text:
What does "recommended" mean for a subject GRE?
There are a few institutions in the US that seem to "recommend" the subject GRE but do not make it mandatory. For instance, the Cornell Physics Department says:

The general GRE and the physics GRE will not be considered for applicants with interests in experimental physics or physics education research. The physics GRE is recommended for applicants with interests in research in either theoretical elementary particle physics or theoretical condensed matter physics.

What does this mean for a student interested in pursuing theoretical particle physics/condensed matter physics (assuming they have a standard amount of research experience, strong recommendations from their supervisors and a high CGPA at the end of their undergraduate program)? Is submitting the GRE scores mandatory or does it mean that while optional, the application will be negatively affected if scores are not submitted? Additionally, should such a candidate explain (in their statements) the reason they did not attach the GRE scores?
While I do say "undergraduate", I will actually finish my Master's next year and am looking to join a graduate program in the fall of next year. This means that I have taken (and performed well on) advanced physics courses as part of my Master's program. The Physics GRE would involve considerable finances for me and time - on top of that, the exam is not conducted anywhere close to my place of residence and would involve considerable travelling (and the associated costs of accommodation) as well. Most places in the US I am looking into do not require the GRE, so I would like to skip it completely - however, if it indeed boosts my chances of selection significantly, I am willing to consider appearing for the examination.

I'm pretty sure I've seen this discussed several times in Academia SE -- see the "Related" questions listed at the right side of your question, and look at (at least their titles) the questions (linked & related) for each of those. My feeling, however, is that if you think you would be a strong candidate for the graduate programs you are most interested in, then do not take the exam. Probably only take the exam if you feel you have some shortcomings (grades, letters of recommendations, out-of-class activities, etc.) AND you are fairly confident that you can obtain a relatively strong score.

By the way, my previous comment is based on the fact that you said taking the exam would be a hardship for you. It's possible you could mention this hardship (hence why did not take the exam) in your application letter (if it exists; I'm not talking about your research plans letter, or statement of purpose letter, or whatever), but I'm not sure if this would do more harm than good -- others here are in a better position than I am to judge this.

@DaveLRenfro Thanks for the response. I did look into the related questions before I posted this on the site. I think they are similar but not the same - specifically, none of them relate to the Physics GRE and there isn't a question of how a candidate should interpret "recommended" (there is one for "optional").

Consider also that submitting good GRE scores would be taken as a positive for you (in contrast to how you phrased things). They only have so much information to use to select students. More information is usually better particularly for you if you have a good score. But there are plenty of other places that do not require it.


text:
I submitted my BSc. Special thesis without page numbers
I didn't notice that the page numbers had somehow been removed from my thesis before submission. I just saw this.
The day before I had included all the correctly formatted page numbers and set up the ToC. Finally the ToC had the correct numbers but my footers had been removed!
Should I try to send a new amended one with numbers in spite of the marks being cut off or not? How much is either of these options going to affect my supervisor and other's opinion of me? How serious is this of a mistake?
Please help

This is unanswerable by strangers on the internet. Ask your supervisor and/or the staff at your uni what to do.

Yeah, I just want to find out how serious this is considered. I did ask. Thanks.

To give an anecdote, I once handed in a BSc. thesis where due to some font encoding error the printed version was missing all the $\sum$-symbols. The supervisor and I had a laugh about it, made sure the pdf I sent him did not have the same problem and that was it.

We don't know. For me something like missing page numbers does not play a major role in determining the grade, but it may tip the scale if I am uncertain about what grade to give. Submitting a thesis late (or resubmitting it late) also leads to a reduction in grade. So we don't know which course of action is better.
If it is quickly after the submission date, I would be open to a student contacting me and asking what to do.

Thank you very much for your response.

It is annoying to referee a large document without page numbers, since this makes it difficult and annoying to clearly identify the parts of the work on which you are giving feeback.  For that reason, I would strongly  recommend reprinting and resubmission.  Check with your supervisor first, but that is probably the best option.  While I can't speak for the academics in charge of this matter, I probably would not impose a marking penalty for this, even if the corrected version comes after the deadline (but within a reasonable time).  On the other hand, I suspect that a referee might heavily criticise the absence of page numbers in a review.

I don't think it's very serious as mistakes happen and this doesn't affect your knowledge and understanding of your subject. I wouldn't let this affect the mark, and I think mine is a majority position, but not knowing your supervisor and university we can't know, and stranger things have happened.
It is somewhat annoying for reading and marking though, so I recommend to contact your supervisor as soon as possible (the longer you wait, the longer they have to deal with a version without page numbers), tell them what has happened, and offer to send them a version with page numbers. If something like this happens, it can leave a positive impression if you recognise your error and are proactive to rectify it. Also it would be helpful to anyone who reads the thesis.

Yes, I did manage to sort it somewhat. Thank you for your input!

How to write a proper text (There is an introduction with a research question, there is a review of past literature, folowed by a discussion of your theory (past research is not the same as theory!!!!), etc.) is very much part of the curriculum at my department. This does include things like adding page numbers. So at the end of their studies the students are supposed to know this, and they will be graded on it. It is not the main thing they will be graded on, but it does have an effect on their grade.

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How to find research opportunities in humanities?
I need some advice about how to gain research experience when I have been working in the industry for about 10 years.
I was recently rejected by all the graduate programs I applied to. Granted, they are all very competitive. I am glad I got some interviews and was waitlisted, and I would really like to try again.
I realized that I do not have much recent research experience and my LORs were all written by professors I knew 10 years ago. I wonder if there is any way I can gain more research experience by volunteering to work as a RA. I heard it's common in the labs, but sure of how it works in humanities. Any advice will be most appreciated! Thank you.

Don't volunteer to do research. If you're working, you should be paid.

What field?  Generally, speaking, there are much fewer RA positions in the humanities, because there are fewer tasks to delegate.  After all, another person can't understand something for you!

It is common to "volunteer" as a research assistant in my field (not humanities), although this is generally something undergraduate students do. I think whether or not these "volunteers" should be paid is outside the scope of your question.
At some point, by the graduate level, I would expect compensation, whether you are an employee or supported via a stipend. But your situation is a bit unique. You are returning to school and it is not clear how independently you could work as a researcher. You may well only be able to function at the level of an undergraduate student i.e. this would be a learning experience for you rather than a productive job.
With that in mind, before you make any decision I think you should determine if your lack of research and old references are actually holding you back. If that turns out to be the case, I think your options are to:

Apply to other programs that may be less competitive or may be more forgiving of your lack of research experience.

Look for a paid RA position. It isn't uncommon for departments to prefer known internal applicants for graduate programs, especially if there is funding on the line. Obviously you also gain relevant experience. This may not be possible if these positions are not common in your field.

Decide for yourself if a "volunteer" position allows you to reach your goals. This would almost certainly not require a full-time commitment but you may consider enrolling as a non-degree-seeking student. It is easier to set up this sort of arraignment if you are already in the university system and have access to campus and faculty.

Assuming you are applying to PhD programs, you could first apply for a Master's at your target institution. These may be less likely to reject you for a lack of research. Then, as with option 2, you would be a known quantity at that university. The downside here is that MS degrees are usually not funded, if that is a consideration for you. This could also add time, although I would expect any credits to transfer within the same institution.

I want to reiterate that before making any decisions you should try to confirm that your lack of research/old references are actually the major reason you were not accepted. Most of these options requires commitment of significant time and effort. Poor interview skills, lukewarm references, mediocre grades, or a weak personal statement/CV could hold someone back from a competitive graduate program so it is in your best interest to spend your energy where it will have the greatest impact.

Thank you!! These are really good advice!!

It never occurred to me that I need more research experience and maybe different professors to write LoRs for me. However, after I got rejected, one of the three professors wrote to me that I should make some connections and find someone else to replace her. And my advisor said she did not think I could get into a program even if I try again this year. Although I know they put in good words, these all made me think that I maybe need to find someone in academia who believes in my ability to be successful in pursuing a PhD...

This is interesting. Your question makes it seem like you specifically needed research. It sounds like you really need a supportive advisor/mentor/advocate. I think the 3rd and 4th options I listed are more relevant in light of this information

Looks like I need both...thanks for clearing that up for me! I thought it's a miracle that the professors from 10 years ago still remembered me..and was super grateful for their support. but I do need to see it for myself that I can do solid research now..

