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How to cite/credit a photograph using Turabian?
I contacted some owner of some historical photographs and obtained permission to use them in my work.
They asked I put a line under the photograph to indicate simply author and photo number (they have assigned IDs to each photo). They said I'm free to decide precisely the wording of the credit.
My paper follows Turabian format. Does that specify the way to word the credit appearing under the photograph? In addition, should I also give a Turabian-style footnote, along with a bibliographic entry along with? The author didn't say the latter was needed, but I can't see how it doesn't get cited, when a photo conveys information just as text conveys information, just in a different way.
How do I cite and/or credit a photograph that I have permission to use, using Turabian?

Would the Turabian Tip Sheet on Figures & Captions be of help?
The pattern is:
Figure {Number}. {Description of the picture}. Photograph by {Name}, {Date}. {Source}. {ID}.
The example provided by the tip sheet is:

Figure 3.1. Helpers in a Georgia Cotton Mill. Photograph by Lewis W. Hine, January 19, 1909. The National Child Labor Committee Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC. LC-DIG-nclc-01581.

No footnote and no bibliographic entry is needed.


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Why does information need a citation, but an image needs a credit line?
I am using some images from the National Archives in my article, and it is my understanding they are in the public domain. I wrote to the National Archives requesting confirmation on usage rights and how to cite, and they don't need a citation, but a credit line, example: "Courtesy National Archives, photo no. 26-G-3422". That means the original author of the photographs, date, and other details don't need to even be included in my article.
An image might contain as much value to readers as writing, or at least support the information given. So why is it that information needs to be cited, but images are instead credited?

That image  is just a piece of evidence, like an antique brick you investigated in an archive, or an old newspaper article or advertisement you looked up in an archive, or a book of law. The conclusion you draw from it are 100% your own responsibility.

The idea that "information needs a citation and images need a credit line" is incorrect.  The choice of attribution by citation, credit line, or nothing, depends on the type of publication.
Books and news media typically use credit lines for images.  The journals I publish in typically use citations for images.  Some journals also include a "used with permission" statement, which is not like a news media credit line.  The National Archives do not deal with the journals I publish in, but they do deal with news media frequently.  So the National Archives recommends a credit line as that's what they are used to.
I recommend including both the citation and the credit line, unless the journal objects.  Since the image is public domain, only the opinion of the publisher of your article really matters.

@einpoklum Fair use is judged by courts on a case-by-case basis, and there are no automatic rules like "using an image in a scientific publication is fair use". Use for an educational purpose is one factor in favour of it being considered fair use, but possible factors against it being fair use include: use for commercial purposes (if the journal is not open-access), use in a way which doesn't criticise the image, and use of the entirety of the image as opposed to a smaller part of it.

@kaya3: I realize from your comment that I used the wrong term. Use for scientific research purposes and use in education are two different things. Also, I just noticed that here it is suggested that legal restrictions of some kind are placed on use in research, so for now I'll just retract my comment.

@einpoklum Copyright laws do have exceptions for research, but (as far as I know) this generally just means researchers can make copies of protected works for the purpose of doing research (e.g. you're allowed to copy text, images, audio or video in order to run it through some kind of computational analysis); it's not generally true that copies of protected works can be included in research publications without permission. That's how it is in the UK, at least.

@kaya3: "Doing research" involves the publication of results, which in turns involves the republication of parts of existing work. I'm not familiar with British law, but I very much doubt you need permission to cite from a protected work in a research publication, even if it's a picture rather than some text or numbers. Of course that's not the same as publishing a full copy of the work.

@einpoklum Where I wrote "doing research", I meant as opposed to the publication of the research. The text of the law would phrase this more specifically, of course.

@kaya3: I don't see how the publication can be said to not be part of "doing research", but ok.

If we agree that a picture is worth a thousand words, then the situation is not as asymmetric as it appears.  If you were to include, verbatim, a thousand words from another work, you would need permission and a credit line due to copyright.
A credit line does not always mean you do not need make a citation to the source.  In many cases, you will want the caption of the figure to include information that puts the image in context, and so often will need a citation in the caption.  I like to find a way to cite the paper in addition to putting in the credit line.  In my view, the credit line keeps the journal's lawyer's happy, while the citation is for the benefit of the reader and the authors of the other paper.

+1  the credit line keeps the journal's lawyer's happy, while the citation is for the benefit of the reader and the authors of the other paper

This does not agree with the question, which specified that the image is in the public domain.

