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Is it a good idea to write a larger than expected project report?
A professor expects a report for a project to be around 3-4 pages (but never said anything, this is only my guess).
Is it a bad idea to submit a report of 12-13 pages if it contains useful information and detailed analysis? Doesn't this show I am interested in the subject?

If you wish to conduct an experiment, pick a page at random (after the 4th page) and add the following sentence "If you read this I will give you $100".  My hypothesis is that you will not be asked for the money, indicating that significant parts of the report were not read.

My advice: submit the requested 3-4 pages plus a clearly marked appendix for anything extra.

If 4 pages are only your guess, you should go to your professor and clarify.

BTW, a page is a very inaccurate unit of text length on its own. Does your professor (or your institution) also specify font and margin sizes? I've seen reports printed with such absurd settings that they could easily be 1/3 of the page count if printed normally... And what about graphs and such? If I were you I'd just ask my professor...

We (you!) don't know what the requirements are. How can we possibly answer?

@thkala: Totally agree. My default LaTeX template spits out around 8 pages even before I write a single word... :)

If I say "3 or 4 pages" and get 5, not problem. If I get 12, my first reaction is to give minimal grade, for not following simple guidelines. If I'm in good mood, I'd read it (unlikely, term's end isn't a time for jollyness ;-), and if it really dazzles me (no rambling, no unending tables that could have been summarized in a graph or two, does the work asked, and goes far beyond it in useful direction) I might even give some extra credit (and bookmark you for later). If just longwinded explanation that could be summarized in 3 pages, again fail.

You say, never said - how do you know?
In any case, if 4 is the limit, write 8 pages, cut to 4. From experience, it will be much better this way.

It depends.
In my courses, the professors usually list a max page limit but no minimum. I talked to one and he said its because he doesn't have time to read 50 students' papers if they're all too long and he has had too many students that ramble.
My suggestion is to tend towards following the directions. If that isn't enough, then just ask the professor. A one or two line email could solve this!

I usually set a min and a max because many students' reports are way too cursory.

Assume there's an actual page limit. If you exceed it, you are taking more of the reader's time than you were given, so you lose your "right" to get it read in full.

Often, that can be addressed by synthesizing better what you are saying. By not synthesizing better, you're saving the time you'd spend revising, but wasting the reader's time.
Other times, by leaving out material or by moving it to appendixes.
Reading more on the subject should just mean saying smarter things, not more.

Brevity matters because people have too much to read and not enough time for it — we live in information overload. Even researchers do. You might as well start practicing for it. ;-)
Caveat: brevity means conveying the same content in less time for the reader. There are ways to shorten text that harm this goal, by making text harder to understand, or omitting essential content (but what's essential?); that's best avoided.

Speaking as someone who has done a bit of report marking (as PhD student working as TA, not as the professor/coordinator).

Even where a page limit was given, unless the professor has said to deduct marks, I wouldn't deduct marks. Ways the professor could have said that I could deduct marks would include:

Including a portion of marks for presentation/format/writing style
A direct statement in the assignment brief (eg "5% marks will be deducted if page limit is violated")
Telling me in an email or words eg "I have warned the students not to go over X pages, and that they will suffer penalities. If anyone goes over, please deduct 5 marks")

Similarly, even where the reports have other format requirements (eg present in PDF, and the student submits a MS-Word document), unless there are marks specifically allocated for succeeding/failing at this; marks will not be deducted.
If it was a case that the report was supposed to be testing the students ability to write concisely, then there will be marks allocated. If marks are not then it isn't being assessed -- so marks won't be deducted.
However, That does not mean I am happy about receiving an oversized report. I am in-fact unhappy, this unhappiness may end up manifesting in less patience -- wither I intend it or not.

if your paper includes a mathematical calculation, and the result doesn't match the expected, then I am likely to give some minimal mark and move on. Why? Because I don't have the time to dig closely through the workings to find where the mistake was made, and to judge if it is a simple mistake, or a deep failing of understanding.
Conversely though, where the report is well written (and reasonably sized), then I will look closer. I have given almost full marks for an answer that was not the answer to the question asked -- because I had the time to look at it closely, see that they were reading the question as using a notation that was not used in class (but was used in industry, with the opposite meaning); and had answered a different but similar question.
This loss of patience/time would generally show up anywhere that has working that I could quickly tell if it is right or wrong, but that would take a while to verify how wrong it is.

The key factor you are missing when it comes to considering this is that most markers are paid by the hour casuals; and that the unit has a finite budget with which to pay them; so they are told "I will pay you for 8 hours of marking", by the professor. If they can't get the marking done it that time, then they have to go back to the professor, and either ask for more time (and money), or the professor may take it and do it themselves, or they may end up being pressured (internally/subconsciously or directly) to work for free (because they "should" have been able to get it all done.). The key thing here is that when many people write an overlong reports, they are costing the markers money, or respect.
If the marker has 8 hours to mark 40 reports, which were supposed to be 4 pages each then that is not too bad, that is 20 pages (from 5 report) per hour. It means about 10 minutes to read each paper, and a couple of minutes to allocate marks. If your report is 16 pages, then you are using up reading time that belongs to another student, or time that belongs to the marker (when they should have gone home).

The answers so far generally focus on being considerate to the person who is marking the report. That is certainly a consideration, but I think there is another point that has been missed: writing concisely is an important skill in itself. There are many situations you may find yourself in, both inside and outside academia, where you may be writing to a strict word limit. Learning the skills to say what you need to say succinctly takes time, and is worth the practice.
If there is a limit, stick to it. As others have said, you can use an appendix if there is extra material that you are very keen to get acknowledged.


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Query for a PhD
I have completed my bachelor.I have the following question
1)is it possible in any country of Europe to do a phD without a masters degree?

Technically, yes, some do; but even then, a masters is expected, except in exceptional cases.

This highly depends on the country you are interested in - Europe is not a single entity when it comes to universities, despite some efforts being made to make life easier.

Yes, it is often possible, but whether it is actually done depends entirely on your field. For example, in biology it may be expected to get your Masters first, while in Psychology it may be common to go directly into your PhD. Often, a university will not accept you without a Masters if it is the common practice in your field.
I'd recommend asking someone you know at your current institution whether people in your field often complete a Masters prior to enrolling in a PhD.

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What are my obligations as an MSc holder?
I hold two degrees, a BSc (2011) and an MSc (2013), from the University of Waterloo. I noticed recently that on my BSc it reads "[...] and has been granted admission to that degree with all the rights and privileges thereto appertaining.", whereas on my MSc it reads "[...] with all associated rights, privileges and obligations." I'm a bit curious about the difference. First of all, I wonder what these obligations might be. Off the top of my head I can think of a couple of rights and privileges that would apply to me as a degree holder, but nothing that I might be obligated to do occurs to me. A quick search for an explanation of the text didn't turn anything up either. I also wonder whether the association of obligations to the degree is peculiar to the MSc for some reason. Would also be curious about the ubiquity (or not) of such statements at other institutions.

+1 for an interesting question. I'm going to check my B.S. degree when I get home to see what it says (if anything) :) But if I had to guess, I'm assuming this is a disclaimer that they can revoke the degree in the future if it's shown that you plagiarized, falsified your grades/work, etc.

For the interested reader, see also https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41735/what-are-all-the-rights-and-privileges-pertaining-thereto.

I agree with @tonysdg - those obligations might include that you faithfully represent your degree, and in general uphold the reputation of the institution granting you the degree. I've never heard of those obligations being enforced post facto, though, only if the degree itself is obtained by some dishonorable method.

I bet most schools would love to add "donate to us!" as an implicit obligation....

Some insight can be gained from considering the Oxford degree day ceremony, which is still conducted in Latin and uses fairly traditional formulae in admitting graduands to degrees. The descriptions used indicate various rights and responsibilities (all translations from here):
Candidates for the DD, DCL, DM and MCh (all higher doctorates) swear to the following:

Doctors (Masters or ladies/gentlemen), you shall swear
  to observe the statutes, privileges, customs and liberties
  of this University. Also when you shall have been
  admitted to the House of Congregation and to the House
  of Convocation you shall bear yourselves in them well
  and faithfully to the honour and profit of the University.
  And especially in those matters which concern Graces
  and Degrees you shall not impede the worthy or put
  forward the unworthy. Also at elections you shall record
  and nominate one only at one time and no more in each
  scrutiny, and nominate no one unless you know certainly
  or believe firmly that s/he is fit and proper.

For other higher degrees:

You shall swear to observe the statutes, privileges, customs
  and liberties of the University, as far as they concern you.

They are then admitted to the degree by the Vice-Chancellor, with the wording (for the DD, DCL, DM and MCh):

To the honour of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and for the profit
  of our Holy Mother Church, and of learning, I, by my
  own authority and that of the whole University, give you
  licence to incept [begin to teach] in the Faculty of Arts (or
  Faculty of Surgery, Medicine, Law or Theology) to lecture,
  to dispute and to do all the other things that pertain to
  the rank of Master (or Doctor) in the same Faculty, when
  those things have been completed which the Statutes
  require, in the name of the Lord – Father, and Son, and
  Holy Ghost.