Not an advise but a question. Can you turn your supposed weakness into a strength?
Having spent 10 years in industry, can you not impress your potential advisor by proposing a study that would utilise your observations of some demographic or sociological aspects of the industry where you have been employed? Or some psychological issues related? Then you will have to look for departments, or particular scholars, whose research overlaps with these topics. To them, you could then be a valuable acquisition.
If you are not aiming at demography or sociology, you still can enrich your application package with an essay on the history of your industry, or on the professional jargon used in it.

The questioner is trying to work in the humanities.

@AzorAhai-him- Sociology, psychology, linguistics, or history - are they not humanities?

are they not humanities? -- Typically, at least in the U.S. (maybe different elsewhere), there are three major academic-study/research classifications -- natural sciences, social sciences, humanities. Sociology and psychology are well within the social sciences classification. Linguistics and history are borderline between social sciences and humanities -- each of these two fields has, for each of these two classifications, nontrivial subfields belonging to that classification.

Thanks for the input! Yes I tried to focus on my "real-world experience" in my SOP but it did not get me very far...In the aftermath of all the rejections, I wonder if maybe the PoIs that I chose this time were not such a good match...? I'll do more research and reach out to more professors. Hopefully someone in the academia might find my experience and connections are "valuable acquisition"...

History is, but you didn’t mention it in your A.

@AzorAhai-him- I am afraid you did not have time to read my A to the end.

You recommended someone toss in “the history of their industry” into their application package (also ??) which isn’t the same as making a recommendation about how to get into a history program lol

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Is it okay to reuse some literature/information from a previous research proposal for a new proposal?
I am currently working on a research proposal and have come across a problem: This research proposal builds on a previous research proposal of mine. I am a historian and it deals with the same topic but for a different time period.
Now, that means that I feel I have to cover some of the same literature and background information that I have also covered in the past proposal. Specifically, particularly the first few paragraphs cover similar literature and background information as the previous proposal. I do not take anything over verbatim of course, but in terms of who I cite and what I say in the beginning (where I also make clear that this project builds on the past project) is pretty similar in terms of structure and content to the last proposal.
Now, my question is whether this is generally fine or not? The thing is I do not really know how to do it differently unless I wish to intentionally worsen the proposal by leaving out major parts of background information and literature.
Thanks!

I don't see anything wrong with recycling some key portions of an older proposal into a new proposal - especially one that explicitly builds upon the older one. Logically you are going to have some overlap because it's a continuation of the same project. You already have done the work to compile relevant introductory material and so it seems a bit silly to look for other sources arbitrarily. You still need to expand the introduction to discuss the new elements of the proposal.
Copying and pasting sections is out of the question but you aren't intending to do that anyway. Using the same source/example/evidence twice is not problematic. You're building on your previous work, which includes the review of the literature you included in the intro.

Would the same also go for reusing the structure of the proposal? And so that also means that if some of the parts of the old and new proposals read very similar that is fine as long as it is not verbatim the same?

If by structure you literally mean the format of the proposal and the order of sections, I think the same goes for that too. I don't think you need to arbitrarily rearrange things just because it looks similar to an older proposal. Just make sure the sections that are similar (or ordered similarly) are relevant to the new proposal.

... have to cover some of the same literature and background information that I have also covered in the past proposal

Refocusing or repurposing or covering part of previous literature and background is generally fine when it is essential for the research or proposal at hand.
What is improper though is to dump or regurgitate the old into the new.

... deals with the same topic but for a different time period

The different time period necessitate a different problem statement. Likewise, the literature, while rehashing or reusing previous literature, will speak to the new time period.
In-between, one doesn't (completely) discard ones publications when developing/submitting a new research/manuscript. Where they're related or has a degree of overlap, one builds on the former.

Thanks. Could you elaborate what you mean by "What is improper though is to dump or regurgitate the old into the new"?

Looks like you've got that covered ... "I do not take anything over verbatim of course, but in terms of who I cite and what I say in the beginning"

Okay understood. But if I say essentially similar things but paraphrase differently or directly quote from literature (even if I did use the quotation in my old proposal as well) that should be fine, correct?

sorry for bothering you again, but any advice on my follow up?


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masters thesis format for PhD application
There is a particular PhD application I am currently applying to a professor but he needs a copy of my masters thesis.
How do I go about uploading? Am I uploading the whole master's thesis as it is, or is there a format I can use to show some specific and important components of the thesis? Please guide me

Have you asked that professor what they want to see?

Nobody here is going to know - why don’t you just ask the professor?

If this were my problem, I would hunt down the LaTEX PDF that I created for my thesis, compile the document, save it as "Greathouse_thesis.pdf" and immediately forward it to them.


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IPEDS 2020 / 2021 Access database - where to find information about institution name and programs / majors offerred
Hi I have downloaded the IPEDS 2020 / 2021 Access database - where can I find information about institution name and programs / majors offerred?

Read Use the Data, please.


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As an editor should I suggest inclusion of acknowledged contributors as co-authors?
I am editing a manuscript for a journal that I just received and which hasn't been sent out to reviewers yet. To me, there were two aspects of the paper that irritated me a bit. The first being that it was submitted by a single author, who mentioned two names in the acknowledgements and thanked them for 'conducting the experiments' and 'providing the data' reported in the paper. This strikes me as quite unusual. Even if they were student assistants, in my field, the practice would usually be to make them co-authors of the paper. On top of that the single author's contribution is not fully clear or explicitly stated. Would it make sense to point this out and ask for author contributions? Or even suggest inclusion of these names as co-authors? How would you best go about this?
I should note that the journal provides the following guidelines:

The Publisher does not prescribe the kinds of contributions that
warrant authorship. It is recommended that authors adhere to the
guidelines for authorship that are applicable in their specific
research field. In absence of specific guidelines it is recommended to
adhere to the following guidelines*:
All authors whose names appear on the submission

made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the
work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; or the
creation of new software used in the work;

drafted the work or revised it critically for important
intellectual content;

approved the version to be published; and

agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring
that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the
work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

and

Author contributions
In absence of specific instructions and in research fields where it is
possible to describe discrete efforts, the Publisher recommends
authors to include contribution statements in the work that specifies
the contribution of every author in order to promote transparency.
These contributions should be listed at the separate title page.
Examples of such statement(s) are shown below:
• Free text:
All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material
preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by [full
name], [full name] and [full name]. The first draft of the manuscript
was written by [full name] and all authors commented on previous
versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final
manuscript.
[...]
For articles that are based primarily on the student’s
dissertation or thesis, it is recommended that the student is usually
listed as principal author: A Graduate Student’s Guide to Determining Authorship Credit and Authorship Order, APA Science Student Council 2006

I am thinking of quoting this to the author and requesting explicit clarification of the authorship contributions.
Lastly, the author did not share data/analysis, and wrote that these are only available upon reasonable request due to pricacy concerns. I think it would be possible to anonymise the data. Can I insist they share it?
I have worked as a reviewer for many years, but my editor appointment was quite recent, so I am still figuring out what I can and cannot suggest and demand. I want to use my position to improve transparency, repoducibility etc, but not abuse my power.

I am also an editor and had a similar dilemma with a paper and posted a question here that generated some helpful replies. You can read them at https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/170772/can-an-author-claim-sole-authorship-if-the-hired-statistician-writes-half-of-the/183533#183533

Can you tell us the field? I come from biology, and to me, what you describe is no dilema at all: if they provided data and did the analysis, they should be authors and most probably first authors, with the person who wrote the manuscript and presumably oversaw the work as the last author. Since you're asking, I assume there's more wriggle room in your field, so knowing the field will help.

I second the request to provide the field. Data sharing culture differs very much between fields. In psychology, for instance, people may be reluctant to share data not out of privacy concerns (although these make for a convenient fig leaf), but in order to conduct more analyses and squeeze more publications out of a dataset before someone else beats them to it using their own data.

I find the connection between 'conducting the experiments' and 'providing the data' a bit confusing. In experimental work, that is pretty much the same thing if it is "raw" data.

