rest of my career. And I believe I would be happier at a slightly less prestigious institution.
Logically speaking, I wonder if it even makes any sense to interview at these prestigious institutions aside from social obligation to my letter writers + nobody in their right mind would actually cancel interviews at these places.
It is a popular trend to suggest that everyone has imposter syndrome and everyone belongs. But the cold harsh truth is that people do get found out as imposters and those people don't get tenure!
I understand how this might seem like a vent from a privileged person, but I would love to hear other people's thoughts about this general topic of dealing with imposter syndrome as I think it can apply to a lot of people.

What you see/observe is not necessarily the truth or what's real.

My question is focused more around imposter syndrome on the academic job market, which is slightly different than the posted question.

Agree; recommend you [edit] to cut the length in half and add a question mark.

Let me just clarify a couple of misconceptions that you seem to have from what you have written:

There is no need to "wow people at dinners". All workplaces have more extroverted and more introverted people, and it is by no means true that the person that does most of the talking/jokes is the most liked by everyone.

There is no need to go to the top institution. You should work at a place where you are comfortable and will enjoy yourself. Forget about statements like "nobody in their right mind would actually cancel interviews at these places". Those statements are wrong.

That said, I will refer you to the existing question for dealing with impostor syndrome. Your success was achieved by you, and not by your advisor. All the controlling in the world cannot make a person successful if that person does not have the ability.
I would go to the interviews (also at the top places) and see how they make you feel about the place. If it feels too competitive or that people look down on others, you can always reject and go to a place that is a better fit for you. But why not give it a try? Even if the interview is uncomfortable, if you do not take the job then it will just be a story to tell.

Firstly, I'm sorry to hear that you had previously thought about ending your life.  If you ever feel this way again, please talk to your family and friends and make sure you are well looked after.  If you feel too self-conscious to talk to people you know, contact a counsellor, or even hit me up with an email and I'd be happy to chat.  Actual or perceived lack of ability or success in academic work should never be a life-ending event.

Setting aside the issue of supervisory abuse, and concentrating solely on your feeling of being an imposter, there are a few things I notice about your description of your candidature experience:

Your supervisor is a brilliant researcher;

During your candidature, your supervisor pushed you hard and was not shy about pointing out your deficiencies and the magnitude of these deficiencies;

You were highly diligent and willing to do additional work, beyond what would normally be expected;

Like all other PhD students you were a novice research with areas of strengths and weaknesses (weakness on technical skills; strength on diligence), including some holes in your knowledge and ability;

By the end of your candidature, all relevant referees have a high opinion of you, and your supervisor is also taking action to ensure that others have a good image of you.

All of this evidence points to a pretty common situation in academia, which is that an incoming PhD student is weak and deficient as a researcher during the early part of their candidature, but then they work hard to get better and they become competent (often without perceiving how much more skilled they have become).  Consequently, their relationship with their supervisor goes from one involving heavy criticism of their work, to a gradual easing of that, to a later relationship involving praise for their skills and abilities.  While the particulars of your case may involve poor treatment (which I wouldn't presume to know about), the above aspects of your experience suggest the standard situation in which you were bad at things but then got a lot better.
What you describe in your post does indeed sound like "imposter syndrome" to me, since your own view of your work conflicts sharply with the assessments of the referees that have observed your work.**  Two of the primary things that people with imposter syndrome forget is (1) that you get better at things during periods in which you work on becoming better at them; and (2) that there are expectations for competence that differ at every stage of our training and careers.  The fact that you were previously told off for being deficient at a thing does not mean that you are permanently deficient at that thing, or deficient in general.  Similarly, the fact that you are not as good a researcher as your brilliant and experienced supervisor does not mean that you are deficient relative to the career stage you are at.  Your description says that several years after your previous PhD candidature you are now getting positive evaluations of your work, both from your supervisor and other referees.  Assuming that those people are competent to judge your work, this suggests that you are at the level of competency you need to be at for your career stage, and if anything, you are probably at the top end of competency in that cohort.  (Bear in mind that academic spots at prestigious universities are insanely competitive; to be considered you probably need to be in the top 1-2% of PhD graduates, so if you're even in the ball-park then you are probably somewhere at the top end of your cohort.)
Finally, I notice that you have said that you know deep down that there is truth to your supervisors comments.  His negative comments on your skills might well have been true at the time, but now you've gotten better at research.  If what your supervisor says is indeed true, then presumably this means he was correct in pointing out your research deficiencies during your training and he is also correct in now having such a high opinion of you that he is taking action to arrange strong letters of recommendation for a prestigious academic position.  In other words, why believe your supervisor speaks the truth only when he says bad things but not later when he says (or thinks) good things?