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Does APA style have a simplified short-paper format?
I teach a course in college writing. My students must learn to write papers for college following APA format.
I recall that, as a student, my instructors were never very consistent in their requirements for the format. For example, some instructors required a cover page if the paper exceeded 5 pages or so, but otherwise preferred a heading like this, even if they said they requested APA format:
<name>
<date>
<course>
<assignment>

I encountered other instructors who required a complete cover page, abstract, introduction, and conclusion, in 500 word essays.
Does APA have any special specification for shorter essays? If so, at what point is the paper short enough to do away with these extra parts?

From an on-line search of APA style guides it appears that the APA style-guide is set up for research papers that would include a title page and abstract.
It appears though that most universities that I searched either had a defined page count before an abstract page was needed or said to check with the course instructor.
These are just a sample of some;
At this private college the exceptions from an abstract are where,

Smaller essays (3 pages or less)
Informal writings (in almost all instances, the paper will be 3 pages or less).
Papers over 3 pages in length that are formatted in APA style but do not contain a citation or reference.

At Western Oregon University they have two sample papers, one for a short paper (without abstract) and one for a formal paper (with abstract)
Lastly ,as an example, these two colleges Capital Community College and Empire State College state that the student should check if an abstract is needed.
Connecticut

Check with your instructor to see if an abstract and/or keywords are required elements of your paper.

Empire State

Be sure to ask your mentor whether or not s/he requires an abstract.

So while it appears that APA does not have any special short paper format it appears , from samples above, that institutions either have a formal policy or leave it to the discretion of the instructor.

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text:
How to allow students to work off-line, while still using an LMS to collect work?
Due to Covid-19, I am having to switch to a "hybrid" format, where I see students less often each week, in smaller groups, and more assignments are pushed on-line. The school is in an extremely rural reservation, where those students who live off-campus are unlikely to have running water, electricity, and internet access. Students are issued Windows laptops.
The current solution is to create assignments in Word, have students download them on campus, work on them at home, then upload the assignments when they are next on campus. I am trying to find a more sophisticated solution for "syncing" their work though, as this step makes it much more time-consuming to grade work. With an LMS, I can post multiple-choice quizzes and other types of interactive assignments, e.g. videos they watch and respond to. Is there some technology that allows for students to save specific LMS pages locally, work on it off-line at home, then when they return to school, they can easily submit? I know students could just leave the browser window open and put the computer to sleep, but that seems risky and students could lose their work.

Yes, this is surely a world-wide issue. As a small point: if everyone had a USB "sticks" (and computers that could read them!), they could back things up to that, in both directions (to and from physical school). Wouldn't need very big USB's... By now, these are pretty cheap.

Technically very feasible, but it may not be yet productized. In the simplest case you just use git, but that is likely out of reach on a technical competency level (it is an advanced tool). But something can be done on top of it. Look at DataLad which runs on top of github service

I suggest that you use git to synchronize documents.
If assignments are provided as simple text documents, they are easily readable on all sorts of devices, and when printed can easily be understood, they can be edited with very low levels of computer hardware and do not require many resources. They can easily be edited with something even as simple as an alpha smart or electronic typewriter! Word Documetns will work with this scheme but it makes the storage requirements (on your side) larger and harder to manage
When at school, a student uses git to "clone" the asignment repository.
When they go home they then work in their own sandbox, and are free to save ("commit")  intermediate versions, locally, on their computer, as many times as you want. They can start from scratch if they wish multiple times without affecting the integrity of the assignment and their other attempts.
When they return to school, the student "pushes" the assignment project to their personal repository. You can review their work and can even examine intermediate versions that show their work and thinking,
The commits have timestamps so you can verify assignment, test, and quiz submission times! (This can be "hacked" but it requires cheating behavior and intentional circumvention)
This is very reminiscent of what we I used for CS courses in University, all of our coding assignments were submitted through a UNIX shell
There are many services that provide Git for free or low cost, Github from microsoft, atllasian bitbucket, and gitlab are common examples.
They can also be deployed , for free, by your school IT on any available server infrastructure.
In a pinch, the students can even synchronize directly to your laptop or other computer, that is, not requiring ANY LMS infrastructure...
Students can even synchronize to/from another student, i.e. you can submit assignments for others and distribute assignments as well, so students who cannot make it physically to school can still get the assignments from their peers. While retaining integrity of the assignments and solutions
There is a significant training challenge, but the tradeoffs are worth it, and the solution is Free, free as in no cost, and free as in freedom (see free software)

Such skills may be basic for survival in the future...