(A non-Christian formula is available if graduands request).
Other higher degrees have a formula either conferring permission to incept (begin to teach) in the faculty, or just admitting them to the degree.
For the MA, graduands swear an oath "binding them to
be loyal, obedient and faithful to the University and its
interests, and to comport themselves circumspectly at
elections to University offices" before being admitted by the Vice-Chancellor.
Finally, BA graduands are admitted with the following formula:

Ladies/gentlemen, I admit you to the degree of Bachelor
  of Arts: furthermore by my own authority and that of the
  whole University, I give you the power of lecturing, and of
  doing all the other things which concern the said degree.

To summarize, traditionally degrees were about membership in a Faculty of the university, and came with responsibilities to uphold the rules of the university, and participate fairly in elections. (These aren't empty words at Oxford, where they still confer 'MA status' on faculty members who do not have an Oxford MA so that they can participate in the governing bodies, and which still allows all graduates to vote on the Chancellorship and Professorship of Poetry). It may be that something similar is indicated in the University of Waterloo's ceremony or statutes, although it's also possible it's just traditional phrasing without anything formal behind it nowadays.

+1 for this answer. Almost 30 years after obtaining a doctorate from Oxford (and missing the ceremony), I finally learned some subtle details about my degree, of which I was not aware before. Thank you.

Obligations of a Degree-Holder
It seems reasonable that the degree-conferring institution would expect the following of those whom it grants degrees to:

Maintain or enhance the reputation of your school.
Maintain or enhance the reputation of your earned degree.
Support the education of others.
Education is privilege. A degree typically brings wealth and power to its owner. Do what others cannot do to make the world a better place.
A higher degree implies understanding, and the world holds you to a higher standard because of it. Use your understanding to bring understanding to others.

It might be worth contacting your institution to see how they would articulate these obligations. (If you do, please share!)
Useful Article
There's a thoughtful article written about this by Dr. Stephen R. Briggs, president of Berry College. You can read it here. Of course, it's written for graduates of Berry College, but it applies equally well for all of us. For those interested in this topic, it's worth a skim.
TL;DR: Degree-holders' opportunities for education were given by others. Degree-holders therefore have, in a sense, an obligation to pay it forward.
Here's an excerpt:

On average, a college degree results in higher status, higher salaries and
  a better quality of life. As graduates accept their diplomas, I remind
  them that they have earned this distinction – but only in part. I
  appeal to them also to receive and cherish this honor as a gift,
  because others have made it possible. Others before them sacrificed to
  build America’s remarkable infrastructure – its institutions,
  political and economic systems, and freedoms. Still others built Berry
  – the financial base, facilities and programs that students today
  receive as an inheritance.
Martha Berry stands as an exemplar in this regard. Although she never
  graduated from college herself, through a lifetime of devotion and
  determination she made it possible for thousands of others to graduate
  from college. It is important that we not take for granted her efforts
  or those of her many partners and successors. Berry students have
  always worked hard for their education, but they also have always
  benefited greatly from the foresight and generosity of others.
For these reasons, Berry graduates have an obligation to build the systems
  and structures of the future. They need to become the pillars on which
  communities are built by serving as leaders in local agencies, schools
  and churches. They should open doors for those who need assistance and
  direction. They ought to provide a fitting return on the investment
  that others have made in them. In so doing, Berry’s graduates affirm
  that those of us who are privileged should strive all the more not to
  act privileged. Rights and privileges should advance what one gives,
  not what one gets.

I downvoted this, because you have claimed a degree holder is obliged to do a number of things which they clearly are not. Why should a degree holder feel any obligation to maintain or enhance the reputation of their school?

@MJeffryes: I think it's reasonable to assume most schools would consider that to be an implicit obligation. Besides that, what other obligations I listed do you take issue with? Remember, this question is about the expectations/obligations the school has for degree-holders—not just what you think these expectations/obligations should be.

If I don't promote or enhance the reputation of the school (or I even disparage it), then what consequences are there? If there are none, then it isn't an obligation.

@MJeffryes: Just because a person acts against an expectation/obligation doesn't make the expectation go away. Neither does the lack of consequence(s). It may change people's behavior, but the ideal is untouched. I was issued a driver's license with the obligation not to break the law while driving (e.g. by speeding). I could drive a car at twice the speed limit in the middle of nowhere, where I'm certain to not be issued a speeding ticket, but the lack of enforcement doesn't negate the expectation or obligation.

That's a very silly comparison. Laws are the ultimate example of an obligation. They are publicly disseminated, along with the penalties for breaking them. In contrast, my university has never told me I'm supposed to do any of the things that you have listed, and there are no consequences for failing to do them.

@MJeffryes: We ought to put this in a separate discussion thread.... (I would, but don't know how.) True: there are consequences for speeding. That's why my example was of somebody driving where they wouldn't get caught—no consequences.

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

I would think the obligations include honesty about any subject matter in which your degree says you have some expertise.

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How to remind a professor about my previous mail that was sent two months ago?
I sent an email to a professor in my university two months ago for a research position in the lab since her research was about my place and interests.She told she will contact me sometime in feb (since she was on a maternity leave till December and has joined again in January).How should I remind her gently about my email or should I wait till the end of the month?

Maternity does rearrange your life quite a bit, I'm not surprised this fell in a crack somewhere. First make sure she is back, and how all went with the baby (there can be serious complications, and she might not be back yet).
Send a short mail asking if the position is still open, reminding your earlier contact, and perhaps attach whatever you sent originally. Remember to congratulate on the new baby.

I would follow this, with the caveat that I'd also include a copy of the previous email and her reply to you asking you to contact her after she returns.

Simple! Forward the same email to the professor, and let him/her know if he/she has any update on the position. Then the professor can catch up with the last email you sent by scrolling down to this forwarded email.

I would definitely summarize and reference your previous email in a sentence or two at the top of the forward. Makes for easier reading and is more likely to get proper attention paid it.

There is another way in which you can go yourself in person and ask her whether that particular position is still vacant or not. In that way you can remind her that you had applied for the post.


text:
Research Faculty with no salary
I was a postdoc for two year and promoted to research assistant professor this month. Although my supervisor strongly convinced me to stay with him and always came up with long term plans, he could not bring any funding to support my salary and told me (just two weeks before starting the new semester) to seek teaching opportunities within our department. But as I talked to the department head, he did not guarantee that there will be any teaching position available as all of them are already filled.
I am not a green card holder nor citizen, so I cannot apply for jobs outside of the university because the change of visa status can take up to a year.
I should also mention that finding an equivalent position at other universities may also be challenging since the hiring process of assistant professors are usually time taking if I am lucky enough to find an opening.
Please kindly correct me if I am wrong and let me know if you have thoughts that may help me survive at least for the next semester until I find a new position.
Thank you!

Yikes! You are not being treated well, I would say! I think your appraisal of the difficulties is correct, and I have no good advice. You can still hope that the department does come up with some teaching openings, after they see enrollment figures for the upcoming semester. The dept head saying they cannot guarantee is surely just honest... though, the dept might want to compensate for your supervisor's negligence!

Does your supervisor know what departmend head shared with you on a lack of guarantee of a teaching position? If not, then I would inform your supervisor and expect him to find a way to get research salary in the case of force majeure.

Does your visa not depend on having a paid job ?

How good are you at writing grant proposals?

What's your question?

Can someone in the US comment on whether this is legal? In Australia, it wouldn’t be, and there are protections in place for people who report employers that abuse their visa vulnerability to underpay (though an unpaid visiting researcher position would probably be legal if the visa allowed them to stay without work).

What country are you in? What kind of visa do you have?

@Significance It's legal if when he doesn't get paid, he doesn't have responsibilities. He's free to return to his home country. Does Australia guarantee permanent market-rate employment to everybody on a visa?

I think you should move on and find other jobs. Your supervisor does not seem very considerate of your visa situation. I would not trust his long-term plans if he is unable to solve the short-term funding problem.

But OP says "I cannot apply for jobs outside of the university" -- please explain how to get around this.

He may apply to jobs in other countries.

This is for sure an awkward position you find yourself in. I'm not sure any of us can provide any useful feedback; I see nothing inherently incorrect in your description of the situation. At many universities, research faculty positions like the one you've been promoted into are indeed "soft money positions", i.e., all salary comes from external grants.
I think it might be useful to ask yourself how you ended up here. The fact that the position is not funded by the university other than through external grants should have been something you should have been aware of a long time ago, along with the need to have contingency plans should there not be any external funding through your PI. If you were unaware of this fact, then you did not do your homework in learning about the position you were about to accept, and your adviser did not appropriately communicate with you either. The fact that you are only considering alternatives such a short time before the semester starts means that something fundamental has gone wrong.