** And I am one of the people on this site who is a huge sceptic of the frivolous overuse of the term "imposter syndrome" to describe anyone who has been told they are bad at a thing.


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Research Associate job reposted, shiould I reach out to the PI?
I applied for a research associate position when I was at the final stage of my Ph.D. The job description matches my profile with 80%, the 20% included some scientific skills that I didn't have, but they said that they're considering applicants who are willing to learn. This was perfect for me cause this is I have seen those concepts that they're asking for when I was a Master's student, I just didn't have a detailed knowledge of those concepts.
I have prepared hard for the interview and even started reading some research articles. Basically, I started working on my own cause I loved the project. But the surprising thing is that I didn't hear from them at all!. When I reached to the HR team, they said that 'they raised the bar pretty high and only choose candidates who are a close match', my initial reaction was laughing but I decided to take the L and move on.
A few days later, I noticed that the job is re-posted again (previous applicants will not be considered). I also completed my Ph.D and I am available immediately. The job description is still the same and it's really frustrating cause I deserved an interview at least. I want to write an email to the PI, is this a good idea?

Ah I see. I'm sorry you experience that as well. It's not a good experience. I think I will move on!

A significant proportion of academic jobs are advertised publicly, but in reality they are created for a pre-selected candidate. It is extremely frustrating that many talented candidates routinely waste time end effort applying for jobs where they will not be shortlisted, even if their skills are a close match to published job specification.  I am sorry to hear you find yourself in this situation. The old boys' club is still strong in academia and it hurts normal candidates a lot.
For an individual like you, it is probably advisable to move on and apply elsewhere. Some places have a more fair assessment process for all applications, and the more you apply the higher is the chance you will be invited for an interview.
Good luck.

'A significant proportion of academic jobs are advertised publicly, but in reality they are created for a pre-selected candidate.' You really know what's going on, I have seen this a lot in my university/country. It's a sad reality, doing research alone is stressful enough, and rigging the system like this won't make things better! I am moving on! Thank you.

You should support the claim that a significant proportion of positions are created for a pre-selected candidate.  I do not doubt that some positions are like this, but I would suggest this is the exception rather than anything close to a significant proportion.  It may be more prevalent for postdocs and research assistant-level positions, but surely for university positions the competition is usually level and open.  Finally, if the group already had a candidate in mind, there would be no need to re-post the position.

@ZeroTheHero Obviously, there is no official statistics accurately capturing the numbers of cases where the candidates are pre-selected. I make my judgement based on my own experience as an applicant, and rumours shared in my own network of contacts. If your personal experience is more positive than mine, I am happy for you.

My experience is that the situation you describe is rare, especially in larger units as it would suggest that everyone in the unit is more or less in agreement with the pre-selected candidate.  If this type of selection process was commonplace, the would be all kinds of administrative challenges.

It's not a terrible idea, but it probably won't be fruitful since they state that "previous applicants will not be considered". They would have to make an exception to consider you and they already know your qualifications, even though you now have the doctorate.
Unless something else has changed in your qualifications, it is probably a waste of time and you probably won't like the reply. But there is nothing wrong about asking.

You're right, the doctorate qualification alone is not enough. Perhaps they're looking for tailored profiles that matches the job description. If they did interview me and then reposted the job, I don't think it will bother me at all. But oh well, I think this happens a lot


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How to request the supervisor email from a researcher
I am trying to contact a professor in another university in a different country for a potential collaboration. I only got the email that he uses on his papers, which he doesn't open as much because I emailed him a week ago and he didn't even open the email (I use a mail-tracking tool).

Can I ask one of his students for a Gmail or something?
If yes, What the correct way to approach the student?

A perhaps tangential comment - I disallow read-receipts in my email program, and avoid interacting with people who use them. It is a really passive-aggressive thing to do. Email is inherently non-real-time.

Have you considered that he did not respond because he is on a break, away at a conference or just busy and might get round to your email soon? A week is not long in time for academics - not compared to the classes that take priority...