@paulgarrett I am willing to consult, pro bono with any educator who needs help implementing this or provide training.

Does this do quizzes such that as they get a question correct it goes to the next or if wrong it repeats with a similar question to aid the learning process?

@SolarMike, the use case here are students in rural environments without any infrastructure, the immediate challenge is getting them asignments and getting them back, this system can be scaled by each institutions as needed, commit hooks can automatically grade assignments if needed.

My institution uses Moodle and it does all you need (imho)
You can have things (files, videos, presentations) to be downloaded and they can't download part 2 unless they have downloaded part 1 or submitted part 1. Which means they can log in, download and then log out. It is not tied to one computer but any machine as long as they have their login and password.
Quizzes, I do practice quizzes and quizzes for assessment - categories with types of questions and you can set levels and more.
You can have a forum where they post a question and you can answer or if a student knows the answer then they can respond.
So much - worth checking out and Moodle is not the only one...
But have a look: https://moodle.org/

Can students, for example, come to campus, download the quiz (plus other assignments for the week), go home, work on the quiz and assignments, then return and be able to submit that work in Moodle that had been done when Internet access wasn't available?

Is it truly stable off-line? As you know, some things seem to need an internet connection to work at all. I'd be happy to believe it, for many reasons, but ... have some natural skepticism.

@Village I have not done quizzes in the off-line mode but it is there (just checked) and they need the mobile app, but submitting files is possible. One thing I do for many of my exercises (I teach Excel) is to create self-correcting questions so if the result or formulae is correct then it marks it as correct and keeps a total score.

@paulgarrett once you have downloaded a word doc, pdf or in my case an excel file then the internet connection is not needed until you want to submit or get something else... And yes, I have students in 90 odd countries with varying internet performance... so they have tested things for me...

@crasic Well, you are not using it and you are not one of my students who use it for not only my subject but for all their subjects. The syllabi, SoW's and all instructions down to each week are available and our feedback from the students themselves is that the support we have given with all types of material, especially in these times, has been fantastic. One benefit for us is that Moodle has been a resource that we have developed and worked with over the last 10 years, improving and refining what is offered each semester, of course, this semester needed a step change...

@crasic well we have already had the training for moodle and most is already working and available, you seem to suggest that git needs a significant amount of training, which as the students need it and are using it now would be a significant downtime that is not advisable...

@crasic a comment I could point at you... No, just a user of moodle. If I had a vested interest it would be mentioned on my profile... Yours seems to mention little.

@crasic paid nothing and, as always I find RTFM very effective.

Moodle is a free open-source learning system released under the GNU General Public License and written in PHP, so there's no vendor lock-in, unlike even using Excel or Word.  The UK Open University has 200k users; UK Civil Service 500k users."Previously, the offline capability in Moodle Mobile only extended to quizzes and SCORM. Now learners can also private message other users, add a course note, complete a survey, create a new forum post or new wiki page and even complete an assignment offline." https://moodle.com/news/online-learning-can-access-offline-welcome-moodle-mobile-3-1-3/

The "private message other users" is offline - the messages are stored and forwarded when connectivity is available, like mailboxes, not like a web forum.

@Owain I got that, but I don’t think others read it so well...

The intent here is to advance academic opportunity in rural communities, I am sorry for escalating this discussion and have deleted my comments. For what it is worth I did not downvote your answer

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How do academics in the Social Sciences use "mental maps" and why should college-bound students study them?
I teach secondary school Social Studies. As you may know, public school teachers must teach to state standards. My state's standards for Social Studies includes many references to the importance and use of "mental maps".
E.g. here are some quotes from the standards: "construct and use mental maps of locales, regions, and the world that demonstrate understanding of relative location, direction, size, and shape;"
"describe ways that mental maps reflect attitudes about places;"
I took many undergraduate and graduate courses in history, geography, cultural studies, linguistics, musicology, and various social science disciplines, but never remember mental maps ever being a topic, nor being used as a tool by academics.
Is it just a fun exercise or of some general value to the greater contribution of knowledge in the world? What sort of academics will use this and how is that an important concept for my secondary students, who are in a college prep track, to understand?

What? I don't understand. Are they supposed to imagine their home town and map that onto their understanding of sentence structure somehow?

This looks like a good starting point.

@DanRomik I did encounter this article, and it seems giving random examples, none which seem to support the notion this is a tool of significant importance that students need to learn.