As comments have mentioned, knowing the exact field would be beneficial. But I think there is still a general answer to your question. I too am a very new editor, so take this with a grain of salt.
I think it would be appropriate to request a detailed author contribution statement. "Ghostwriting" is (as far as I can tell) universally considered an ethical breach. If you suspect that something in this vein has occurred, you should address it. As editor it is part of your job to ensure that the requirements of your journal are met. You suspect the submitting author is not being transparent (or that someone else should be included as author) and so are obligated to act on that suspicion. You may additionally request clarification on the contributions of those mentioned in the acknowledgments.
That being said, it is the author's ultimate responsibility to ensure they are following ethical authorship guidelines. In general authorship (and authorship disputes) should be handled by the authors. You probably should not tell them to include these other persons unless you have significant evidence that they were improperly excluded. If you have this evidence, perhaps you should simply reject the paper and cite your concerns. What exactly you do or how you go about doing this may be dependent on your journal/publisher policies regarding these issues. The publisher of your journal may even have a page dedicated to general guidance. It's worth mentioning, the paper has not been published yet so this potential ethical minefield does not have to become your problem.
As for requesting data, if your journal has a firm policy in place about data sharing, insist that it is followed. Outside of that, you can certainly encourage data sharing but it would likely be an overstep to outright demand it - unless you have serious concerns about the validity of the data. Again, in that case, you may consider simply rejecting the paper.
The takeaway here is that as an editor, rejecting a paper (or passing it on to review) is at your discretion. You can, and should, take any steps you feel necessary to ensure that the journals standards are upheld and that the ethical guidelines are followed. You are not obligated to solve problems though and can simply inform the author(s) that you will not proceed with the submission.

I want to use my position to improve transparency, repoducibility
etc, but not abuse my power.

I think you are approaching this the right way. Perhaps you can get a bit more advice before you approach the author again? Do you have someone at the journal/publisher who has been there fore longer who might advise you? Can you ask for advise from some editorial board members? Spell out one or two options on how you propose to proceed and ask for their opinion and any alternative suggestions. This should give you some pointers (and backing) for how to tackle this particular case.
Beyond this particular paper, can you use this situation to improve/change how things are happening at your journal? Can you make new journal guidelines on primary/raw data availability such that the "upon reasonable request" becomes a thing of the past?

This is how I see this case as an editor, from the information given. (I'm not saying that this is how it generally should be handled, as I'm probably from a different field and don't know what the standard is in yours.)

'conducting the experiments' and 'providing the data'

I don't think that these would necessarily qualify somebody for authorship. Both of these do not imply any conceptual impact on the work. Possibly these persons have just done what they were told, or handed over something that already existed. Further I'd give the author the benefit of the doubt, so if they decide that these people should not be co-authors, I'd assume that this is for good reasons (I have no difficulty to imagine such reasons in this case), unless these people complain to you, of course. Note also that general practices regarding these things may not only vary from field to field but also between countries and even universities.
Furthermore my understanding always has been that an explicit indication of the contributions of the authors is not needed for single author papers, as the understanding there should be that the author did everything substantial (other than routine things such as "conducting the experiments" assuming that this doesn't require much thinking on behalf of the person who did that). So I wouldn't ask the author for a clarification of contributions either, because as the only author, the default is "all that is relevant and not explicitly credited to others". I don't see in what you write any indication that something is wrong here.

Lastly, the author did not share data/analysis, and wrote that these are only available upon reasonable request due to pricacy concerns. I think it would be possible to anonymise the data. Can I insist they share it?

I'd think that this should be official general journal policy, in which case you can surely insist. You can insist as well if it is not yet official policy (I mean you are the editor, so ultimately it's your job to decide what goes in and what doesn't), but as an author it would annoy me to some extent in this case because there wasn't a visible general policy to this effect.
So I'd recommend to implement this as a general policy, regardless of whether you ask for it in this case or not.


text:
Can a professor advise a Ph.D. student while taking extended leave (one year without pay) from a university in the USA
My advisor is planning to take a one-year leave for personal reasons. He will be returning to his home country, and the leave will be without pay. I am currently in my second year as a Ph.D. student. Is it very difficult for me to switch advisors at this point, considering we have already worked together for over a year and everything has been going well? He plans to take leave while still advising me remotely. Does the administration allow this?

You would need to ask them or check their policies.  Universities can make their own rules for these situations.

If the institution allows it, I would work with your advisor to line up another professor to both mitigate risk, and make it easier to deal with department/university stuff that a remote advisor can't do effectively.

You have to ask your program/university administration.

Rules vary, but I would expect it to be possible in many(most?) cases. The professor is still a professor at the institution and their employment doesn't end.
They may not get paid for advising you but professors often do a lot without thinking about being paid for individual tasks.
There might be exceptions and it might be hard on you, but I expect it to be allowed.
For a specific answer, you need to ask your institution.


text:
How do historians (or other academics) make confident judgements about the sources they use (be that in terms of interpretation or otherwise)?
I am a historian and wondering about this (hopefully not too abstruse) question: While historians (and other academics) obviously go through years of training in doctoral programs (including how to read and interpret the sources they use), most of their work in the end is done on their own sitting in a library/office etc in front of sources or the computer. That also means that when doing the actual work of reading sources and interpreting them, they are alone and have to make judgements about these sources on their own. I guess my question is how one deals with this kind of judgement calls (and ideally gets more confident about them)? And is it normal to feel some doubt at times?
To give two examples to make this more easily understandable:

I am working with a particular collection of primary sources at the moment. The documents themselves are pretty straightforward and easy to understand. However, for some reason at times these documents have scribbled notes written in the margins. Some of them are legible and some are not. Now, my own judgement is that these were likely added after the actual documents were written and are not of any consequence to my interpretation. But I am still not a 100% sure. I have asked the archivist and he agrees with my assessment. I plan to possibly also ask colleagues, but it is unlikely that I'll find someone that has much experience working with this collection as it has not really been studied before. The fact that I can't photograph or photocopy anything makes it even more difficult to consult others. Now, do I just have to go with my own judgement here (I would say I am 90% sure that I am correct in terms of my assessment) or will I just not be able to use these files?

I was once in a graduate workshop where we read primary sources together and what amazed me was that three senior professors that attended at times vehemently disagreed about the meaning of certain sources. Now these professors obviously can't hold a workshop for each source they use in their work, so despite the fact that such different interpretations can exist, they will usually just have to go with their judgement I guess and move on. And then only those few people that actually look up the source can see whether the interpretation is actually correct.

I hope I am clear enough. Basically, I am not sure how to balance making sure that I get all sources I use right and having confidence in my own judgement as a scholar. My nightmare would be that due to something like the scribbles mentiones above I get a source completely wrong and then some scholars point that out to my embarassment.
I know that this is a very historian-specific question, but more generally I would think that in any subject where one mainly works alone one would be faced with this dilemma.
Thanks for any advice!

In any discipline one of the most important things you can learn is to be comfortable with the possibility of being wrong.
This is both about becoming confident that your judgements are as good as anyone else, and if you are wrong, then that is not the end of the world, but also about acknowledging that you will never be certain of anything, and that interpretations always carry uncertainty. So be confident in what you think, but also be prepared to change your mind. Likely your scholarly work will contain some judgements that other scholars agree with, or that are reinforced when further information comes to light, and other judgements where the opposite is true. Knowledge rarely progresses by one person coming up with the whole truth in one go, but progresses piecemeal with future scholars taking the best pieces of each of their predecessors' work.
So, in the example you gave, you should write in your work that in your judgement it seems likely that margin notes were likely added after the documents were created, but that you can't be sure. You might like to consider how your interpretation would change if you turn out to be wrong.

Thank you! Two further queries:

Unfortunately, in my field I don't really see people putting things like this (in my case the scribbles in the margins) in their text or footnotes. In a sense, this would make things much easier because then I'd have a better idea how to handle it.

So in such a case it is unlikely that I'd be accused of willingly ignoring these scribbles if it turns out that they (against what I think) matter in one way or the other (though, again, I am highly doubtful of them changing the meaning of the source in any significant way)

@Rattata21: If people in your field currently don't do something, that doesn't necessarily mean that you can't change that! Unless of course there are specific rules/guidelines that say it's a no go. From what I've read and from Ian's answer, you could add some nuance and that, I think, is really important in any scientific field.