Nobody enables receipt confirmation.

Woah.. I knew that I will get heat from mentioning that I used a mail-tracking tool, but I never expected that it will completely shift the feed-back I asked for. Well mailing has changed, people today to tend to not reply than to politely say 'no'. So personally, I prefer to know if he/she actually read the email or not so I can decide my next step. And in case if the next step is unclear for me I will ask questions like I did here, so worry not :).

@JonCuster You don't use a return receipt, you use a tracking pixel. Nearly all of the marketing e-mails you receive do this, advertisers have this stuff all figured out. I've seen this in some cold-call e-mails like the OP has done; if your client loads external HTML images by default (Gmail, Apple), you'll never notice.

Well it's because the return receipt is paid a feature for most email clients like Gmail. That's how important that feature is in the world of emails.

@user71659 - well, my security folks are really good, so that would not work on me...

that actually made me smile xD. I am a researcher in Computer Security. I do a lot of freelancing (penetration testing) for companies too, and almost every-time during the first meeting (or during my initial assessment) I get the same sentence "my security folks are really good", "we have a high level of security here", "our team is a security expert". I am not insinuating anything, but.. good for you :)

No, do not try to find an alternative email address. If it is the address he put on articles, it is probably his professional email and that is the one you should use.
One week is very short and from what you say, there is no emergency.


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Do you need to know in detail the last papers of your future PI in preparation for a postdoc interview?
I have an interview for a postdoc position next week. The project was running for 9 months or so and they already have some preprints out. This specific position says that the researcher will work closely with the 3 PIs, so it broadens the area for me a little bit since each one has different research areas. Do I need to know in detail the papers that are out in this project? I'm asking this because I've noticed that people say "do your research and look at the latest publications of your future lab".

How many preprints are we talking about here? But, yes, you should read them to get a reasonable idea of what they are doing and where they might be going.

I have found 3. But these papers, that are important, don't directly align with the project's aim, or at least, they are a bit general.

If they are all you have to go on, what else can you do?

Nothing really, I am reading the papers. Can I expect a question about these papers?

I think asking in details about the papers is unlikely, and silly.

In an interview for a postdoc, you should be able to explain two things:
First, what your future research plans are (and why this topic is right for you, due to your past work or other background).
And, second, why you chose to apply for this position, and why you think you are a good fit (or rather, the fit) for the position. This implies that you know what is going on research-wise in this place, and that you can explain how you both will be able to add to the research performed there, and how the topics researched there will help you to form your research profile (first point).
To this end, it is essential that you know what is going on in the place, and what your potential future PI and their group are working on.  However, this does not mean that you have to study the most recent papers - it is more important that you have the big picture of where their research is heading. Of course, knowing their most recent papers in more detail does not hurt, but a PI will usually not expect you to impress on specific details of one paper.  And it might well be that the last 3 papers, for some reason or the other, don't accurately reflect on their primary research interest.  In that case, saying how interesting you find [topic of the paper] could even be counterproductive.

The advice "look at the latest..." is good advice. Whether it is necessary to do depends entirely on the views of the PI. They may care deeply, or not at all. Certainly it is better to be as prepared as possible, even if their main concerns are elsewhere.
If the position is competitive, then it is likely that other candidates will be as prepared as they can. Due diligence, I guess.
Even if you only bring questions about those papers to the interview you will be better off than being completely unprepared.

You can flip it around and ask: ‘Is it reasonable to apply to a post doc position without doing some basic research on your future boss and workplace?’ I would think not.
That said, for none of my post doc interviews any detailed knowledge of the papers from the lab was unnecessary. It was much more important to have a big picture idea about the general topic and to be able to follow any contribute to a conversation about that research area.


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Postdoc interview presentation doesn't explcitly mention a research plan, should I include one?
I was invited for a postdoc presentation of 10 minutes. The title of the presentation is "Challenges and Opportunities in problem Z". The email didn't give any other information whether I should give a research plan or my future ambitions during the position. Is a bad idea if include a specific research plan?
Context behind my question:
From my understanding, challenges and opportunities in problem Z means I should talk about the different (perhaps potential) research directions in studying problem Z. This could mean I can stay general without proposing a research plan to work on a specific area.
In another postdoc interview, the panel told me that they were hoping for a general research plan and not something specific.