Soft money positions have terrible job security. What it does allow one to do, as opposed to being a postdoc, depending on the agency, is be a lead PI for grants. So it can be a good way to start ones career if they are unable to secure a traditional tenure-track role. But as you say, something has gone awfully wrong that OP has accepted this position and failed to secure funding for it, whether through their advisor or on their own. Also it appears as though this is not a true research assistant professor position (i.e. more independent), but rather an extended postdoc with their former PI.

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Am I able to withdraw a graduate application?
What happened was that i accidentally sent an application for admission for a graduate course for a college in the US and i live in the UK. I sent an email to admissions to withdraw my application but I’ve been panicking cause I don’t even go to university in the UK.

Why panic? What bad thing is going to possibly happen based on this?

I assume you "applied" to a real university, and not to a diploma mill.
Nothing will happen to you. I assume that you applied electronically. As an application asks the applicant to upload additional information (such as transcripts and letters of reference), your application is and will stay incomplete and not be considered. In addition, you have to pay an application fee, which I presume you did not. You might get at the most an automatic remainder letter that your application is incomplete. It is possible that the admissions center has manually deleted your application upon receipt of your email, but equally possible that they did not do anything as there is no real need.
In all, you have a started application that has been abandoned. Even if you would have completed an application, you do not have to accept the offer of admission.
(If you would have applied to a "diploma mill", they might try to harass you into paying fees, but much more likely, they will not do anything because this is not their business model. They make money from selling fake degrees via fake courses. In any case, just do not pay. It is also possible that you were about to fall for a scam. They will then try to put you in an emotionally unbalanced state, for example by installing fear. In this case, you just have to break off contact. Given that you are "panicking", this might be the case.)


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Posting a (non-original research) Masters thesis on arXiv?
Based on the following posts:
Posting master's thesis on arxiv?
Should one put their Master's thesis online?
although my question differs in that my "Master's thesis" was not part of a formal Masters program. Rather it is more of an extensive reading project that I did over the last 10 months under a very well-known advisor in my field through the Fulbright Scholarship. I've a 150+ page review on a topic I think would be of interested to others in my field at my level of knowledge. However it does not contain anything new, and I think this means it has no place on the arXiv. It solely summarizes the inception of a topic from the 1960s, and summarizes a new take on the topic that my adviser uncovered in some seminal work around 2010.
Can I get some input on the pros and cons of posting it on the arxiv/ inspireHEP profile?
Pros:

easy to send to friends, peers, potential collaborators, and most importantly, potential PhD advisors at my uni

Cons:

it might look petty/immature

In my field (cosmology), plenty of researchers and professors post lecture notes on arXiv, and of course many people write and publish review articles which don't contain any new results. So there's no requirement of novelty to post on arXiv.
Whether it looks immature largely depends on the quality of your writing. A poorly written review will not be read, and could reflect badly on you if you continue in academia (employers and grant reviewers will look at your Inspire and/or ADS profile). Bear in mind that you can't remove things from arXiv.
I would highly recommend asking your supervisor about this. They are best placed to tell you whether it's appropriate or not, according to the quality of your work and the conventions in your field. If you don't post on arXiv, you could consider uploading the pdf to your own website, a public github repository, google drive or similar. Then you can still share the link with interested people.

Your 2nd paragraph is precisely my worry. I am quite proud of the quality of the work, but someone else may not be and that could effect postdoc opportunities. I think your website idea is a happy medium! Cheers :)

@LopeyTall it's what I did with my own Master's thesis and it's done me no harm so far :) good luck with your PhD!

Thank you! and thank you for passing some wisdom down as you pursue yours!

Putting it online usually cannot hurt, but do not expect many people to read it. I would only recommend against putting it online when you know larger flaws.
Minor flaws should be not big problem, because people know that a masters thesis is one of your first works and probably not perfect. And they probably know that their own master thesis is less important than their recent works as well.
You write

However it does not contain anything new, and I think this means it has no place on the arXiv. It solely summarizes the inception of a topic from the 1960s, and summarizes a new take on the topic that my adviser uncovered in some seminal work around 2010.

Reading this, I would think you and your advisor actually did write about something new. Maybe not a major breakthrough, but you're thinking about putting it on arXiv and not about submitting it to nature.
It reads a bit like you are thinking the actual work could be the work of your advisor. But when it was his idea and your work to actually work on it, verify it and write it down, you still would be the main contributor and the first author on a paper.
Having a great idea justifies being an author (often the last author), but the actual work was delegated to you and the quality of the work was good enough to earn you a masters degree.
So I do not think you have anything to lose. But I am not sure if you will gain much, so I would just do what I am feeling what's right. Given your question, you seem to like to upload it, but when you are doubting it too much you do not have to.

I understood it so that the advisor did some work in 2010 that this thesis summarizes. I did not take it so that the work in 2010 was done, even partially, by the author of the present thesis.

I assume some work was done, when someone got a masters degree. The question here is the novelty of the work, which depends on what parts of the idea the supervisor published or what someone else published in the meantime.

@Tommi indeed! This present review is solely that - a review of a certain procedure in the field established circa 19060's (although updated to the more approachable methodology of current literature) as well as a recap of its new application in my advisers work from 2010. I was not involved whatsoever in this 2010 work.


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What are the major ethical concerns with private tutoring?
I'm currently a computer science graduate student on a low stipend, and have started spending a few hours per week tutoring undergraduates to help make ends meet. I love teaching and want to be a help to students, but I also want to make sure that I don't personally cross any ethical boundaries in doing so, or be complicit in students doing so.
Some obvious transgressions are tutoring for a class for which I am also a TA (conflict of interest), and writing code or otherwise outright doing work for students (plagiarism), but what other ethical considerations do I need to keep in mind to remain above-board in doing this?
Students sometimes ask me questions about their assignments. How much help is too much help? If a student is asked a "trick" or unclear question, is it appropriate for me to clarify it? If they're having trouble debugging a program, can I help them localize the issue to a few lines of code, or do I need to remain very general about things? Can I review code they've already submitted to help them improve by, for example, showing a better way of managing memory in C, or showing how to optimize or shorten their programs? Can I write short code snippets illustrate a point in a lesson?
I've also noticed that some questions on homework assignments are very basic. For example, in our systems course, the students were asked "True or False: a register is a small location in RAM". The answer was in the lecture slides. It makes me nervous to not be able to distinguish a request for a basic fact from a request for a homework answer. The assignments are only visible to students during the term, so I can't tell unless they show me (as was the case here). Should I give an indirect answer like "I can't just tell you that; did you review the lecture notes on CPU architecture?" as I did this time? Was doing that unethical?

Great question. As a lecturer, I often encounter students that submit identical solutions, and when asked "why did you copy from your classmate?" They answer "I did not copy; both of us went to the same private tutor".

You seem to have a pretty good ethical sense based on your question, so I think you won't go far wrong following your instincts.
But if you have the opportunity, it is a good idea to go visit the prof teaching the course for which you are tutoring and ask for any additional general guidance.
It is usually a good idea to answer "trivial" questions with other questions. "What do you think the answer is? Why? Explain your reasoning." That sort of thing. Often the student will get a flash of insight. But if you can point to a flaw in reasoning you help the student without giving direct answers.
Good professors when asked questions by students seldom give out complete answers unless it is in the context of a continuing conversation. Instead, a "minimal" hint is given to get the student over a block and which lets them proceed. If a student repeatedly has problems with the same issue or block, an additional exercise will be given that tries to give the student practice with the reasoning.
But the technique of asking for an analysis of any issue that leads to a block is a good way to diagnose the student's thinking and help them get over it.
Giving students general problem solving strategies is also good, but probably less useful, as it doesn't usually have a diagnostic element. But even "Where did you look for an answer?" can help. Especially if followed by "Where else could you look?". You could then suggest other sources if appropriate.
I'll note for completeness that some students are misled by the resources that they use. Some of those resources are wrong and some may be written poorly leading to ambiguity. I've had students get in terrible jams by using perfectly rational thought processes applied to bad input data. That is rare, but it can occur.

"some students are misled by the resources that they use. Some of those resources are wrong [...] I've had students get in terrible jams by using perfectly rational thought processes applied to bad input data."
The three intro CS classes gate the major by requiring students to clear a certain GPA threshold to proceed. This sort of thing happens so frequently in the notes I wonder if it is deliberate.

Sorry it took me so long to come back and accept this!

@Buffy has hit all the points.  But I'll add that I've noticed that different departments have quirks.  Often the quirk is just the department heads personal bias.  It could be that at Nebraska College, tutoring students in your own department is fine, as long as there's no conflict of interest.  But at Kansas College, the department head thinks that the same situation is unethical (I mean, after all, the undergrad has already paid tuition which, in part, pays your stipend, and now, here you are double-charging him.)
So my advice is that you ask the department head his views.  His views may be unreasonable, but....you know.

Yes, this applies especially if you are salaried (receive a specified annual, etc. sum to cover whatever hours are necessary for you to get everything done). If you are paid hourly based on hours actually worked for the department, taking an extra job "off the clock" for work not assigned to you by the department can be perceived as more ethical.