Ok, just trying to be helpful. It sounds like it’s not so much a tool as simply a convenient figure of speech for the way geographical information gets represented and perceived by human brains and how such representations affect people’s attitudes and social interactions. At least from the examples you cited it doesn’t sound like there’s much more to it than that. My guess is it probably matters very little to your students whether your discuss mental maps extensively or not. But that’s just my lay person’s opinion.

I sometimes use them to make sure the students understand how the various course concepts connect. Useful near the end of the semester when we have covered a lot of ground and you want to make sure people are bringing it all together. More a teaching tool.

On the research side, being able to make a diagram to make sense of qualitative relationships is quite helpful. Or to show how various aspects of a system fit together/ work. Or see “directed analytic graphs” for causal inference.

Voting to close -- see my comment on the answer below for a rationale.


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Is there a good alternative to the CRAAP test?
I want to teach and post posters for the CRAAP test (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose), however, some colleagues, unfamiliar with this, aren't amused by the acronym. Is there a good alternative that is commonly used in academia, that won't make people assume this is some form of immaturity on my part?

That 'test' seems to just be one way to evaluate sources. What you likely want to teach is that evaluating sources is a good thing, and here are some ways to do so. So, instead, the posters should focus on how to determine the reliability of the source, not one specific possible tool to do so.

I'm sorry, but I laughed reading the title. Why not just switch the letters into something lile APRCA? Or something that can be read like PRACA?

This question would be improved by a link to an authoritative source on this test.

@Cell It doesn't appear this is something OP invented, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRAAP_test

It seems like the point is to draw your attention with the name

Is there a good alternative that is commonly used in academia,

Most of academia does not need a formal test for checking the quality of sources, so no, there is not.

that won't make people assume this is some form of immaturity on my part?

Just leave the acronym out.  Acronyms are rarely useful and even less likely to be necessary.


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What preparatory steps should I be taking for admission into med school?
I've been maintaining a great GPA in a specialization undergraduate program, am planning on taking the MCAT this summer, and have been looking into some volunteering/internship opportunities. Are there any other special precautions that I should be taking to increase the likelihood of my acceptance into med school? Are med schools looking for anything in particular for admissions? An all-encompassing, comprehensive answer would be appreciated, but any advice or tips are appreciated :).

I'm currently studying in Canada, and plan to keep doing so, if that matters.

Why the downvote? How can this question be improved?

Upvoted.  This is a straightforward question about admission to a post-graduate academic program; I think it's perfectly in scope.  Whether we lack the expertise to give a useful answer is a separate issue.

@bobthejoe: yes, none relevant to medicine, but why do you "HATE" medical students? :)

Speaking from (1) experience applying and talking to applications officers, and (2) knowing doctors who take part in the admissions process, I would suggest that the ideal medical student would appear as follows:

Any major, but very high grades in all pre-med courses
Very high MCAT score
Experience working in a hospital or medical research lab, with demonstrated results (good recommendations from doctors and published papers, respectively)
Very personable during the interview, well-liked by all interviewers

None of these should be a surprise; they just want awesome, academic students.

It would be a good idea to seek info from those that might know, such as:

http://www.aspiringdocs.org/faqs/preparing/
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/education-careers/becoming-physician/medical-school/preparing-medical-school.page
https://www.aamc.org/students/considering/gettingin/

This site is aimed at questions about Academia, I can see how you might think this would be an appropriate place, but the sites listed above should directly answer your questions.
Have you spent time with some of your local medical professionals, found out about their jobs, their specialties?  Good luck!

Medical school is part of academia.  But it's a specific part, and your identifying sites where someone can get information specifically tailored to medical school admission is a good answer.

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Do letters of recommendation typically include a biography of the writer?
A student asked me to write a letter of recommendation for graduate school admission in London and the student insisted that I include a short biography describing my job title and qualifications. I find this information is a little out of place. First, my degree is in progress, so I do not have any impressive qualifications. Second, I think such letters are intended to introduce the applicant, not the writer.

Is this common practice to include a biography of the writer in letters of recommendation?
Where does this information typically appear in the document? In the opening paragraph? As a separate, attached document?

On a side note, have you considered telling the student to get a recommendation letter from a more senior faculty member?  Not that I have anything against graduate students, but I suspect a letter from them is not taken as seriously as one from a faculty member (maybe not by everyone, but some is enough).  You can tell this faculty member what to write (or at least your impressions of the student).