Given that 10 minutes is very short, a quick mention about aspects for which you do have some ideas would be in order. But be prepared for questions about details if there is a follow up question period. You needn't spend much time on this.
However, if you have special expertise and interest in some particular aspect, then spending a couple of minutes outlining your ideas might be good to do.
In any case, spend some time/words on those aspects of the problem that appeal to you and that you would like to explore further, giving any quick insights you might have. But don't oversell yourself. They have probably thought about this more than you have and you don't want to give naive/facile explanations.

I find the suggestion that the OP's insight on the topic is going to be naïve or facile rather discouraging.

@astronat, I didn't mean to imply that it would be, but only that it must not appear to be. Don't lose track of the experience of the interviewers. And be sure your answers are supportable. Don't oversell was the important message.

Thank you for your answer. Judging from the title of the presentation, do you think there's time to talk about my self and how I fit in the project? Or should I keep it focused on research in studying in problem Z?


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Can you contact PI (informally) about the decision timeline of the postdoc?
I had a postdoc interview more than 2 weeks ago where the panel told me that they will not be avalaible due the entire next week (Easter holiday) and I should expect a decision a week later (or 2 weeks later, can't remember).
The one week time-frame has passed and HR didn't reply to the email I've sent, I am thinking of contacting the potential PI directly (asking and verifying the decision time). I am not sure however if this is an okay move?

Its depends what you mean by "okay". You can certainly ask, and you will not face any consequences beyond possibly some mild irratation on the part of the PI, but unlikely sufficient to damage anyone's chances of anything.
However, you are probably also unlikely to gain anything. The most likely situations are:

The position has been offered to someone else, but they have yet to make a decision, and other candidates have not yet been informed because you might still be offered the position if the first choice turns it down.
Some paper work is missing form some candidate (e.g. a reference) and a decision cannot be made until it is available.

In both cases, its unlikely the PI will be in a position to offer a more concrete time line.

Wow, hold on..they did told me during the interview that in the first week nothing will happen because of the holidays. So, this should roll out the first scenerio (I guess?), because otherwise this would mean that they did offer the position to someone else during that first week; which should be unlikely, especially that we're at the start of the second week.. :/

No. You said it was 2 week since the interview. If nothing happened in the 1st week, and then they made an offer to someone else in the second week, they may still be waiting for a reply.


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No response from Professor; how should I remind him about writing a recommendation for me?
I'm applying to a BS/MS program and I'm gathering recommendations. I'm an international student from China and I was transferred to my current college last year.
Two weeks ago, I went to see my professor during his office hours to ask if he could write me a recommendation letter. He agreed and told me to email him.
I sent my request a week later and it was just a general email asking for recommendation (without mentioning when I'd visited him).
I still haven't got a response from that professor. It's possible that the professor didn't recognize me in the email, since I sent that only one week after going to his office.
Should I leave him a reminder in a follow-up email? Or should I do so in person?

If you're on campus, stopping by might not be a bad idea. It indicates that you believe the letter is important enough for you to ask him about the update.

If the professor didn't recognize you from the name you signed at the bottom of your email, what makes you (or him, for that matter!) think he is able to write you a recommendation letter? How does he know you - in what capacity have you worked with him?

I approved and slightly edited a suggested edit on this. But why would someone edit it 2 1/2 years after the original post? And why isn't that more obvious in the review process?

@FredDouglis I'm very sorry. I'd noticed the date of this question, but the question was so full of waffles and unnecessary details, that I thought editing it would be a good idea.

@SohaFarhinPine no problem, I wouldn't care except that by being last to edit, it made it look like I was the one who resurrected it. But I don't see much point....

@FredDouglis Nobody actually cares for such petty things...

I would send an email along these lines (taken from Cindy Au on Quora):

Dear Professor [Professor's name],
The deadline for submitting letter of recommendation for [name of
  program/ fellowship] is quickly approaching. I would like to
  inquire if there is still any document I can supply to make your
  writing easier in addition to what we discussed during office hours 2 weeks ago.
I understand that this is a very hectic time in the school year and
  thus can't thank you enough for your time and support.
Respectfully yours,
[Your name + ideally a link to some website containing your photo]

My experience was that professors tend to take long time to write recommendations and many of them just forget that you requested one. I would send him an email then visit him a few days later if he doesn't reply. You need to give many warnings and reminders or otherwise you will not get it.