Try to ensure that any advice or assistance you give is consistent with what is permissible under the rubric of any assignment the student shows to you, especially if said assignment counts towards a qualification. Good tutoring involves guiding the student to find solutions for himself/herself, rather than doing the work for him/her.
Ultimately, the onus is on the student not to cheat. However, as a private tutor, it is your responsibility to provide the right guidance to him/her so that he/she acts ethically. If a student acting in good faith does something unethical as a result of erroneous guidance on your part, you may be held liable. So, always refer a student back to the regulations of his/her course. You can do this by asking him/her to check any relevant guidelines/rules in any relevant handbook/rubric. If in doubt, confirm with him/her as you go along what is and is not permissible (if the student acting in good faith, he/she will appreciate such clarity and understand his/her responsibilities). If you think he/she is misleading you about this, insist upon seeing the relevant handbook/rubric for yourself. If you have evidence that he/she is actually cheating, report it anonymously to the relevant authorities.
One final point about private tutoring: it may be worth making clear to the student that you cannot make any guarantees about his/her academic performance (because nobody can make such guarantees), since it ultimately depends on him/her.

I'd also note that the onus is on the instructor to prevent those that cheat on homework (which is universal nowadays) from gaining too much advantage in their class grade.

Another feature ... When you become a private tutor for someone, then you are in a superior position.  That means any romantic relationship between the two of you is not allowed.

Can you clarify in what way a tutor is superior to their client? Is my grocer or pharmacist superior to me because I pay them to do things for me? And what is the authority that will “not allow” a tutor to have a romantic relationship with their student?

Not that I would want to, but I don't see the conflict of interest here, either. Any such students would be paying me for my services. If anything, the fact that they pay me puts them in a superior position since they can fire me.

Could you clarify your country in which this is not allowed? Do you mean by law/religion or something else?

Maybe this holds in dictatorships, but not in democratic nations


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Revision without reviewer comments
Last year october, i have submitted one of my review paper to a reputed journal in springer.On march i received a mail saying that a minor revision is required along with reviewers comments.I have done all the corrections and have submitted back to the journal with all those needed documents.On the same day of submission, i have received an another mail saying that reviewers have suggested a minor revision but under the heading comments for the author, it was blank.
I have sent mail to the editor, and others,but did not get any reply.After waiting 3 days, i have submitted the revision saying that i did not receive any comments,so i am sending back my first revision details.
But the same thing happened again, i have recieved a mail for next minor revision without any reviewer comments.
What should i do.I am confused

It looks like you've asked this question before; you received a lot of helpful comments there. Better to edit that version of the question rather than continue reposting new versions.


text:
Came across a very similar framework: what to do?
I am from a social science field. As a part of my dissertation I have published a paper on my topic in a journal with good standing. In that paper, I propose a framework to analyze an issue and related topics. This got published, even received several citations in the last year.
Today, I came across another work, released one year before my work using a very similar framework with a massively different interpretation and application.
I will try my best explain the similarities as an example.
We both look at socioeconomic standings of a populations (in different countries, with different focuses) but we use the same two parameters (let's say positive / negative and happiness / unhappiness) and combine them, in slightly different manners. I merge these parameters to create four categories and analyze these categories depending on data - collected by myself. The other one quantifies these categories on their data - collected by themselves, through topics derived from the literature.
So our way to analyze, at least in the beginning, are similar, however, our focus (as in what aspect and which populations we are looking at), findings, cases, utilizations are incredibly different.
Interestingly, we only share one source throughout all this. However at the end of the day, we are both focused on positive / negative / happiness / unhappiness combination. There are more differences involved by the way. Coding scheme, focus within the field, the cases we compare, quantification, etc.
What do I do? Should I even do something about this or yes, two people can develop similar frameworks from different sources and utilize it as their own. They do sound same, which is a worry for me.

Bear in mind, your reviewers didn't spot this either, or if they did, they didn't feel it was worth asking you to add a citation.

I think the part that really hit me is that we use the same "frames" and our starting point is similar and explanation we give for these points. It's still a relatively quite new work -the other one and mine as well- and that worried me quite a bit but again we draw from different sources, use very same categories but the way we handle the application is different. So similar "branding", similar explanations but utilization is different. I will mention that work in the future but again, thanks for the insight!

Interestingly, we only share one source throughout all this
Did you try to investigate the other papers citing this one source? maybe you find the big inspirator of all your independent works!

This is an opportunity of collaboration or at least a dialog with the only other person on the planet that understand your perception to such depth. Go ahead. Write that author of the other paper and suggest an online meeting.

@NielsHolst Exactly. See if the author of the other framework is interested in a collaborative review of the two frameworks that's partially comparative. Perhaps a new insight can be found.

@NielsHolst Well, we do use "identical" frames and we look at similar units however how we utilize and what we focus on are considerably different with different dynamics and perspectives in mind. I did check up on him though, just out of curiosity, he is out of academia apparently, working for a large company as a senior researcher. So, dead ends on both aspects to be frank.

You do not need to "do" anything right now. Congratulations on publishing a paper that is attracting interest from other people in your field!
If you publish more in this area, now that you've found this other work that is similar to yours you should cite it as appropriate and relevant so that people reading your work can connect it to what other people are doing.

Alright, so I had a little panic attack when I came across the other research but you are saying there is no need to worry and all? I mean, I am happy to cite it in the future, again there are differences but I am really scared that somebody can read both papers and think: yep this guy pulled from that guy... even though, only single source is shared. - and thanks!

@isthisablunder If they have any extensive experience in research, they'll know these sorts of things happen all the time. Yes, it's possible someone familiar with the other work will see yours and be suspicious about the similarly, but you'll just have to let them be. It won't be the first or last time that another human assumes something wrongly negative about you, that's just life. It apparently wasn't something so well known that the people peer reviewing your paper would recognize it. The similarities may be standing out to you now, but you also mentioned some substantial differences.

You might also want to get in touch with the other researcher and see if you can collaborate!

@jsavn I see similar suggestions here a lot, but I don't think merely having come up with a superficially similar framework necessary suggests collaboration; I would advise collaboration when someone else brings an additional necessary piece to your project. It's possible that also applies in this case, but isn't evident just from the situation described. It's not necessary to reach out to every person doing something similar to see if they want to collaborate.

@BryanKrause, fair enough! I'm a junior researcher and to me this looks like an opportunity to reach out, and I think I would have appreciated the same suggestion if I was in OP's shoes. I also appreciate I don't know a lot about the situation, and I appreciate a more tempered response also. THanks!


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I work on a meaningless problem, no idea how to proceed
When I contacted my advisor, he had an interesting project proposal. However, since I'm a foreigner, it turns out I'm not allowed to work in that area. So, my advisor changed the project to something more generic, which ended up being very complex to address. The field has been stagnating since the early 2000s.
At first, my studies were exciting, but as time went on, they seemed going no where. I don't know what to do. My advisor gives me these pointless task, e.g. re-run the same computation with a larger number, keeping in mind the general formula exist!
Our meetings are very short, only about five minutes, while his meetings with other students last over an hour. He is actively helping his other students to work with people outside our group, but I feel totally left out.

Have you raised this issue directly with your advisor? What does he say when you say that you're stuck and the project seems to go nowhere?

@ChristianHennig I raised this concern with him, he brushed it off as that’s the nature of research and nobody knows what is ahead! Technically, what he says is true, but it used in the wrong context. I feel he doesn’t care,  I am not being paid by any of his grants nor any of his projects.

Welcome to academia!

@Okano No, not academia. "Welcome to the wrong supervisor and/or topic". I suspect OP needs to change both.

Not knowing all your circumstances, I am unable to offer advice. But I shall take the liberty of sharing with you the story of my son, to whom a similar thing happened several years ago.
My son became a graduate student of one of the most celebrated scholars in his field.  The great scholar, however, was an outright bad advisor.  He offered problems to his students, and preferred not to be bothered by them, unless they bring a solution or come across an interesting finding.
To cope, my son began to seek potentially interested colleagues and to strike cooperation with them. Thus he published several papers, and he certainly learned from his collaborators much more than from his official supervisor.
Through networking, my son also learned about a professor from a different school, who was less famous a scientist but renown for his dedication to working jointly with his students. So, on fulfilling the Masters requirements, my son contacted that professor and transferred to that other school.
The switch was not smooth, because the new topic, though related to my son's previous publications, was still somewhat different. Nevertheless, my son's thitherto accumulated experience and, most importantly, the collaborative work style of his new advisor helped him to complete his dissertation in 3 years. After the defence, he got a postdoctoral fellowship at a prominent lab.
This story is only one data point; nonetheless worth consideration.

Treat this situation as an opportunity. It is your PhD and you have to find the way. You're doing it here, so let me give some generic advice, which could be greatly expanded.

When I contacted my advisor, he had an interesting project proposal.

Good, that's his project proposal, not yours. There will be certainly some aspect you can take up.

However, since I'm a foreigner, it turns out I'm not allowed to work in that area.