Ben's comment is an important point.  One option is to co-sign the letter with a faculty member, where the reader's understanding will be that you are describing the situation and the faculty member is vouching for your judgement.  At the very least, you need to have someone more senior read the letter before you send it, since it's easy for an inexperienced letter writer to write something that is intended to help but turns out to be ineffective.

You are right, the point of the letter is entirely the candidate, any sentence(s) about yourself should be entirely to the point of facilitating communication about the candidate. I was told in school that all histories tell you as much about the culture that wrote them as the culture they describe, so you need to take both into account when you read them. I suppose this is true of reference letters as well. It's like introducing yourself before you ask an academic you don't know a question one-on-one over coffee at a conference – sometimes there's no need, but sometimes it's essential to framing the question & making the most of the other person's time & answer.
I have never been explicitly asked for a biography beyond "how do you know the candidate, for how long, and in what capacity".  However, the UK is under a lot of legal pressure concerning letters of reference because some are so much better than others, not necessarily due to the candidate, but possibly due to how knowledgeable the writer is about writing letters.  Possibly candidates deserve some credit for picking good letter writers, but this could be hard particularly for very junior candidates.  So  having guidance for writing a letter is useful, it's letting all letter writers know good practice by previous letter writers.
Personally I include biographical information (not a full biography) where I think it may be helpful and when I am trying to write a strong letter. Similarly, I also give information about our institution where I think it might not be known and be helpful.   Examples: if I am writing a US institution from the UK, I let them know that I have attended US institutions & know what their programmes are like. Sometimes if I know someone well in the department I may point that out in the letter so that whoever is doing the search has the option of going to ask that person how seriously to take my opinion if they want to.
I put this at the end of the first paragraph or possibly as a stand-alone second paragraph, in advance of offering my verbose opinion of the candidate, so that the reader can have that information in mind when they see what my opinion is. The first sentence of the first paragraph says who the letter is for & for what position.  The second sentence is my one-sentence summary of my recommendation. The third (or the second paragraph) is in what capacity I am writing the letter.  That's where biographical details might be useful.

Yes, this is relatively common. (In my opinion, not common enough.)
Recommendation letters carry more weight if he reader knows the writer's qualifications.  In particular, letters about qualification for graduate school carry more weight if the reader has some sense of the writer's track record for judging students' research ability.  (This is why letters from senior faculty are more valued — not because of their vast research experience, but because they've presumably seen and evaluated more students.)  The best way for the reader to understand your track record is to tell them.
But briefly, because as you suggest, the letter isn't about you.
I don't think there's a standard way to do this.  Some people put their bio early in the letter, say in the second paragraph (because the first paragraph is the actual recommendation).  I put mine in a footnote on the last page.

I'd strongly recommend putting it at the end.  At the end, it can come across as useful in a humble way ("I know you may not have heard of me, so here's some background"), while it can seem more offensive near the beginning ("Before I go into detail about the student I am recommending, let me first recount how great I am").

I'd agree with most of this—establishing your qualifications as a letter writer is important, but your primary mission is to recommend the candidate, not tell them all about yourself.

I would regard a separate biography as a bit odd; it's normal to sign with your current title (so I sign "Ben Webster, Assistant Professor of Mathematics") and of course, write on letterhead, so your current position is clear. In terms of context on how many students you've evaluated, you can slip that into various points in the letter.  I would just stick a sentence into the second paragraph; one can unobtrusively give a short explanation of who you are mixed with the standard explanation of how you know the student.

+1.  The writer should include as much of his biography as is necessary to place the recommendation in context.  So the OP could write something like “I have been X's tutor for the past year, and in my five-year career I have not had a stronger student.”  Works better than “I have been a tutor for 5 years...(later)...X was my best student.”


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Must a master's thesis fall within one's advisor's area of expertise?
When I studied my bachelor's degree, my professors often let me write papers in whatever area I wanted, even if it was an area completely outside of their expertise. Within master's programs, is this still the case, or must students generally stay within the specific expertise of their professors or advisors?
In my particular situation, I want to study second language acquisition (SLA), however, none of the programs I can attend have professors knowledgeable in my particular language of focus. Is it likely that I'll face resistance from advisors in trying to write my research papers and thesis about a language which none of the school's faculty are familiar with?