Generally speaking, it is near-impossible to be 100% sure that your interpretation of a historical source is the "right" one. No matter how hard you work to make your analysis as correct as possible, there will always be at least one historian that completely disagrees with your analysis. For very recent textual materials (say, from the last 60-80 years) it is much easier to get the interpretation right, because we still have access to a lot of contextual data, and in some cases even the person who wrote the materials might still be alive. But the further back you go in time, it becomes increasingly difficult to interpret the meaning of the words accurately. For very old texts in the medieval or ancient periods, a single misplaced punctuation mark or a single misinterpreted word can completely change the meaning of a sentence or even a whole paragraph.
It just can't be helped. In the same way as scientific research, the field of history is one where each new generation tries to build up upon the work of previous generations. We try to pick up the things that the previous generation got right, and by accessing new materials and new research techniques, we try to correct the misinterpretations and errors found in their papers.
What is really important is that you conduct yourself with absolute professionalism at all times. Even if you find a blatant error in a history paper, always keep in mind that that person(s) was trying to do the best work they could with the resources that they had available at the time. The same is valid for your own historian colleagues still producing papers right now. Each historian has their own set of specialized skills, but they also have aspects in which they are deficient (ex: insufficient foreign language skills), which can lead to misinterpretation of historical texts. In sum, my point is: even if you completely disagree with the methods/interpretive analysis of a colleague, always explain your disagreement with sincere kindness and respect. In the future, if someone finds an error in your work, you would like them to treat you in the same way.
Regarding Question 1, at the very least you have the duty to get a basic idea of what the marginalia is trying to communicate. Even if you don't understand all of the scribbles, try to get a basic grasp of any passages that you can understand and search for other papers that analyze the same materials, to see what they have to say about the marginalia. If you think they are from a much later time period and are thus unrelated to your research topic, then you can safely ignore them. Don't be so quick to assume that these materials have not been studied much before. It is often the case that foreign historians have analyzed the materials and published papers about them in foreign languages. If you can't find any paper that deals with the topic, try to consult with a colleague or a supervisor, or try to contact by email a historian who has analyzed these materials in the past. In that case, when you write a paper, just be honest and mention clearly that you did not take the marginalia into consideration when analyzing the materials, and briefly explain why.
Regarding Question 2, your duty as a historian is to make the process of your interpretation clear to the readers of your paper. Whenever possible, try to provide an excerpt of the original passage in your paper (as a footnote), be brave enough to present your own English translation of the passage, and then explain why you decided on that particular interpretation of the text. Obviously you cannot do this for every single textual passage, but at least you should do this for very important passages that have a direct bearing on the topic of your paper. The reader should be able to follow your train of thought, and then decide whether to accept your interpretation or reject it or correct it. The value of your paper does not necessarily lie in providing the reader with the absolute "right" interpretation of the text: it is about being transparent about the methodological choices that you made when interpreting the text. In this manner, you are providing a service to the reader, you are providing clarity to them, and you are saving them time because they can evaluate your interpretation much more quickly.
Of course, you are still wondering how you can improve the accuracy of your interpretation. The secret is to collect as much information as possible about the context and conditions in which the text was written. The more contextual information you have surrounding the text's production, the easier it will be for you to discard certain interpretations in favor of others. It will also make it easier for you to interpret ambiguous passages. Unfortunately, many historians merely stick to investigating the social and economic conditions surrounding the text's author or the local community. Another potentially problematic "quick fix" solution is to merely apply some general theoretical interpretive framework on top of the text (ex: deconstruction, literary criticism, etc.), without taking into consideration other methods. People are busy, have families to take care of, and other responsibilities, so this situation is somewhat understandable. But if you can, please try to gather contextual information from other fields such as archaeology, environmental history, even paleogenetics. These fields can uncover traces of environmental disasters, epidemics and parasites, economic trade, bad crops, famines, daily habits, mass migrations and burials which can completely change your initial interpretation of the actual text. You can sometimes realize that certain ambiguous or obscure passages of the text are actually referencing times of turmoil and social anxiety caused by various environmental phenomena.
Another thing that you should try to do is take a general look at other prime materials produced around the same time around the same geographic region, and try to get an idea of how the history of that place was before the text was produced, and how it became after the text was produced. This will help you to situate the text in the broader historical conditions/trends of that region. Also try to find texts by other contemporary authors who show a different perspective around the same historical events. Identify which parts agree and disagree, and make them clear to the readers. By multiplying the number of subjective interpretive frameworks, and by multiplying the number of methodological analyses of the same text, you can actually paradoxically get a more objective interpretation, instead of a more subjective one. The more you remain in a methodological echo chamber, without considering competing perspectives, the more likely you are to get something wrong. Of course, you cannot realistically try every single approach. Just do the best you can with the time and resources that you have at your disposal.
Finally, if you are wavering between two or three possible interpretations of a textual passage, explain to the reader the merits and demerits of each one, and then be brave enough to choose one, with courage and dignity, even knowing that in the future you might be proven wrong. By presenting your work with humility, and by identifying the strong points and weak points of your interpretation (i.e., the parts where your hypothesis might be wrong), you will still be respected by your peers, even when you get some things wrong. And make no mistake, you will get some things wrong for sure! Be at peace with that fact.

Thanks so much for this very useful reply! One clarification: If there really is a major issue with a document that I am unsure of, I would point this out in a footnote for sure. But in general in my field an article will usually reference dozens of primary sources and I usually do not see much discursive explanation of primary sources in my area of history. That is partly why I am wondering how to handle it. If I do not have the space to explain, then I am afraid someone might say I was sloppy/dishonest in not further investigating such marginal notes for example.

And just to add: That would then mean that when I make the judgement (even after consulting colleagues etc that work on this specific time period/with these specific documents, I'll likely have to make the decision myself in the end as to whether the marginal scribbles mean anything as noone I know of has worked exactly on these documents), I am afraid of running the risk of getting it wrong and then being criticized for it.

One more detail: These scribbles are literally just two or three Japanese characters (which can't really mean anything that fundamentally changes the document). When I say that they were likely added later, I think not of it being years later or anything like that but rather short notes added by different office clerks that handled and sorted the documents. But, again, that is my own guess. I do not know it for sure (though that is something I am able to and will consult colleagues about).

In that case, it is fine to make a judgement call based on limited information. For example, a footnote such as "The document contains a number of very short glosses added by a different hand, usually two or three Japanese characters, not all of which are legible. Judging from the readable parts, it is highly likely that these words were added by office clerks that were handling the documents, and therefore they were not taken into consideration for this study" would be fine. But again, try to consult with colleagues first, and see if there is any codicological analysis of the document.

Thanks. Yes, will check with colleagues first. In a sense I would really like it if I could just add such footnotes as you suggest. But in my field journals don't like long footnotes that much (depends on the journal but some at least) and so there are limitations as to how often I can do it or if at all.

From my experience as a former public official and historian, the marginal notes in an official document could be from a meeting if it was a report, or the head of the department if it was a memo. In either case is from internal communication, even when it originated from outside the institution. The notes might contain a task and the person entrusted with it as a follow up. Even a doodle might be of interest here. It shows that the person was thinking hard or was bored with the problem. If there are different handwriting styles, it indicates that the memo had been circulating; another clue that you might follow if relevant. So, they are relevant if you are tracing a process or a document.


text:
How to kindly tell my supervisor that I will pursue my career in the industry?
I have received my MSc. degree at software engineering 5 months ago after a 3-year period of study and research. At the time of graduation, my supervisor asked me whether I would like to continue as his PhD student, I said I'll be happy to continue with doctoral degree under his supervision, but I didn't tell him anything about my curiosity about working in the industry.
When I got my master's degree, I also started working remotely in a bank as a software developer. At first, this was just for exploring the industry since I did not have any previous experience. However, I really liked the environment and the challenges that I have been dealing at my job and I got promotion last week which resulted in a huge increase in my salary which is great since there is an ongoing economic struggles in my country and it helps me a lot. My supervisor knows me as a part-time engineer in the company but in fact I am working in a full-time position.
While I was working on my master's thesis, we also wrote a paper, which is related to my thesis (in some parts), in collaboration with my supervisor and another student who was a fresh Master's student then. We started this work 2 years ago and we got the initial outcome as the programming, writing/revising the paper part completed 1.5 years ago. Until then we applied for publishing our paper at 2 different international journals but rejected from both. After each rejection we spent a lot of time for both revising the paper and modifying/enhancing the implementation(code). 3 months ago, we applied for a 3rd journal and this time they suggested us a major revision. In last 3 months, I cannot work intensely on the paper and code revision since it requires indeed a major revision. My supervisor is not satisfied with my recent work and it causes stress on me although I will not continue with a doctoral degree. There is a huge amount of unfinished work of code/paper modification and the other student should be responsible of this burdening job. And I also told my supervisor that I want to continue with doctoral degree since I was not sure at the time of graduation. I feel guilty due to this to my supervisor but more to the other student.
So my question is: How can I kindly tell my supervisor that I would like to continue as a software developer in the industry not as a PhD student although we have an unfinished work? I will be happy for any of your suggestions.