This needs elaboration. It could be that because you are a foreigner they are telling you you cannot work into it to give you some less interesting part of the work that no local wants to do. It could be other things though.

So, my advisor changed the project to something more generic, which ended up being very complex to address.

This tends to be the case in less interesting projects requiring lots of engineering and not fundamental improvements. Here, you typically want to make simplifying assumptions, develop a particular model. Starting from simple examples can lead you to determine whether there is something to do in the more complex situation. This is part of any scientific endeavour. For instance, from the field of mathematics, I once read Michael Atiyah's advice to PhD students was that most big theorems in mathematics have a particular simple but interesting special case.

The field has been stagnating since the early 2000s.

Here you start talking about facts under your control. You seem to believe that a field stagnating means there is nothing new to add. This is a common believe between PhD students. I recommend you to read Ramón y Cajal's book "Advice to a young investigator". He will tell you things like "in general, it can be said that there are no small problems, but small men that cannot see the relevance of the small problems", he will also talk about the novice "traps", like "believing in the exhaustion of scientific topics" which is what you seem concerned about here. While it is true that some scientific problems are more prolific than others in a given time, that doesn't mean that with the right advice you cannot obtain progresses worth of a PhD in any field.

At first, my studies were exciting, but as time went on, they seemed going no where. I don't know what to do.

By asking here, you're doing something good, gather the feedback and put it into practice.

My advisor gives me these pointless task, e.g. re-run the same computation with a larger number, keeping in mind the general formula exist!

You can always describe your understanding to your advisor. Focus on scientific facts and questions, avoid biased language like "pointless tasks", rather discuss ingenuously
whether these "tasks" help in making progress in your advisor's project (make him/her feel his project is the most important thing ever).

Our meetings are very short, only about five minutes, while his meetings with other students last over an hour. He is actively helping his other students to work with people outside our group, but I feel totally left out.

Good, you build character by working on your own. To do science you don't need to be helped, you need to have a focus on some topic and then apply (and learn) the scientific method. After that, you write your conclusions and that's it.
In general, don't focus on what others have but on what you have. Be creative with that. How can you improve? What resources can you gather? It is also important to distinguish your PhD research from your actual research after graduating. PhD is not the last research you will do, if you teach yourself how to do research in the first place.

Thank you sir! I have read your post several times, it offers a better perspective than my narrow view of the matter.

@veriadic_template my answer is written from the perspective you cannot change advisor/topic for what Ramón y Cajal would call the "tyrannies of the moral environment". This could happen for several reasons. Obviously, if you can move on to greener meadows, that's better. Michael_1812 has written about what to do in the latter case.

Not sure I agree with the above responses. I was in that situation myself. My advice to my younger senf would be find a way to make it work in x amount of time and give it my all. If it truly is not going anywhere leave. Industry will well compensate you for your time and in fact you might be better off in 3 years in industry rather than stating new post phd (assuming you won't be pursuing an academic career which most people don't).
It sounds like your supervisor is not particularly thrilled about the make-shift idea (sounds more like an idea than a project) as the original plan fell through. They do not want to disappoint you or be prescriptive about what to do, so it is up to you. Perhaps speak to a postdoc for advice as they will have more experience in your field and know your supervisor. But don't waste your time. It's valuable. And you may come back to it or switch when the time is right.
Good luck


text:
If/where should I explain the reason of my low BSc GPA in a PhD application?
I had serious health problems during my BSc studies and got a very poor GPA of 2.88 to be exact. After that, (I think) I performed much better in MSc, got a 3.75 GPA, and published two peer-review journal articles.
Now, I am looking for Ph.D. positions and worried about my low BSc GPA. In fact, I applied for two positions and got rejected straightaway. I assume that it is because of my low BSc GPA. Should I explain the reason for my low GPA? If yes, should I write it in my SOP, cover letter, personal statement, or in any other separate document?

Apply to many more than two places! At least ten, possibly fifteen.

You need a sentence or less to get this idea across. "While illness affected my undergraduate performance, I overcame the issues as my MS performance demonstrates."
There are a lot of places for such a sentence depending on the application materials requested. Even the SOP might "host" it, provided that you make the SOP more about the future and your goals than about the past. But the personal statement, if required, is probably better. But a separate document might be rejected.
If you are required to provide letters of recommendation, make sure that the writers emphasize your current skills and ability to succeed. They don't need to mention the problems, but their impact should lead to the assumption that poor performance is not expected in future.
But having been rejected twice means little in the abstract. Perhaps they are just the wrong places for you. A broad approach (several institutions with varied reputations) is a better way to assure success than any narrowly focused program.


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Is it okay to ask prospective supervisor to recommend some article to read before joining his group for PhD?
A few days ago, I received my offer letter to join the Ph.D. program. I was about to inform my prospective supervisor (via e-mail) that I have received this letter from the graduate office. I will be joining the program in August 2019.
I don't want to waste my 4 months. Is it okay if I ask my supervisor to recommend me some articles/topics to read in these four months?

Yes, even recommended

ahan. thank you for quick response

I agree with @Zenon and I'd add that, if the supervisor doesn't recommend any articles, then you would do well to look at some of the supervisor's own recent papers and at any papers cited for background there.

It's a plus. Every decent superviser should be delighted to have proactive students.

One of you, maybe @AndreasBlass, who has said the most, should turn it into a proper answer. The advice is good.

Yes, definitely ask for some recommended reading! In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if your new supervisor suggests some papers to you even without prompting (mine did). As mentioned in the comments, supervisors are generally pleased when their students show an interest in the topic and want to learn more. You can look at some recent papers by your supervisor to get an idea of where to start, too.


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As a reviewer, should I act when the second reviewer did not seem to review the manuscript carefully?
I reviewed a manuscript and suggested a major revision, which was done in meantime. Now that I receive the revised manuscript again, I see that the 2nd reviewer wrote only one sentence in his review to the first draft of the manuscript, although there were major issues at the theoretical, methodological, and linguistic levels. Should I tell the editor that I consider such a review insufficient?

Strictly spoken, it's not your job, but the editor's. I remember writing detailed reviews when my co-reviewers wrote very shallow ones with the opposite opinion. They were chastised by the editor. You may consider highlighting it to the editor so that their attention is directed to the matter and not by chance overseen.

@CaptainEmacs How did you know they were chastised?

@AzorAhai-him- I saw the comments, they were visible to the other reviewers. That was probably good, because I wrote several pages and that reviewer hardly a paragraph, with a very decisive opinion opposite of mine. I would probably have felt a tinge of my time being not properly appreciated if I hadn't seen the editor take action. Imagine that reviewer's suggestion being followed without comment?

@CaptainEmacs Interesting, I haven't ever received comments on my review (although I've only done a handful)

@AzorAhai-him- Perhaps you did a good job :-)

I agree that it is neither my job nor my responsibility to judge on other reviews. I am convinced that the editor is also aware of the issue (because reviewer #2 only wrote that the paper is well written). Perhaps I also feel even more responsible for the quality of the article because my name and reviews are published with the article, whereas Reviewer #2 has chosen to remain anonymous. The authors have for the most part responded to my criticisms, but we all have our blind spots.

Basically your review should account for this. Obviously you can't spot troubles with review B that you haven't already spoke out in your review. Far from perfection, but that's why there are at least two referees for serious publications.

Follow-up: I approached the editor in a separate message, and he told me he's usually compensating for bad reviews by reading the paper more carefully himself.

I see that the 2nd reviewer wrote only one sentence in his review to
the first draft of the manuscript, although there were major issues at
the theoretical, methodological, and linguistic levels.

Are these issues not addressed in the revised submission (based on your comments)? Have the authors addressed all your comments carefully and satisfactorily?

Should I tell the editor that I consider such a review insufficient?

I would not do this. It is the job of the editor to see whether the reviewer has done justice to the article.

However, if you think there are still some issues with the revised manuscript, give it a fresh read and add more comments, e.g.
"I can see that the authors have addressed all of my previous comments. But, I still see that the article could be further improved if the following few points are addressed..."

"It is the job of the editor to see whether the reviewer has done justice to the article."  That might make sense in this case, where it is obvious, but in situations where the assessment of a peer review requires special technical knowledge, the editor asking a peer reviewer for feedback on a peer review is appropriate and does happen.

@AnonymousPhysicist Yes, absolutely. My statement only focused on the present case of OP. As you said, sometimes the editor has to take help of a peer-reviewer; but, isn't it rare though?

I suspect that the editor has also recognized this and I doubt that your reinforcing it will have any effect. But yes, you can pass on your observations. There may be valid reasons for the "failure" of the other reviewer (or not).
But it seems as if the paper got improved, so the system as a whole hasn't failed.

The fact that the paper has improved does not necessarily mean that the system hasn't failed. It could still have major flaws, which is why as many people as possible must read the manuscript carefully.