Here is a useful and ethical problem free hack for emails in academia or any place where emails are used a lot:
Send your email at the right time - Not after dinner time so that next day when the person you are trying to contact opens the email in the morning and yours is under 1000 other emails... So I would say send it around the time where workday starts or around lunch. Then the chances of your email being in the top 10 and visible are much higher.

Generally, this is good advice. But... My experience is that for myself and many of my colleagues, particularly those with kids.. We check our e-mail in the late evening. I sometimes get immediate replies from faculty at 10 pm. And sometimes I ignore e-mail at lunch because I'm in the middle of writing.

In short, I'd say time of day can help, but it's not always clear what time is optimum for different faculty.

Here is a useful hack for emails in academia:
Email your professor with a subject line about his research. Pick something about their research that intrigues you and ask a pointed question.
Then remind them you are also waiting for their response regarding writing a letter of recommendation. The professor may have decision paralysis when weighing other tasks they have against writing a letter. They may not have even closely read your request. They may have thought about getting to it later, but later may never be. Try this solution as it will get them to read your email. It's better if you do a bit of research regarding their work to make it sincere.

This is a bad idea. If I thought that your inquiry about my research was just a ploy to get me to open your mail, then you've demoted yourself in my mind.


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Can a paper get rejected after acceptance due to incorporation of reviewer comments
Recently I got a paper accepted in a high impact journal. The acceptance letter came to me with a few reviewer comments, and it was recommended in the letter to take care of those comments. I submitted the final version with incorporating those revisions in the paper and due to one particular comment, I had to change a paragraph almost entirely.
But now after the proofreading, the journal says only formatting changes can be made, and other changes need further approval from Editor in Chief. Can this anyway jeopardize the paper and result in its rejection? Also, is there any way to communicate with the journal to settle this issue?

I am confused. They paper has been accepted right? If it is in the proofreading part, then this means that the final version has been accepted by the editor, and only typos are to be corrected.  Do you want to change anything more at this stage?

The paper has been accepted and with the acceptance letter some comments from the reviewers also came, which I incorporated in the paper. The comments were mostly trivial, like grammar and typos, but for one or two comments, we had to change the writing of a paragraph, though the writing actually meant the same thing as before but it in a clearer and crisper way. After this, the final files were submitted, which was before the proofreading stage. The got the no change mail from the journal after the proofreading stage.

Do you plan to do changes on your manuscript at this proof reading state? You made the necessary corrections and the meaning of the mail is that the paper is basically under production and you cannot change its content (modulo E-i-C approval).

@PsySp, I think I did not fully clarify my statement. The journal asked me to submit a final version of the paper after the acceptance letter came. I forgot to mention that the paper went through an earlier round of review and I submitted a review version after incorporating those reviews. It then got accepted and the reviewers asked for some minor final reviews, out of which one or two made me rewrite a paragraph. I then submitted that as the final version as the journal asked.

It is only after this submission that the proofreading stage began, so I had already incorporated all the reviews before proof reading stage even began. The proof that came to me was done on the final version that I submitted, i.e. the version that took care of the final comments of the reviewers. So basically I want to say that I made the changes before the proofreading stage and after the the acceptance, and note that the changes were not made arbitrarily by me, they were as per the final comments of the reviewers, and the recommendation of the EiC.

Does the statement of the journal that "only formatting changes can be made, and other changes need further approval from Editor in Chief" refer to the changes that you already did before submitting the final version, or to any (potential) additional changes that you might want to do now, after receiving the proofs?

@Uwe, it refers to the changes that I made before submitting the final version, after the acceptance.

@Roland, the journal had already sent me the proof with the version that I submitted, however, later the Editor assistant sent me a mail saying that revisions cannot be done once a paper is accepted, however, in the acceptance letter it said that revisions should be considered. Yes, I have a senior coauthor, he advised me to write to the Editor in Chief explaining the situation. I have written, but it has been two weeks but they have been unresponsive. I have asked about the status several times, but did not get any response.

@Roland, the Editor Assistant said that I can either send the accepted version to the publication team, or if I want to retain the final version with the revisions, I have to write a justification that has to be sent to the EiC, only the EiC can approve such matter. I have done that and sent them, but it has been two weeks, and I have asked them for status update but got no response, which is why I am now getting scared.