As someone once told me, "there is no subtle way to throw a grenade."
Having said that: we are talking about weighting your life's work vs. an inconvenience for him. You can feel bad about having to break your word, but don't overdo the feeling bad part. Just because you once agreed to what looked like a good idea at the time, does not mean you now have to spend 5-6 years of your life bound to that.
My personal strategies for when I have to give people bad news:

Don't go into the conversation intending to negotiate if you should leave. Make your decision ahead of time, and then meet with your advisor to deliver the news.

Only Present Your Best Arguments (Rule 7 from Simmons MP (2015) Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Reply Paper. PLoS Comput Biol 11(10): e1004536. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004536

Once you are done, shut up, let the other person speak, and listen.

Write a note to yourself about how it feels to break your commitment, and use that note in the future to remind yourself of that feeling, just when you are about to make a new commitment.


text:
Transferring from phd to masters
Have a question. Is it possible to start phd in a particular stream and then transfer to masters in a different stream ? OR if someone is pursuing phd can they apply for other masters program which are of more interest to them then their current phd ?
Also if one desire to switch the field in which they originally enrolled to do PHD.
All questions as they relate to international students.

Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer.

Which country? I am used to PhD students already having a master's degree, in which case this reduces to the question of getting another master's.

I would say this might depend on the stream as well. Your question would be cleared if you mention which streams you are referring to in the question body. Also, the word 'transferring' seems confusing here, as you are talking about two different degree levels and two different streams.


text:
Correct way to reference website with unknown authors
I am writing an essay as a university project and I would like to cite the following website: https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/if.
My problem is that this website has no author in the conventional sense, but it is rather like a wikipedia page where multiple authors contributed over the years. The history can be found here: https://en.cppreference.com/mwiki/index.php?title=cpp/language/if&action=history, and the information page of the website (https://en.cppreference.com/mwiki/index.php?title=cpp/language/if&action=info) states that the website has had 30 editors.
Now, I know that citing a wikipedia page is not the best idea in a scientific paper. But this website contains information that would otherwise be very hard to gather. For example, it states when a new language feature was added to the standard. This is an important information, but the only other way to get this information would be to compare the different standard versions. And I somehow have to give a reference on where I get this information from.
Therefore the questions:

Is there an accepted way to properly cite websites like this in a university essay or thesis?
If there is, how would it look like in the IEEE format?

It is important to keep the essay references clean, so I do not want to include shady solutions.

You will have to cite the website url and the date accessed because wikipedia can change overnight. You cannot assign authors, as you do not know them.
Bibtex has a way to deal with this, and this should be useful even if you are not using bibtex:
https://bibtex.eu/faq/how-can-i-use-bibtex-to-cite-a-website/

I would do these two steps
A. Wikipedia, url, date accessed for content that is original commentary.
B. If the content you are referencing from Wikipedia has been originally coming from another reference. You might want to look into the original content and then refer the original paper.


text:
Being cut out of a start-up based on my thesis
I'm a - by all accounts - very talented programmer and student with over four years of self employed programming experience. For my thesis I decided to work in the field of genomic data analysis. Two years ago I found a PhD supervisor who shared his idea of a software application in that field with me which I found interesting and decided to work on. My supervisor is a post-doc in bioinformatics and does not have any experience with larger software projects. Over the course of the last two year I added many of my own ideas to the application. The resulting product has shown to be very useful to the medical institution I'm a student of.
There have been talks about turning this application into a company very early on. These were always initiated by me and for roughly one year my supervisor stated he was not interested in starting a company at all since he is primarily focused on his research. Over the last couple of months however he has become very serious about starting a company based on the application I programmed fully by myself. He has even received an investment of 10.000 EUR by a public fund sponsoring projects in this field by 'showing off' my application.
In autumn this year there is an invitation to tender by the institution he is a employed at for something very similar to the application I have created. Due to his experience with this particular institution and its needs, he asserts it is highly likely that we would be awarded the contract. It is worth noting, that there will be significant changes to the application before we may be awarded the contract, but nothing that I could not do until autumn.
In our last meeting however my supervisor stated that if we were awarded the contract and founded a company, he would take the vast majority of shares (95%), since it is his many years of experience and connections in the field that lead to the situation we are currently in. I do not agree with this at all and feel like the application would not have come into existence hadn't it been for my programming knowledge as well. Without the both of us we wouldn't be here today, it took both of our efforts.
Since my thesis is not complete yet (I've written it all up, but my supervisor suggested some changes which I'm working on right now with full speed) I am highly dependent on him and want to avoid any confrontation on this issue until my thesis is graded.
Here are the options my supervisor has:

Increase my share (I feel entitled to at least one third of the company)
Cut me out entirely and hire some other developer (which has the downside, that they probably wouldn't be able to finish by autumn and the new developer would very likely lack domain knowledge and not be familiar with the task at all.) I do think however, that my supervisor vastly overestimates his skill in overseeing the development of such an application and underestimates my qualities as a programmer.

Here is my 'nuclear' option:

Collaborate with one of my past clients (large software company I worked for) and secretly bring in our own tender application.

Of course I'd prefer a collaboration with my supervisor under fair terms.
What are your thoughts on this, how should I approach this situation?
Summary: A software application I wrote for my thesis will likely turn into a company. My supervisor wants to largely cut me out of the deal, despite having received an investment from a public fund based entirely on my work. I want to avoid open confrontation because my thesis is not fully finished yet.

I'm not a lawyer but this seems like the sort of thing you might want to get some legal advice about.

The best answer depends quite strongly on the rules of the country/institution at which you are based. In particular, who owns the IP for this tool - it may be that one of you legally cannot build a company based on this idea because they don't own the IP. Indeed, I'd be surprised if the IP rested with the post-doc either, since he's presumably also a temporary member of staff employed on someone else's grant? Likewise, the power your supervisor has to derail your project at the last minute is also quite dependent on local rules.

Your institution will have an IP office. It's their job to set IP distribution up in a fair way so that nobody will come back with a lawyer. Talk to them.


text:
Academic Help - 4 year College transfer
I’m aiming for a BA degree. Basically, I’m taking classes for a AS degree in Computer science and AA, but now I’m nervous since I don’t know the answer for: will both of my AS degrees transfer to a 4? Should I just focus on a AA degree? Am I losing time and money? Especially since I’m going to have 2 AS.

Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking.

Many community colleges have agreements with state-run 4-year colleges so that most, if not all, credits are fully transferred. The people who can answer this question are at the "transfer student" office located at the campus you are looking to transfer into, not the community college where you study now. If they don't have a credit transfer agreement with the community college, they can tell you which classes will transfer and which will not. That way you can take the classes that count both for your AS and later the BS.

This question would be best directed to your academic advisor or equivalent office at your particular institution as they would be able to provide specific advice on developing your path through academia and what specific degrees you would like to pursue.


text:
What should I wear to academic ceremonies in UK? I have a PhD from Austria
What should I personally wear to academic ceremonies in UK? I have a PhD from VetMedUni, Vienna (Austria) and they do not have academic regalia. But in the UK we are expected to wear our academic robes to formal events, such as when our students graduate. I have read that other's with foreign PhDs sometimes wear the regalia of their home country, which I really like the idea of. In Austria it is not uncommon to wear a dirndl for graduation. I didn't have a graduation ceremony (lockdowns and moving home), but if I had, I dreamed of a dirndl. I think it would be nice to honour Austria in this way and adopt a Dirndl as my academic dress, but I am not Austrian. Would this be considered to be inappropriate or cultural appropriation since I'm British? Alternatively/as well should I just wear my Master's gown? Thank you

Can you ask the professors, dean, or coworkers at your workplace or academic institute ? They may give you some great suggestions. -- BTW, as you propose, many people would think that "it would be nice to honour Austria in this way and adopt a Dirndl as my academic dress".

As an Austrian myself (though out of the country for a long time by now), I would absolutely say a dirndl would be appropriate. It's a very young tradition, anyway, and being "appropriated" left, right and center. Absolutely great to wear it at a festive occasion like graduation!