Whether an advisor will agree to supervise a master's thesis outside of their area of expertise depends on the advisor.  It may also vary between fields or universities, but I believe the personal variance will be much higher, so the best way to find out is to ask a potential advisor.
As for whether it's a good idea, I see three issues.

You will not receive expert advice in your chosen area.  Of course, there's a trade-off here: would you rather study what you love best without expert advice, or get better advising on another topic?
You may receive actively bad advice.  To avoid this difficulty, it's important for you to read extensively and to choose an advisor who is open minded and flexible.
Your advisor may not write an enthusiastic letter of recommendation for you.  Sometimes an advisor will let a student choose to do whatever they want, but when the advisor recommends the student, it becomes clear that the advisor is uninterested in the student's work and unimpressed by it.  I've seen this cause trouble for several people, so I strongly recommend trying to find an advisor who is actually enthusiastic about your topic (even if it's not what they work on).

In your specific case, choosing to study second language acquisition in a language nobody on the faculty speaks sounds like only a mild concern (assuming you speak it fluently or have access to excellent informants), since I imagine much of the advising would be about research methodology or language acquisition theories, rather than language-specific issues.  However, I don't know enough about this area to say for sure.

I would like to add 4. that "you won't get help in networking or getting info on conferences and postdoc positions".

@PiotrMigdal: Since this is a master's thesis, conferences and postdoc positions don't seem nearly as critical here. But for a PhD thesis, those concerns would matter a lot more.

@aeismail Somehow, I've missed the word "master's" (my fault). However, then PhD opportunities are still very relevant (when it comes to networking).

A master's thesis is an original piece of work by the candidate on any topic that falls within the scope of the master's program. In principle, at least at my university, there is no formal requirement that the advisor be expert of the topic of the thesis, even if this would clearly help a lot from a student's perspective. Going for a topic outside of the professors' expertise requires a strong motivation on the candidate's side.


text:
Is it acceptable to refer to theories to support an argument?
In my field, education, there are many named theories, for e.g., the “Atkinson-Shiffrin memory model”, which educators often talk about and debate.
While writing various graduate papers, my professors have often asked me to cite various named theories to support my arguments. Can theories generally be used to support arguments? Are theories more than just names for ideas? Can any person coin a new theory, or is there some process by which a theory gains recognition and support before it is deemed a “theory”? Can I really cite theories to add support to my papers?

Are you sure they didn't ask you to cite evidence for named theories to support your arguments?

Along the line of @JeffE comment, I guess when referring to a theory, one is expected to cite the papers where the theory's foundations were introduced, where the theory was formed. Sometimes, these papers are not coining any theory name; this comes only later, once the ideas from the paper are adopted by the community and granted the title of theory.

Are theories more than just names for ideas?

No, they are just names for ideas.

Can any person coin a new theory, or is there some process by which a theory gains recognition and support before it is deemed a “theory”?

Anyone can coin a new theory, and the term “theory” does not imply any special status.  For example, the flat earth theory is a theory, just not a good theory.  As a general rule, people don't spend much time talking about theories unless they are valuable or controversial.  If you make up a new theory without some real insight, probably everyone will just ignore it.  But that doesn't mean it's not a theory - it's just not a useful or interesting theory.

Can I really cite theories to add support to my papers?

Part of the point of citing these theories is to show how your work fits into the field.  You are engaging with and responding to certain ideas, refining or extending some of them and correcting or refuting others.  It's important to describe these ideas in a recognizable way, so readers will see the context for your work and can better understand what you mean.  Sometimes the best way to do that involves referring to named theories.  If you can explain how these theories help justify your conclusions, then that will add support for your ideas.  (You're taking advantage of the fact that many experts already understand and agree with these theories.)
Another factor that may be relevant in graduate papers is proving that you understand these theories and can explain how your work is related to them.

While writing various graduate papers, my professors have often asked me to cite various named theories to support my arguments.

I'd strongly recommend discussing this with them.  People on the internet can offer general comments, but only your professors can tell you exactly what they are looking for and why.

CMIIW, but isn't scientific theory will only validate as a "theory" if it has been through scientific methods and passed upon falsification? Flat-out theory does not pass scientific methods in our age, thus it fails to classify as a scientific theory. While Einstein's theory of relativity does well in this, so it classifies.

@Deathlock: I don't think the term "theory" is normally used so restrictively.  For example, people (including scientists) refer to the phlogiston theory of heat.  It's still a theory, just one that has been falsified.

Hmm, wasn't OP talking about academic writings? In academic writings aren't we supposed to only cite scientific theories?