Though the paper is accepted, and even the publication team is ready as soon as they get the final version, this matter is withholding the publication process.  is it anyway possible that the paper can get rejected at this stage?

@Roland, thanks for showing some hope. I also think that probably it might be some unintentional delay slowing things down, but since this is going to be my first major publication, I got nervous.

Reviewers sometimes have further complaints, even when the editor has decided to accept a paper.  If the editor issues an acceptance, you should not attempt to respond to the remaining reviewer comments.

What you've described sounds like a 'conditional acceptance', but I'm confused how you got to the proof stage without addressing the comments suggested. How did that happen? Also, no, do not make major changes during the proof stage.

I actually submitted the final version with the revisions, I have made an edit, please see.

Also, the acceptance letter said specifically that the paper was accepted.

I made the changes after the acceptance letter came, and introduced the revisions in the final version that I submitted. Can that create a problem? Also, I did not make any major change during the proof, just some changes in the references, and biographies etc.

What "further changes can only be made with approval of the Editor-in-Chief" usually means is changes after you submit your revised version that addresses the comments of the referees.

You need to ask the journal what you should do. And then do it.
If you represent everything as it happened, then the journal gave you the wrong instructions. Maybe you misunderstood. It does not matter.
Presumably, you are dealing with a person at the journal who is in charge of typesetting and no longer with an Associate Editor. Explain to them that you were trying to follow the instructions in the acceptance letter, but in case you misunderstood them, offer to submit the version of the paper you submitted before acceptance, with the small corrections that needed to be made, but without the alterations to that paragraph. You might include the acceptance letter. As long as you are willing to cooperate with them, your article will get published.


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Is it normal for a department not to specify where a PhD candidate's funding will come from before the candidate accepts the position?
I've been accepted into a Philosophy PhD program, and they have told me that I will probably have a job as either a teaching assistant or research assistant for each of the next five years and that there's a decent chance I'll get some kind of summer fellowship for one year. However, they won't tell me which years I'll be a TA and which an RA, nor will they guarantee my funding for any time period.
I'm curious whether this is the norm, both in Philosophy and in PhD programs more generally.

I have seen this occur in general.

I actually see (at least) two questions here. First, whether it is usual not to specify exactly where funding comes from, and second, whether it is usual not to tell whether there will be any funding at all. The first point might even be split into concrete funding source (not that relevant for an applicant) and kind of funding source (depending on the jurisdiction, employment vs. scholarship can make a difference for social benefits). Also, a country-tag may be helpful, as the distinction between RA and TA is not equally strong (read: doesn't necessarily always exist) everywhere.

Thanks, Mapper. I added a US tag. At this department there does seem to be a big difference between TA and RA jobs, with RA jobs being more desirable and less time-consuming.

It is certainly not unusual to not specify where funding will come from, even when funding is guaranteed. Often, funding sources aren't obtained until immediately before the funds are used.
Research assistantships are probably the most predictable, because they can come from grants that last for multiple years. However, even long-term grants may not perfectly overlap with the timing of a graduate career and can shift from year to year. Project assistantships are similar, though they may also have similarities to teaching assistantships.
Fellowships, traineeships and other types of scholarship are probably the least predictable. They are often competitive, short-term, and although some may be within a given department (so the department knows it has 2 fellowships to award, for example) they still cannot promise them for a specific student until the competitive process is complete. An exception would be a traineeship/fellowship that is offered to a student for their first year, but funding after that is less concrete.
Teaching assistantships are often a way to make up the difference and to fund students who can't be funded another way, although in some cases departments may require students to fill TAships to fill a need. In my experience, when a department guarantees funding they only mean that they promise you they will find you a TAship (or PAship) if they cannot fund you with other means or you cannot transfer to a different professor who has RA money.
For your situation, the most important information you have is that your funding is not guaranteed. In my experience at large R1 universities in the US, it is the norm to not have guaranteed funding in some disciplines (humanities, social science) and to have guaranteed funding in others (engineering, science) - it mostly depends on the availability of research funds. I would suggest that senior students in the program you are applying to may be your best source of information: if you have an in-person interview where you can meet students, you should ask them what their funding situations were like, or if you already interviewed, hopefully you met with some students that you can ask. The program may also have some statistics, but otherwise you have to base your decision on a fairly vague non-promise.