I have seen this kind of response as an editor - reviewer A says reviewer B's review is terrible because of so-and-so. I was certainly not offended, and neither was reviewer B, because I never shared reviewer A's comments with reviewer B.
So it's OK. In your case though, "I consider their review insufficient" is not something for you to judge; what is sufficient or insufficient is for the editor to decide. A technical comment such as "reviewer B's ___ comment is not appropriate because ___" would be more useful to the editor. Furthermore, in your case, it might not be necessary to tell the editor at all, because it should be obvious that the second reviewer's review is superficial.

I agree it is ok. Keep in mind that it is possible that the comment does end up with reviewer B, depending on where you put it (if you directly send it to the editor all may be fine, but if you put it in your review it may end up with the other reviewer in one way or another). So word your comments carefully.


text:
How to give feedback to students after bad grades
I realize that I have some difficulty giving feedback to students when they have expected to have a good grade and/or they have invested a lot of time. My impression is that there is a trade-off between clearly pointing out the weaknesses of the students' paper and, on the other hand, motivating them to continue and making it clear that such feedback is part of the normal learning process. How can oral feedback be structured to ensure that both are possible?

For the purposes of constraining answers to this question and making them more useful, please tell us in what setting are you giving oral feedback. Is it a one-on-one? Is it student-initiated? What prompts this feedback? Is it at the end of the semester (where they have essentially no chance to improve), or somewhere in the middle (where your feedback is directly actionable)?

I didn't want to make the question too specific so that it could be applied to other settings. In this case, the students hand in a first draft of their paper, and they get a grade and feedback for this first draft, oral and one-on-one.

From my perspective as a PHD student (the other side of the spectrum) I feel that there are some crucial aspects to giving helpful and encouraging feedback:

Give the student constructive criticism. Give them the feeling that you are supportive of what they did (regardless of quality) and that you are giving feedback to improve their work in the future. Make them feel safe. Speak about what could be done better in the future and not about what went wrong or what they "should have done".
Emphasize both the good and the suboptimal parts of their work. It is important to balance both positive and negative feedback.
Avoid words like "however" and "but". It is almost always discouraging to hear positive feedback followed by a "however". It (in my opinion) completely devalues what was said beforehand.
Check in if they understood your criticisms correctly to avoid misunderstandings.

I hope my answer is at least somewhat helpful to you, if not, you now have the possibility to practice and give me your feedback! :)

Thanks! I like the focus on future behaviour/improvements. I'm afraid that speaking about "good" vs "suboptimal" is not enough for the student to understand the bad grade. Imagine you invested a lot of time, you think you did a good job, but the teacher is not clear about your paper's negative aspects. Does this change anything from your point of view?

I understand your problem. It is always extremely difficult to criticize and to convey this in such a way that the other person can understand and that it does not sound discouraging. I believe it is important in this case to be as transparent as humanly possible as to where the bad grade is coming from. It might be a useful in this case to take the time and give the student a well-intentioned, personal "speech of advice" on how to proceed and improve. Depending on what kind of student you are dealing with, this may well be perceived as very positive and instructive.

@sophar One thing that might help is just stating "I can tell you put a lot of work into this", that reassures the student that their effort isn't just being ignored and that, even if they didn't get things correct, the work they put in is noticeable.

What if the "However, ..." is positive? :)

@Ulhaq Then it is a great use of the word, I suppose :)

Giving feedback only after the mark is closing the stable doors after the horse has bolted.
I focus instead on the unsaid part of this question:
Make a point of giving the students feedback long before the mark, and as early as possible. Adjust their expectation early and the relation between their effort, performance and what they can expect at the end. Show them how to adjust their efforts as to approach their expectations.
In many cases, the efforts will then be reflected in the outcome, and students won't be surprised when it is not good. In some happy cases, their expectations may even be exceeded.
Sadly, there is the case of high effort and still disappointing results; these are comparatively rare, but the most difficult to deal with and it's probably these that your question ultimately needs to focus on. Here the question is: did they make progress at all? If they did, I channel here the other response; encourage them to continue along this path and push further. Clearly things take longer for them, but have an effect.
If they didn't make progress at all, then there may be many reasons for that, temporary or long-term personal or health problems, or simply lacking of aptness for the topic. However, dealing with this is outside of your remit. The best you can do is giving them general advice for improvement in an empathetic way, or suggest whether there is some way they can continue their study without being held back by their deficits in the particular topic.

Good answer. Just to help with finding more resources, the key phrase for giving feedback before the high stakes grade is formative feedback. Building in opportunities for formative feedback before turning in a complete project provides more opportunities for constructive criticism that students will actually read and use. In contrast, students tend to skim summative feedback but focus more on the grade than the explanation.

I wish these were always possible, but often it is not. Firstly, students rarely put the same amount of effort into work that doesn't carry a consequential grade. Secondly, we rarely get enough opportunities to interact with undergrads to provide formative feedback that is useful. Finally, because not all teaching staff will have the same time available for feedback, we are generally limited by rules on how much feedback we can provide prior to submission of a graded piece of work, so ensure all students get equal support.

@IanSudbery There are a number of tricks you can use. You can pick snippets of student solutions from practicals and discuss things all around (I ask for permission, of course). You can explain common mistakes, you can ask questions during lectures and work yourself with the class towards the right answer (yes, this works if done properly!). People need to know where their deficits are, where their potential for improvement is, and that they actually can improve.

@CaptainEmacs Agreed - but all these things (with the exception of questions in lectures) are things that can only be done once work is submitted. For questions in lectures, they test a certain type of understanding - whether the student understands a particular thing when challenged. But much assessment is much more open ended, with far more being assessed than just raw recall of facts taught. Graded work is almost all at the end of a taught module and in general students don't do work that isn't graded.

We 3 sorts of modules - lecture modules (100% essay based exam),  dissertation (100% on a single piece of coursework) and skills modules where assessment is mixed. In lecture modules I always offer to students to provide feedback on specimen questions. On average I get about 2 people take me up on this from a class of 40. Similar with test-yourself questions I provide. The best opportunities for feedback are the skills modules, which include learning essay writing. But even the essay they write in the first week of term is credit baring - although it pedagogical function is formative.


text:
Research faculty I would like to work with not in my department
I'm currently in the process of applying to graduate schools for admission into a graduate program in Computer Science. However, in a particular university that I would like to apply to, labs dealing with the specialization that I would like to work with belong to another department in the university and do not seem to involve faculty in the Computer Science department.
Now, when I write my Statement of Purpose for an admission into the Computer Science department, would it be considerate for me to mention my interest in working with these faculty outside the Computer Science department or must I restrict myself to those faculty and research labs under the purview of the Computer Science department in that university?
Is it possible even for me to be denied an admission if these faculty I'd like to work with and mention about in my statement do not belong to the Computer Science department?

This really depends on the department.

Why don't you apply to the other department then?

@BenBitdiddle Good question. Because my research and work experience is largely limited to core Computer Science. Applying directly to the other department would require me to have an educational background specifically geared towards that. Besides, I'd quite like to pursue graduate studies in CS.

Can you apply to both and see which ones you get into, just to have that option?  Or will they only let you apply to one?

@BenBitdiddle I could try to. But it would likely be a futile effort, plus a waste of time and money. The other department specifically looks for research experience in that field in potential applicants, and I possess little of that at this point (though I hope to gain some before next Fall).

Yes, it can hurt your chances of admission if your application focuses on a desire to work with people in a different department.  It's fine if you list some people in other departments, for example if they collaborate frequently with members of the department you're applying to (or even if they don't, provided they aren't the sole focus of your application).  However, you don't want to submit an application that looks like it's a substantially better fit for another department.  You might still get admitted if your application is strong enough, but there's a real risk someone on the admissions committee will try to make room for another candidate by declaring that you really belong in the other department.
This generally isn't a problem if you take it into account while planning.  If the best advisors for you are all in applied math or operations research, say, then you can apply to those departments in addition to computer science.  The only tricky case is if your advisor works on two very different things, one of which falls into the other department while the other is more traditional computer science, and you want to do the latter.  In that case you should explain in your statement of purpose why the computer science department would be a better place for you despite your choice of advisor.


text:
Consideration for MS if PhD rejected
I am a undergraduate student interested in doing my higher studies in USA. I am tempted to apply for PhD program offered by the colleges but I am skeptical of my selection due to high competition. So, I was planning to first do MS from a reputed college and then later do a PhD. This will improve my chances of admit as well.
However, while going through the FAQs of some colleges I came to know that there is a possibility of applying for PhD in a college, and in case the application gets rejected they consider the application for MS as well.
So, I just wanted to know which is a wiser decision? To apply only for MS or to apply for PhD and hope that they select you at least for MS. Also, does the chances of being selected for MS reduce if the applicant follows the latter procedure?

Would you have problem if they offer you MS with no funding?

It depends on the discipline and which country/institution you are coming from.  In my experience, most foreign PhD students in US physics programs have master's degrees from their home countries.  Therefore I think PhD admissions committees are expecting a master's degree.
MS programs in the US are usually not selective.  Most international students choose to get the MS in their home country because it is usually much cheaper.