For graduation specifically, most universities engage the services of a rober such as Ryder & Amies or Ede & Ravenscroft to source robes and Hoods for staff who attend the ceremonies,  and the staff of these companies will know what the appropriate dress is.
I've not heard of people wearing national dress instead of gown/hood, but instead of a suit underneath.  I could be wrong though.
As whether you can wear them even thought you are not Austrian, but just studied there,  I think this would be a little odd,  but I don't think anyone would stop you, in fact people would probably think it fun.


text:
Unable to find well-known fluid dynamics paper
I am writing my MSc thesis on a certain topic in fluid dynamics. Of particular relevance to my MSc is the Stuart-Landau equation. In the linked Wikipedia article, they reference a paper written by famous physicist Lev Landau in 1944, К проблеме турбулентности, or On the problem of turbulence. This is not some obscure paper that nobody knows about - it has been cited by a great many of the other papers in this particular field that I have looked at.
Though it is by no means an extremely important paper to my work, I would nevertheless like to read through it so I can give comments on it. The only problem is, I can't find it anywhere, not even my University's library catalog!
Does anyone have access to this paper? How do I get my hands on it?
Thanks.

With rather famous scientists such as Landau, their works often get republished as a one or more volumes of "Collected papers". These might be easier to find.

Such as https://archive.org/details/d.-ter-haar-collected-papers-of-l.-d.-landau


text:
I am writing a paper based on a clinical case previously written from two authors with whom I used to work with. Should I add them as co-author?
I am writing a paper on a rare clinical case, previously published by two authors, that in the past years used to work in the hospital in which I work now. In my paper, the case is discussed from a totally different perspective, so it will result in a different work from the previous just with the same image. I asked and obtained from the first journal permission to reprint since the journal now holds the copyright. Should I add as co-authors these two researchers?

It isn't at all clear what overlap in material there will be between the two papers and it is difficult to see what contribution the previous authors are making.  In most fields what you suggest would be dealt with by writing a comment/letter to the editor about the existing paper rather than reproducing (part of) it.

@DikranMarsupial There will be no overlap. It is a rare clinical case, they published the case as a rare finding. My paper is about the medical and surgical treatment and the follow-up of the patient at 5 years.

@Heart in that case it is not clear why any reprinting is necessary, in other fields this would normally just be a follow up paper that refers to the previous one or a comment paper.  However different fields have different approaches.  If it is reproducing a diagram or image from the previous paper, then the publisher's permission is all that is required and a reference to the original paper as the source in the caption.

There are now better criteria for who should be a co-author or not. You should consult the ones relevant to your discipline. They are usually laid out as statements by professional organizations or by institutions. Here is one by Harvard medical school: https://hms.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/assets/Sites/Ombuds/files/AUTHORSHIP%20GUIDELINES.pdf
Most guidelines will insist on direct contributions and full responsibilities of co-authors so that your colleagues would not qualify. In reality, many people still follow looser rules, but as long as there is no direct intellectual contribution to the current paper, as seems to be the case here, no authorship should be given. While your paper is probably going to be quite terse, you should still mention by name the two authors of the other study and not just cite them, so that a reader clearly understands that you are talking about the same case and how the approaches differ.
In the future and in a similar case, you might want to consider inviting them or at least informing them at an early stage. Conflicts over authorship are avoided best by timely communication. Even if you follow published criteria, you might still get some negative reaction.


text:
What is difference between "Student poster" and "poster" in academic conference
I saw the four options in an application form:

Oral
Poster
Student oral
Student poster

I want to know what is difference between these options.
BTW, I applied for "Student Oral"
but finally changed to "Student Poster"
so I want to know What is difference between "Student poster" and  "poster" in an academic conference

It really depends on specific conference policies, but in general, student posters are from students and posters are from more senior academics. By separating them, participants of the conference are made aware which posters and presentations stem from students and thus constitute work from less experienced researchers, so that the level and complexity of that research might(!) not be as high. Many conferences also have best poster/paper awards for student contributions.
Also, often conferences offer reduced attendance fees for students, so when chosing "student poster" instead of "poster", you might have to pay less (assuming you actually are a student and have proof of your status).

This is a good answer, but in my experience only reason is Many conferences also have best poster/paper awards for student contributions. Usually conference attendees vote on the student poster competition.


text:
Graduated and work as a data analyst. How should I tell coworkers who use my analyses to cite my work?
I completed my PhD in Biomedical Informatics a year ago and now work as a data analyst at an academic research institution. I am the only analyst in my particular department. I've noticed that when coworkers ask me to conduct an analysis for them, they will then use that analysis in reports, presentations at conferences, etc, without attributing them to me. This gives the impression that they conducted these analyses or created the tables themselves even though I made them. In one instance they cited the database I maintain as the source, although obviously the database did not analyze itself. I was not told that my analyses were being created for these purposes, just asked to make a table or a figure with no context for how it would be used.
How do I handle this? Should I put the tables or figures I make on figshare or something and ask them to cite that? Should I request co-authorship on any presentations? I have looked all over for how to cite analyses when the primary author did not conduct the analysis, but have been unable to find anything.

Sigh. I might have thought that an "academic research institution" would have a better handle on credit where credit is due (not necessarily co-author, but at least acknowledgments).

Talk about authorship expectations in your initial consultation on any project. You may need to drive these conversations if the people around you are not doing so.
In some cases, your contributions may not really rise to the level of authorship, but if you are making intellectual contributions like choosing what methods to use and performing actual data analysis, you likely should be an author. However, the people you are working with may not be used to interacting with someone in the role you hold and may not understand what your relationship to the work should be. There are a lot of other people that contribute to scientific work that are not typically credited as authors, such as administrative staff, so it's easy to be confused. Being an author may also come with additional expectations and responsibilities, such as writing and revising manuscripts and presentations.
In cases where your level of input doesn't qualify for authorship, you can still ask to be acknowledged. I recommend not assuming that people are purposely slighting you, and instead explain to them how these sorts of things are important to you personally and professionally. Most people like to help other people out. When producing a figure for someone, you might say "I don't think my effort into this project is sufficient for authorship, but I would appreciate if you include my name in the acknowledgements section of your manuscripts and talks, and/or include my name in a slide presentation. This will help me be recognized professionally for the work I do so I can keep doing this job/get promoted/etc".
There's a lot of overlap between your role and statistical consulting, so you might find resources designed for statistical consultants are useful, such as https://community.amstat.org/cnsl/forclients/expect-content
See also previous Q&A here:
When does a statistical consultant become a co-author or collaborator?
Can an author claim sole authorship if the hired statistician writes half of the paper?
Medical Statistician: Concerned about missing authorship after conducting majority of project's data analysis, graphs, and figures
If you are creating resources that are useful across multiple projects such as software or databases, especially if these can be available to a broader audience than just your own institution, it may be worth creating a publication specifically for that resource that can be cited.

Thank you, that is very helpful! I hadn't considered creating a publication about the database - excellent idea.

I suspect you're right, @Bryan Krause, about it not being deliberate, so I sent out an e-mail to everyone in my department explaining how attribution usually works and making everyone aware that I'll be having those discussions with them from now on. I also asked if I could give a short primer on the topic at our next staff meeting. A data analyst in a different department suggested that I create an e-mail signature to accompany any analysis I've created, and using the signature to summarize my expectations.

@LilyCook I'd probably recommend against the signature, that's not where people are expecting to find content in an email that they need to pay attention to unless they specifically go looking for something they'd normally find there like an office address or phone number.


text:
Impact of IELTS score on PhD Application
I received an overall score of 7.5 on the IELTS exam, but unfortunately, I only scored a 6 in the writing section. The Ph.D. programs I am applying to require an overall score of 6.5 or 7, but they did not specify any minimum requirements for individual modules. Will my lower score in writing affect my application?

I would say it depends on the country you are applying to, the university, the fields, if the application is directed towards the whole department, or a specific professor, etc. A lot of factor that may impact the decision, without taking into account the most important: it all depends on the people processing the application. If you are really worried, send an email, but whether they do need a minimum requirements for individual modules or not, you can't change your score anymore

I am applying to biomedical sciences program in the USA.

Your English here is perfectly acceptable, so the English in your application probably is too. If I saw an application with good writing I would probably pay no attention to the exam score.

@EthanBolker Not at all saying it regarding to Maliha English, but with tools such as chatGPT now, people processing application may ignore/pay less attention the quality in the application and pay more attention to scores.

@JackRed I'm glad I retired before I had to confront that problem.

@JackRed That's what I am afraid too. They would not understand if I wrote the application components on my own or used chatGPT.