@deathlock: Sure, it would be counterproductive to try to use theories that are not accepted in the field.


text:
Do students in taught programs need to go to their professors before publishing?
I am a student in various graduate taught programs, but not a research student and I am not receiving any scholarships or grants from my institutions. I have prepared a paper which I wish to publish. The subject is within my field, but far outside of the expertise of any of my instructors, mostly because it deals with a language and other technical details which they are entirely unfamiliar with. As such, I highly doubt they could assist me in writing the paper.
I know that graduate research students should not publish works without their professor's permission. Is this rule relevant to students in taught programs? Can I submit my paper for credit in a course, without giving up ownership of the paper?

I know that graduate research students should not publish works without their professor's permission.

It's a little more complicated than that.  Nobody needs permission to publish anything that they did entirely on their own.  If you work collaboratively or as part of a team, then it's not 100% your work and you need your collaborators' permission.  If you do not collaborate but work under someone else's supervision, then it's still polite to ask for advice/permission.  (They might see it as more of a collaboration than you do, and in any case your submission may reflect on their supervision so it is reasonable to get their feedback first.)

Is this rule relevant to students in taught programs?

If you have no collaborators or supervisors in the research, then you can publish it however you'd like.

Can I submit my paper for credit in a course, without giving up ownership of the paper?

I don't know of any case where you give up rights to a paper by submitting it in a course, so ownership is probably not the relevant issue here.  In the universities I'm familiar with, you can certainly submit for publication an essay that was written for a class assignment (most such papers would not be accepted for publication, but a few could be).  On the other hand, you cannot get class credit for a paper that you previously wrote for another purpose.  The precise rules in your case may differ, but if you plan to use this paper for a class you should investigate your university's rules.

Some care may be required about whether one has given up rights to a paper submitted in a course: I've known faculty who explicitly declare (but I don't know the legalities) that papers submitted to them become the property of the university. I have the impression that the motivation is to prevent re-use of essays or projects for other courses... but I have mixed feelings about the latter prohibition. This prohibition does seem typical, however. Yet I don't know how to distinguish a "project" from the idea of the project, which surely ought be legitimately re-usable?

Although a professor's opinion on your paper could prove to be very valuable and save you the trouble of resubmitting your paper again and again to the same journal. I believe, in case your paper is worth a journal's quality and standard, really, there is no need for your professor's permission. Journal editors aren't concerned with your professor's permission, however they would require you to sign a document stating that your research is your own and that you have the authority to publish your data.

I think you've answered your own question. If you are not a student in the research group of a professor, and you've written the paper on your own, without outside assistance, then you don't need a faculty member's permission to publish the paper.
I would argue that under the circumstances, it would be inappropriate to require the permission of an "advisor"—since you can't even identify who the advisor should be!
As one of the other respondents mentioned, you might have to sign a statement declaring this is your own, independent work, but otherwise, I see no reason why someone else's permission needs to be secured here.


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What to do when on-line instructor is ignoring questions?
I am enrolled in an on-line graduate course. The course is not available in the classroom format.
For the past few weeks, the instructor has ignored every question I sent him. I've asked for:

help in understanding specific course content.
clarification on upcoming assignment instructions.
clarification on the problems in my papers.

I used the recommended contact method described in the syllabus and all other tools on the course Web site, but he sent no replies to these.

Is this course provided by a university? Maybe you should consider escalating to next level in the hierarchy.

Yes, this is at a regionally accredited public university.

It could be a technology problem.  The first time I realized there was such a thing as a spam folder I found a bunch of unanswered student questions.  From the students pov I had just ignored them.  From my pov they had never asked me.

@emory: from any reasonable point of view you failed to read and answer them. (Who defined the spam-filter: you or the IT department? Why were they wrongly tagged as spam? Either way, it would be your job to fix that.)

@smci This is a rather bold statement. Everyone who has ever worked in it knows that spam detection is hard and will always have false positives. First of all, of course major instiutions have university- or company wide spam filters, so something can always go wrong there. Or maybe the students mail server was hacked and sending out spam and was subsequently blocked and all their mail was marked as spam. Without details, how could you know and simply blame emory for this? Also, this is mostly a silent error, i.e. one doesn't know about the problem, so it is hard to fix.