At the several institutions at which I have worked or attended, the graduate application and core course requirements are identical for MS and PhD students. I know of a number of cases where students applied for a PhD and were admitted to the Master's program (usually on the basis of lacking experience or grades/GRE cutoffs). I also know of a few where students were admitted to a PhD program pending taking a semester of pre-req courses to address a specific weakness in their application.
A PhD student generally has more access to career experience, teaching and research assistant-ships, tuition wavers, and a stipend. Thus it is far more financially viable to be a PhD student.
Considering that the application is no different, that there is a possibility of being admitted to the Master's program if you are not accepted to the PhD program, and that being a PhD student is the more beneficial state, I would say that there are key benefits to initially applying to a PhD program.
I am unaware of any circumstance in which applying for a PhD first would hurt your chances at applying for a Master's later.

I am unaware of any circumstance in which applying for a PhD first would hurt your chances at applying for a Master's later. Note that the converse of this can be true. In my field, it actually looks bad on an application to have "settled" for a Master's before attempting to gain entry to a PhD program.


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Where can I find a template for a Brill Journal
I want to write an article for this journal from BRILL Publishing, but I an unable to find on their site or even on the internet a template for it. This is my first attempt to a journal in humanities area.
Not being able to find the templates is somehow a surprise for me, since almost all mathematics, engineering or computer science journals offer some latex package with templates for their journal.
Is there a way to get a template for this journal?

Refer to the Author Instructions - they expect a MS Word document and provide reasonably detailed information on expected paper length, margins, reference formatting, paragraph formatting, etc. Given that the explicitly ask for an editable format (MS Word) I suspect that they do the detailed typesetting after acceptance, which explains the lack of a template. A template is really only useful if you expect the authors to do most or all of the typesetting for you (which is common in CS, but as far as I know much less so in other fields).

It is very counter intuitive for me! I do not even know how to use citations properly in MS Word! And all those foot notes ... where I am suppose to write them? It seems that I have to increase my MS Word knowledge. A template would have helped ...

Rather than having to learn something new, maybe select a different journal?

@Aruralreader Very much doubt any theological journals offer a LaTeX template.

@AzorAhai-him-: Yup, and a great opportunity for OP to make the logical conclusion.

@Aruralreader Your comment is so between irony and genuine advice that I cannot understand it! Do you suggest quitting the mentioned Journal just because it does not have a Latex Template? Or rather increase my MS Word skills and muscle through towards the directions stated in that Author Instructions document?


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Must one be a researcher at a university to become an author of a research paper?
Is it a requirement to be a researcher at a university or affiliated with an academic institution in order to be eligible to become an author of a research paper with a DOI, or can individuals who are not affiliated with any university or academic institution also contribute to academic publications that receive a DOI?

The DOI tends to go along with being published in a certain conference proceedings or journal, so if your article is accepted, then you'll get a DOI.  Most online portals I've used to submit work tend to assume you have an affiliation, so it might be a slight technical issue, but I would just contact the relevant programme chair or journal contact and ask them what to do in that case.

Don't we have a standard question about this?

Just to add to what everyone else is saying, sometimes a particular journal may only be open to submissions from academia. For example, journals that are specifically about special needs teaching may only accept articles from people with industry experience teaching people with special educational needs. This is the exception, rather than the rule.

I posted this same example a couple of weeks ago, but I'll repeat it here: the team that researched the failure of the launch pad during SpaceX's Starship Flight 1 flight test asked members of the public on Twitter to send in videos and photos as well as samples from the dust clouds. Those Twitter users are all listed as authors of the paper with their affiliation credited as "Independent Researcher". Many of them are just residents of the area. None of them are academic researchers.

It's some time ago but Einstein was working in public administration when he published his most important papers, until 1908.

No, you don't need to be a researcher at a university to be published. You need to be able to write publishable papers in a field as judged by editors and reviewers. That is the only requirement.
There are also researchers at other sorts of institutions, both governmental and commercial. I know several of these at places like IBM and Google, among others.
There are also "independent researchers" who develop the necessary talent and have the skill to both do meaningful research and write it up appropriately for others.
If you can satisfy reviewers with the quality of your work, it will probably be published, and probably receive a DOI. But only deal with reputable publishers if you want to be recognized.
While the above assumes that you mean "sole authorship", that isn't the only path. Collaborative work among several authors, even those with different (or no) affiliation is also possible.

Thank you so much!

Shayn from the Crossref (DOI registration agency) support team here.  Just noting that DOIs aren't a mark of legitimacy or quality.  They're just identifiers.  Whether a published research paper has a DOI or not is a decision made by the publisher.
There also a number of repositories and preprint servers (for example Zenodo, arXiv, bioRxiv, chemRxiv, Research Square, preprints.org, figshare, some dataverse instances, etc. ) that assign and register DOIs for preprints and datasets.  So, if you want the benefits of a persistent identifier, regardless of publication status, it's not hard to get one.  That alone just doesn't say anything meaningful about the quality of your work.

Hi Shayn,
Once, I asked a question in the Crossref community, and someone named Shayn helped me with the answer: https://community.crossref.org/t/can-a-sci-fi-book-have-a-doi/12493. If that's you, it's great to run into you here. Thanks again!
In my opinion, Buffy's answer best addressed my question, as it made it clear that you don't need to be a university employee to be an author of a scientific publication. From your response, I understood that a DOI is not an indicator of the quality of scientific work. Thanks for your contribution here!

Hi yes, that's me!  I'm glad your question about publishing as an independent scholar (not affiliated with a university) was answered.  I just wanted to add some extra context to try and clear up some common misconceptions about DOIs, where they come from, and what they signify.

The world is a very small place :) Thank you so much!

No, you don't need to be a researcher at a university to become an author of a research paper.
Here's an example. Note the affiliations cited - the lead author for example is from "Quantum Circuits Inc." which is a private company.

Thank you so much!


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Can I Use a Recommendation Letter from a Professor Without an Academic Email?
I have taken two courses with a professor and received perfect grades in both. I believe they can provide a strong recommendation letter for my applications. However, my professor does not have an academic email address.
Can I still request a general recommendation letter from them that I can use for multiple university applications? Would such a letter be acceptable if it’s written on official letterhead or includes their professional details, even though it comes from a personal email address?
I’d appreciate any advice on how to proceed in this situation. Thank you!

It seems odd that they don't have an institutional account; but then, it may just be personal preference not to use it. their choice. If that's the case - and they've presumably provided references before - then a letter on official paper (perhaps stamped?) would almost certainly be OK. I'm not sure about just an email though - although I assume they could cc the HoD and HR.

Is it that they don’t have such an address or rather that they merely don’t use the one they have? In the former case this would suggest they aren’t affiliated with an institution in the first place, which is likely to be a bigger problem than just the lack of official address.

Some schools shut down the email addresses of adjunct faculty any time their contract is inactive.  This can mean that adjunct faculty cannot send/receive institutional email during semesters they are not teaching (nor during the summer).

I doubt that the email address of the letter writer matters, as long as the letter itself clearly identifies the university context where the writer knew you and the writer's status at that time.
If the letters are submitted through an online portal (common these days) the school may never use or even see the writer's email address.
(I am retired, and regularly use my gmail account for academic business, even though I still have access to my university account.)


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Should I ask for physical recommendation letters now to avoid future issues with professors' availability?
I am planning to apply to universities abroad in the next two terms, but I haven't finalized which institutions I will be applying to yet. I understand that recommendation letters are a key part of the application process, and I have already approached a few professors about writing them for me.
One professor mentioned that, typically, students send them a link when the application is ready, and they fill out the recommendation online. My concern is that if I wait until I finalize my university choices, some professors might not be available to submit their letters due to scheduling conflicts or other reasons.
Given this, would it be advisable to ask my professors to write physical recommendation letters now, which I can later submit when the application process begins? Or should I wait and rely on the online submission system when the time comes? Also, are physical recommendation letters accepted by most universities, or is an online submission system required for all?

In what country are the universities where you would be applying?

There are many online systems that simply do not have the option to send physical recommendation letters, all of this has been digitalized.

I will be impossible for the professor to tailor each letter to the institution that will receive it if you do that; a disadvantage.
It is good to give the professor a heads up that you will be asking for about n letters coming up. This lets them think about what they will say and, if they like, write a draft that can be tailored.
And receiving institutions can be a bit tolerant about late arrivals of recommendations, realizing that professors are busy.
But if you really need such letters ahead of time, have the professor leave them with university/department staff so that they can be sent from your institution and not from you. This keeps the process clean.
And, some institutions might strongly prefer that an electronic version be sent directly to a system. But in some cases those can also be sent by university staff if they have been given instructions.
Having the professor pre-write them and give them to you for later transmission is likely the worst option. I'd recommend not suggesting that.

Yes, indeed. For several years now, with regard to all the (U.S. math) undergrads for whom I've written letters for (U.S. math) grad schools, the following happens: they complete their on-line application, listing me as "recommender", which triggers an email from that grad school, asking for my letter (and sometimes asking for a few other things). So I upload my letter that I've composed in advance, possibly tailored to the various programs (... the students having given me a list well in advance...)  No physical letters...