@MalihaKabir I think it's fine. I was raising the counterpoint that the application could have been made with assistance and thus may not be a proof. It may not end up helping, but it won't be a negative thing. The main point is still your score, and the threshold they have for it, overall or per section, which you should seek the answer yourself if you really want to, as suggested by buffy in her answer. It won't change anything in the end however as you already have your test

They have stated a standard and you seem to have met it. If you have stated the case correctly then you should be fine.
If you still have doubts, the best answer will come from the institution itself, perhaps a "graduate office" rather than from an admissions committee or individual professor. Perhaps the department administration.


text:
How can I progress in academia with no connections?
I am an RA with an unorthodox path. During my PhD I had to move from a group to working alone with a different set of supervisors that didn't have much of a connection to my topic and after my PhD they couldn't help. I am now an RA but I mostly do teaching and no research. My teaching experience is good but I don't have that many publications. I tried to publish some things from my PhD but they are now a bit dated and I don't have any connections to get involved in other projects. I tried to network but it is very difficult. So far this year I wrote a couple of papers, I was in 2 conference programme committees, I got 2 small grants but it is still not enough.

I don't understand what position you hold. You say RA, but that implies to me that you haven't yet finished or have only done so after completing this year.

I am an RA on paper for the past 3 year with ongoing short extensions (3-6 months each). In reality I created a course and I teach part of it along with coordination.

@Diane What is an "RA"? Are you effectively a post doc? "RA" can abbreviate many different things in academia...

What country? Might help because usually "RA" doesn't imply teaching responsibilities.

@Buffy Research Associate, similar to postdoc but not attached to a particular project.

Yes, it is very difficult to advance without a circle of connections, especially collaborators. And you are in a particularly difficult position, I think, and may be being exploited to some extent. If they would offer you a permanent position, even as teaching faculty then it would give you a base.
But the solution to the problem is to develop that circle, I think. I had a very difficult time getting started even with people willing to support me and the market for faculty in academia seems to be very difficult at present (as it was for me).
First, try to find a mentor where you are. Look around at faculty who might serve - people you respect. Talk to them about your need to find a better position that is more open to advancement. You need a base from which to work and you need people willing to help you find that base.
The department head/chair has an ethical obligation to help you get started, even if they don't recognize that. If you can talk to them, expressing your career needs, perhaps they can help with money for travel and conference fees.
You are doing the right thing being on conference committees. Use those people to start with building your circle. Talk to them about your needs. Get the more prominent ones to introduce you to people with similar interests.
One can expand their own circle by getting introduced to members of the circle of others.
If you are introverted, find ways to overcome that. It can be difficult and it takes practice but it can be done. I doubt many here would tag me as very introverted, but at one time I was held back by an extreme reluctance to make my needs known to those who had the power to help. I know people who are "on the spectrum" who are also known as brilliant public speakers. They have learned to play a role and not let their "natural" inclinations to hide in the background dominate their lives. If this is an issue with you, add a comment and I'll say a bit more.

... but I mostly do teaching and no research. My teaching experience is good but I don't have that many publications. ... I tried to network but it is very difficult. So far this year I wrote a couple of papers, I was in 2 conference programme committees, I got 2 small grants but it is still not enough.

As an add-on, give thought to reflexivity. You can leverage on your subject knowledge and teaching experience to write and publish papers on your teaching delivery, innovations in your teaching style/approach and assessment.
Innovation can be processes, pedagogical approaches, technological innovation, sustainable assessments: Boyd (2000), Boyd (2016), Adesemowo (2017).
Through collaboration and showcasing your scholarship of teaching, learning and assessment, you might build (lasting) network. Your network will also gravitates towards your 'topic'.

Nobody knows, really, "how to" progress in academia. Trying to progress in academia means taking part in a lottery. Someone might read a paper of yours and notice you, or it might go unnoticed. Being at conferences is good. Being a research assistant who is exploited to do only teaching sounds bad.


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What questions to ask before accepting a lectureship?
I recently received an offer for a lectureship position at a smaller UK university, albeit with a notable compensation decrease. I am seeking guidance on the key inquiries to pose during negotiations to aid in my decision-making process. Additionally, I would greatly appreciate insight into the crucial factors contributing to potential career advancement in this role.

Just to clarify: are you already working at a UK university?

Salary decrease compared to what? Your current position? If so, what is that position?

@YemonChoi Yes I do.

@WolfgangBangerth I work as a teaching fellow and RA

If you would relocate, check housing costs very carefully.  Get this information from the housing market, not your future colleagues.
Directly ask the people hiring you what you should know and what you should request in negotiations.  Ask the same questions to recent hires.  Read the union contract; it may tell you what you can and cannot request.


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Does Being a TA for an Irrelevant Course Benefit My Resume?
Would having experience as a TA for a course outside my field be seen as a positive on resume?
How might this experience be perceived by potential employers or academic committees, especially when it's not aligned with my primary area of study?
Are there any particular benefits to teaching in an unrelated discipline that might outweigh the lack of direct relevance to my field?

Partly depends on how far 'outside' the field. If you are a physics major, being a TA for an engineering course isn't particularly 'outside'. If you TA underwater basket weaving instead, that is a different story. You are still TA'ing which is OK, but not something that can be brought to bear on physics.

What is the problem you are trying to solve? Are you choosing between TAing two courses, or choosing TA_irrelevant vs. RA? Or is this your only source of funding?

What is your actual concern? What scenario are you considering that some random course you TA'd as a graduate student matters? When I hire postdocs, I don't care about their TA experience because I hire them to do research. When I am on faculty search committees, I don't care what they TA'd, I care about their publication record and proposed research. When I sit on lecturer faculty search committees, I just want to see that they TA'd at all because I just assume they were assigned whatever was available in order for them to get paid. So long story short, no it doesn't matter.

I doubt that anyone would see this as a negative and many would see it as somewhat, though not profoundly, positive.
The TA experience varies. For some, possibly most, it involves grading and leading question and answer sessions for some portion of a course's students. At the other extreme, once experienced in the above a person might actually have responsibility of teaching a section of a popular course. In math this can happen in the later years of a doctorate, for example. The latter is a much more positive contribution to your CV, but probably less important in a separate field.
However, experience in dealing with students and seeing the complexities of managing the learning of others is a positive thing for those wishing an academic career. And, of course, if your field is, itself, interdisciplinary, then the benefits are greater and more positive in the CV.

See also Is TA-ing worth the opportunity cost (of having more time for research)?
As I wrote in an answer to that question:

If you have teaching experience on your CV, you can claim that you're good at presenting, you know how to mentor juniors, you have worked with people from other cultures, you are able to work in groups towards a common goal (if you didn't teach alone, which you probably don't as a TA), you know how to manage disputes, and so on. Plus you probably get a lot of examples that you can use to illustrate your skills in an interview.

Note all of these things are independent of the subject you taught. If the course is "irrelevant", then you can't say that teaching it made you understand the subject better, but all the remaining benefits above still remain, and you can cite specific examples.
In other words, the answer to the title question is "yes".


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How Should I Convert My GPA for PhD Applications in the USA?
I am in the process of applying for PhD programs in the United States and am facing a dilemma regarding my GPA format. My current university uses a 20/20 grading scale, and I am unsure if I should convert this to the 4.0 scale commonly used in the US or if I should submit it in its original format.
Is it standard practice to convert a non-4.0 GPA to a 4.0 scale for US PhD applications?
Should any conversion be accompanied by an explanation or certification from my current university?

Look for instructions from the programs you apply to.

If you are permitted to do so, I suggest that you submit the GPA as stated by your own university, giving the normal maximum as you have done here. US universities are good about knowing how to translate such things and in some cases might ask you for additional information.
But stating it as given avoids any possible charge of inflating.
Translations are, at best, approximate in any case, and very complicated in some situations. Let the university deal with it.

American universities subscribe to services that either convert a myriad of scoring systems to their own systems or give appropriate interpretations in English. They do this using a transcript or report from the university of origin. The applicant can add nothing by doing their own arithmetic.


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Plagiarizing a published paper in introduction?
I was reading a math preprint on archives (not yet published), and in the introduction the authors say "Following author X in [ref]..." and go on to set up the problem. When I went to [ref], it turns out the authors of the preprint actually take three paragraphs word for word from [ref] and included them in their introduction. It is not something essential, just a few general comments and background stuff; still, they are entirely identical.
Is this appropriate? Just saying "Following X...." makes it okay? To me, it still looks like plagiarising X's work.

Could you elaborate on what kind of background stuff this is? Copying exact statements of definitions and theorems can be appropriate.

It is more than that. There are a couple of narrative paragraphs on general properties of the mathematical objects in question.  It is nothing novel in there, the information itself is well-know. Still, the wording and notations are exactly as in the published paper.

It's certainly inappropriate. The copied words should be in quotation marks.

Is the quoted section in a separate paragraph? Maybe in the original paper layout the fact that the referenced text is a quote is more clear.  "A new paragraph with narrower margins" is an alternative method of quoting attributed text.

There are several sections which are word for word, about 3/4 of a page. There is no special layout.

Actually it sounds more like copyright infringement than plagiarism. That would be true if the word were copied verbatim, but there were few original creative ideas in it. If the writer isn't claiming ideas of others as their own, then it isn't plagiarism.
Note that plagiarism and copyright infringement are nearly orthogonal you can have either, both, or neither, depending on what is written. You can, in particular, plagiarize using none of the words of the original. You can also infringe copyright without plagiarizing if the copied words have no intellectual content or if they are copied but also cited. And the latter is also true if you copy things that are common knowledge.
Likewise the motivations for the two can be quite different (or the same).
This confusion is very common if I can judge by the evidence on this site.

I refereed a paper that had about 50% of one section copy pasted from a previous paper that was published in a different journal and with a different publisher. I left a note to the editor that I was concerned about copyright infringement. There were many other issues with the paper, but that was a very interesting issue.

–1. Plagiarism is defined to be taking someone else's ideas or work and passing it off as your own. Copying somebody else's words for three paragraphs without making it explicitly clear that it's a direct quote is passing off somebody else's work as one's own.

You have a point there; at the very least what is taken word for word should be in quotes to make clear it is quoted. Technically this is not OK.
On the other hand, if this is the only problematic bit I'd say it's a minor issue. How much would've been won had the preprint authors reworded this slightly so nobody couldn't accuse them anymore? Not much I'd say. Ultimately it is the own work of the authors that counts, which isn't affected. Also, the source is acknowledged, if in an arguably insufficient way.

Could this constitute copyright infringement on the published article?

@Markus I'm definitely not a lawyer, but within a non-commercial research article, I suspect a sufficiently short recitation of a short part of a longer article in a directly relevant manner could argue a fair use/fair dealing/whatever research defence exists in the relevant jurisdiction. Of course, if those three paragraphs constituted the whole article (or it's major thesis) there might still be a legal problem. Which as Buffy points out in another answer is mostly orthogonal to the question of academic misconduct.

I'm not sure I would consider this "minor"... while of course there are many worse situations that can happen, still if people became aware of this I think it would hurt the author's credibility, especially if they did this kind of thing regularly. And if a few paragraphs from my article were being copy/pasted, I would point it out to the author and expect them to correct the situation. For context, my field is physics, and I'm assuming this question refers to "general introductory text," not a precise statement of a theorem.

I guess the author's excuse would be that he started with "Following X in [ref]...". But in my opinion presenting someone else's setup doesn't allow to actually copy verbatim a big part of the introduction. One should do this in their own words, even if the essence of what is translated is almost identical.


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Is it okay to say in a Masters thesis conclusion that the used methodology is not worth exploring?
Is it acceptable to say in a thesis that based on how this methodology was implemented, it is not worth additional exploration because it is just too complex for the accuracy that it provides?
Thanks

Acceptable to who?

You need to ask your thesis advisor this question.

I tried to simulate an experiment and validate results using a computer software.
@BryanKrause just as an overall conclusion in the future outlook. I am just advising based on my results that it is not worth pursuing and providing some ideas on how to do it.

@DanielHatton Yes that's right. I will be providing evidence. I was just wondering whether if it is acceptable it make it obvious that this is a negative result or should I just focus on the positives only.

@Rayana My question was to who is it acceptable: from whose perspective are you asking?

Note that there are two aspects here. The first is that the methodology is (very) complex relative to the accuracy. The second is that it isn't worth pursuing/using in the future.
The former is probably fact based but the latter is pure opinion. Perhaps others would have a different opinion and/or could use the methodology as a stepping stone to something "better".
You might consider leaving out the opinion part or clearly marking it as your opinion.

Negative conclusions are important, but they are undervalued, and not as often published as is warranted. Thus, in principle, a thesis that shows that a certain way does not seem to be promising, should be just as valuable as one that shows the opposite.
In a M.S. thesis, you want to only state things that you can support scientifically, but in the conclusion, you are free to voice your personal opinion, as long as it is based on your work. Your readers are free to disagree, whereas they should not have this opportunity with your experiments and calculations (because if they could do so, then your work is sloppy or contains errors).
If I understand you correctly, your implementation of a certain methodology is cumbersome and does not provide additional accuracy that would make it worth while. That is a good result, because it means that others would either come up with an idea to implement the methodology better than you or find some other aspect of it that can be improved. At a defense, you might even be asked what advice you would like to give to someone else.


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Doing a second doctorate to get back on a research track?
I graduated with a Ph.D. in Physics (specialized in studying protein dynamics via laser light and coherent X-rays) from a U.S. university in May 2014. However, could not continue with research/post-doc due to a medical condition with my infant child. We had to move to a different state for  his medical treatment. Over there I did not have any contacts to secure even a post-doc position and ended up as a part-time community college instructor for more than two years.
Now my child is okay, and I want to continue my research, but when I submit my CV to research positions, no one seems to care about it. My Ph.D. supervisor has no funding, so no hope there. As a result, I was thinking of doing a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering specializing in biophotonics and/or optical radiology. Is this possible ? Will graduate schools in U.S. accept my application since I already have a Ph.D. in Physics ?
Hopefully, someone can shed some light on my concern.
Thank you in advance!

Also consider that you still will look for job once you finish your second phd. So by any mean you have to find the job now or later

Curiously, how many publications resulted from the research and at what impact factor?

Yes, and being admitted into a second PhD and finding funding for it will be an uphill battle.

@Mikey Mike: My previous research ended up in two peer-reviewed journals where I was the 2nd author. Both, low impact factor and only a handful of independent citations. The project was not a successful one.

@Shahensha Khan, you might be surprised to hear this but a job is not an important factor in my situation!

@lafemmecosmique: Shouldn't graduate schools provide funding for the entire duration of the Ph.D. program. I did my previous Ph.D. from a middle class school and I did not pay anything as tuition or fees, everything was provided, either by the school or by the PI.

A second Ph.D. is generally a bad idea, as noted elsewhere in other answers.
Instead, there are several other paths that you can pursue to get back into research, depending on your goals.  The main ones that I would think of are: getting a postdoc, joining a lab as research staff, or joining an industrial lab.  All of these will lead you back into research in some form or other, thought probably not your same line of research that you were working on in your Ph.D.
You've got a gap on your CV, but not an unusually large one, so I don't think that needs to be a major barrier.  More concerning is the fact that you don't seem to have a professional network: the thing that you want from your old advisor is not for them to hire you, but for them to connect you with other different professors or industrial folks who might be interested in hiring you.  Going to conferences in your field is another good opportunity for networking, but it will be more effective if you can get help from your advisor or other professors who you have gotten to know during your doctoral program.

To add to this answer (which I second), there are opportunities of post-docs that explicitly take into account interruptions in research. For example, the European "Marie Sklodowska Curie" fellowship have as a target people who want to reintegrate research after a leave (e.g. parental leave).

This is a good answer. Also write to any of your committee members and ask them if they know of a good postdoc position. And reconnect with old lab members (especially former postdocs) and ask them if there are any postdoc positions open where they are. I think you need to not only submit your CV for these positions, you also need to have someone put in a good word for you.

The time you will spend in second phd will be far much greater then finding a job.
Phd will require your 3 more years minimum while job hunting might not take much time.if not in states try dubai, oman or other gulf countries where you can have your free medicle, free accomodation, free air travel and other facilities along woth awesome salaries.
In my opinion second phd doesnt add any experience to your skills as you have done one already you know the research work. Just pay attention to job hunting.

Thank you for the reply! Frankly at this point I am not that concerned about finding a job after the second Ph.D.

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How to associate an arxiv paper on Google Scholar with the rest of my account?
So I'm just beginning my PhD and I want to associate this paper that I put on arxiv with my Google scholar profile, but I don't see how to do this.
Is it possible to do so?

ArXiv papers take a few days to get indexed by Google scholar. It should show up eventually. The procedure to add it your profile is no different than with any other paper from any other database.

Could you define "eventually"? I also don't see an obvious way to add an arXiv paper manually such that it looks like other arXiv papers on Google Scholar

@Psi If you add arxiv paper manually, it still won't show up on google scholar search. You have to wait for its appearing in scholar automatically.

And is there a quantifiable number to how long the wait is?

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