Check with the university's career center for letter of recommendation services. In the paper and typewriter days, it used to be very common that they'd hold letters and send them at the direction of the student; a few still do that or provide access to outsourced services.

Perhaps it is a security problem?
Some (small) number of applicants may attempt to provide fake recommendations.
If the recommendation comes from the professor's official university account, then the recipient can be reasonably sure that it really is from that professor.

If the prof. provides a student with the recommendation letters directly, then the student can choose whether they want to use them or not, and the prof. is not free to write a negative reference (if that is justified) as the student may simply open the letter and read it.
Generally only contact details are provided so that the institution can be confident that they are getting an appropriately candid reference that has not been seen by the candidate.  This probably explains the profs answer in the second paragraph.

I do not know where you plan to apply but almost all reputable schools will insist on getting a letter directly from a referee to preserve confidentiality and allow the referee all the candour they need.

Whereas you should preferably let people know well ahead of time where you plan to apply, writing the first letter of reference is long, and writing the 2nd takes a lot less time.  This is because the assessment and things to say about you are unlikely to change much or dramatically between the first and the second letter.

The deadline for students to submit applications is rarely the deadline for people to submit reference letters.

In some cases, the school will contact the referee directly once you have finished your application or after you have passed the first cut.  Schools know writing LoR can be a burden so in some case they only contact referee if they think the applicant have a chance.


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How to handle authorship for reports/papers?
I am currently reviewing a technical report and have direct access to the source files on Overleaf as well as communication with the author. I made some revisions to the manuscript to ensure it meets high-quality standards, such as adding an introduction, correcting the abstract, rewording sections for clarity, making the language more formal, and correcting formulas. These revisions do not significantly impact the theory but improve the overall presentation.
Since I am not the original author of the report, I wonder how my contributions should be acknowledged. I suggest including me in the acknowledgment section. Does this work qualify me as an author? if not what?

It's not really clear what your role actually is. What do you mean by "I am currently reviewing a technical report"? Did the author ask you to improve the manuscript or is this your own decision?

I was asked to review and provide feedback, but I decided to make some additional changes because Overleaf make it easy.

Is the author aware that you have unilaterally decided to start editing their manuscript? Are you sure that they are okay with it? For example, I imagine I would be pretty pissed off if someone who is not a co-author just decided to start "improving" a manuscript of mine without express permission to do so (above and beyond correcting obvious typos). But of course, it may be that the author of the report has a different attitude and had different expectations in mind when they asked you to review their report.

Notice the modifications I do are in form of suggestions in the text. The platform has track-changes, so they can accept/discard all my changes and it's fine. They come to me expecting to improve the text and presentation somehow.


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Should I submit my paper to another journal after long delays in publication?
In January 2024, I submitted my paper to the University of Michigan Undergraduate Research Journal (UMURJ). I received confirmation of acceptance for review in March 2024, and after some back and forth in May, I was sent a contract to fill out and sign, which I did (read it here). Following this, the editor sent me reviewer feedback on May 22, and I submitted the revised version of my paper by June 9, 2024.
However, since then, I've encountered significant delays. I last received a response from the editor in July, stating that my paper was well-received but the journal was undergoing leadership changes. I followed up twice in August and once in October but received no substantive updates. In the last response from the journal (dated August 31), I was told to list my paper as "in publication" on my CV but was given no timeline or further explanation.
I’m now uncertain about the future of my paper with UMURJ. Given the extended delays and lack of communication, I’m wondering if it would be acceptable (and legal) to submit my paper to another journal. I signed a contract with the journal, but there has been no clear progress or communication.
What are the best steps I can take here? Should I move on and submit elsewhere, or is there any potential issue with this due to the contract I signed? Would this action negatively affect my academic reputation?

(Note substantial modifications, based on the contract.) In general, before you submit to a new place you need to withdraw the paper from the old place. In this case, however, it is more complicated, since you signed a contract that is presumably binding on you.
Prior to signing a contract, you don't need their agreement to withdraw, but now you do. Depending on that contract one might not still hold copyright to the work, but things vary, and in your case, it seems you retain copyright having granted only a license. Moreover, your contract seems to grant them non-exclusive rights to publish. This implies that you can also publish elsewhere but that is up to any other publisher.
You can ask them to cancel the contract/license, and they might be willing to do so, but it is up to them, since you have signed it.
Note that some publishers want an exclusive right to publish and, perhaps, the copyright itself and won't publish things that have previously appeared. They seem to be loosening a bit on this and might in this case, but it is an issue to consider.
It is worth the ask. I suggest that you don't try to submit elsewhere until they discuss it with you and perhaps void the contract. This would make dealing with other publishers easier. If you do submit without such an agreement, note to that new potential publisher that there is an outstanding license held by UMURJ. If you handle it correctly there should be no negative consequences to your reputation.
Note that publishers can be very unhappy about dual/multiple submissions as it costs them time and effort that will be wasted. Contracts are more serious.


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How to write frequency on research paper?
How do I indicate a number means frequency, like "Terms Humble (f.9), Respectful(f.7),  and Inspirational (f.6) making up the most frequently used terms to describe all active Asian MLB players in the ASAP commentary database. " Is there a format to put frequency: x?
Thank you!

You could try "humble (n = 9), respectful (n = 7), etc."

What does f.9 mean?

See what the pros recommend at the Statistics stack.

I would use words rather than symbols. For example, if I understand your example correctly:

Terms Humble (9 occurrences), Respectful (7 occurrences), and Inspirational (6 occurrences) are the most frequently used terms to describe active Asian MLB players in the ASAP commentary database.

I'm not familiar with this database, but those sound like very small numbers for occurrences if the database has any reasonable size to it; I'd be careful to use language that makes clear what sort of count you are using. For example, if you mean that "humble" is mentioned for 9 different players, I would write "Humble (9 players)".


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PhD in US after BA and MA in Europe
Did my bachelor and master in European universities (mediocre ones) and I did decent. Do I have a shot to apply for competitive PhD programs in US? How can I increase my chances? Are there like summer research programs through which I can meet professors?

See the answer for the US here: https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/176908/75368. You will be treated like any other, but there is competition.


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Is it a good idea to convert from a percentile GPA to a 4.0 scale GPA?
My school gives me my GPA as a percentage out of 100. If I have 91.55% overall, websites like this and this claim that this is equivalent to a 3.7 GPA. Is it then valid to write on my resume that I have a 3.7 GPA, or would this in some way be misleading or disadvantageous?
Furthermore, if I am able to raise this percentage to 93%, would it be valid to then report that I have a 4.0 GPA?

Are you converting high school grades like those pages suggest or college?

High school grades @AzorAhai

To raise a 93% to a 4.0 is being slightly dishonest especially if you have a more specific metric. You can always list your GPA out of 100 -
GPA: 91.55/100

Most employers/colleges understand that not all schools have a grading system out of 4.0

You should list your GPA EXACTLY as it is shown on the certificate / record as provided from the school.
If they don't understand or want confirmation they will contact you or the school and they can then do the conversion on their own terms if necessary.


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Publish a significant but brief improvement of a Mathematics paper
I am a PhD student and I started studying a recent article of my advisor. During the study, I realized that some of the reasonings and results used in the article could be considerably improved. Moreover, the result of the main theorem of the paper could have been much more general. My advisor agrees on this.
Thus, the changes are significant. The problem is that the novelty of the idea belongs to the previous paper and that my changes, although significant, would be 4 or 5 pages of length (the original article is 10 pages length).
My question is whether significant but brief improvements of papers in the field of Mathematics can be published in some journals. Should I forget about this idea? Should I send the improved version to the same journal than the previous paper? Are there special journals for papers dealing with significant but brief improvements of extant articles?

As the author (even if it is your advisor) whether this should be published/

In my area there are "Letters" journals that publish shorter papers. Even "full" journals will publish corrections or comments on earlier papers (but these are usually only a few paragraphs, not 4-5 pages).

As a general rule, yes, “significant but brief” improvements are very publishable in math, and a 5 page paper can still be excellent. If you have a shorter proof, a different proof, a more insightful proof, and/or a stronger/more general result, then by definition you have made a novel contribution. Thus, I think your determination that “the novelty of the idea belongs to the previous paper” sounds dubious to me, and you should definitely try to publish the idea.

Write it and send it to arXiv first, worry about the journal later.

I was in a similar situation and I agree with @corey979 that the length doesn't matter. Yet, if it is "too easy" to generalize the original paper then your result might not be so novel. It is possible that the authors knew about this generalization but didn't thought it's worth writing down. Anyway this looks like something you should discuss with your adviser (which is also the author of the paper).

I don't like the wording "significant but brief" because it suggests that brevity is a fault. I think of it as a virtue. Although I've written some long papers (over 100 pages), one of my best papers is 3 pages long.

Mathematics is about solving problems, not extensive writing!
The briefer the better, the significance is even better.
There are lots of publications of novel proofs of the same theorem, just of the sake of development!