I was at first astonished that someone could be given students and expected to communicate with them by email, before being informed of the existence of spam folders, then I remembered how slipshod initial email roll-outs can be! If you give people complex tools then sometimes they won't be able to use them perfectly. It cannot reasonably be the job of the person who imperfectly understands that complex tool to fix the issues, because they're not capable. In short, IT departments often can just blame the users but not always ;-)

Oh yeah, and like democracy, email is a terrible system. The only thing worse than it is everything else we've tried.

@smci I did not define the spam filter.  I was unaware there was a spam filter.  I dont know why they were wrongly tagged as spam.  At the time I was paid minimum wage as a grad student.  It was not my most important issue.  Most student emails landed in my inbox and I answered them promptly.

First, he said "a bunch of unanswered student questions". Not one or two. "A bunch" = lots. That's what I was commenting on. @dirkk, the outbound-spam scenario wouldn't even make sense, as this would have been internal to the server. "Most student emails landed in my inbox and I answered them promptly" changes things somewhat from "a bunch of unanswered student questions".

@smci well, I am not a native speaker, but for me (and my dictionary says the same thing) "a bunch" means multiple times, e.g. 5 mails could be "a bunch". I don't really get your internal-server critic - If some students decide to send an email to their lecturer from their hacked mailserver, they will be blocked as spam. SMTP is just not really reliable. Besides, my point was that it is quite possible that the user has not fault at all, that's why I think it is wrong blaming anyone without knowing all the facts.

@dirkk: he actually stated "From my pov they had never asked me" so that ruled out these far-fetched hacked mailserver scenarios.

@smci It does not, not in the slightest. A mailserver would mark them as spam and might decide to not deliver them or add spam flags to the message, so a client will move them to the spam folder. I am also not saying this was the case here, but it is a possibility (and something occurs frequently using SMTP).

The first two kinds of questions should be asked in the course's public discussion area so that the answers will benefit all students.  Since you've used "all the other tools" in the course, perhaps you've done that.
I suggest a concerned phone call to the department chair.  If the professor is not present in the course at all, ask, "Is Dr. X OK?  He hasn't been in the course in several weeks."  If he's around, but ignoring you, ask, "Do you know whether I've somehow offended Dr. X?  He hasn't answered any of my questions in several weeks."
The point is to give the chair a chance to make corrections without having said anything like "ignoring me."  If it has already been several weeks, I'd suggest doing this very soon. Be as specific as possible about dates when the instructor stopped responding, how other work such as quizzes is handled, etc.

Yes, I used the public discussion area. Other students did too. But the instructor never replied there.

I did not consider that they might be offended. I do recall leaving very negative comments in the mid-semester course evaluation. If they are offended by something I said, does that give them some form of justification, potentially supported by the administration, to ignore my questions?

@Village: That's not good, especially if the instructor is replying to no one.  To my answer above, I would add being as specific as you can about the time period, such as, "hasn't answered my questions since September 5" or whenever.

He does have a presence in the course though, grading papers with some comments and posting announcements. He just is not answering questions, or at least the ones placed in the course public areas.

@Village: No, being offended does not give the professor justification to ignore you.  The idea is to be as non-accusatory as possible when you talk to the department chair.  Let the chair investigate and act.  (While being offended doesn't give the professor any justification, being offensive might be grounds for removing you from the class.  So don't be offensive, OK?)

As far as I understand, your question is pointing into the completely wrong direction.
Please reword your question to contain that:

you didn't "send him" the questions, but posted them to an online board which is the official platform for that course.
he didn't answer ANY question which was posted to that online board.

This means it has nothing to do with your person, or the question content, at all. It is a more general problem.
First, make sure that the "instructor" knows that there is an online forum where students can ask him questions. Maybe he doesn't. So, if you have other, more foolproof, means of contacting him: Do it. Be friendly. Ask him to have a look into that forum and answer the student's questions.
With "more foolproof", I mean personal contact, telephone calls, instant messengers, publicized email addresses, or just send him a snailmail!

+1 for "First, make sure that the "instructor" knows that there is an online forum where students can ask him questions."

Why are you making these assumptions? I contacted the instructor using every manner available to me. E-mail, the LMS's mailbox feature, the LMS's question area, etc. In each case, I selected the appropriate available means to contact the instructor, depending on the content and audience of the question. The instructor regularly uses most of these same methods to contact students, but ignores my replies using the same tools.

These "assumptions" are educated guesses based on what I read in the comments. Your question clearly states "every question I send him", and in your comment you wrote "Other students did too. But the instructor never replied there.". So, your question is misleading to a personal problem ("my questions are ignored, other students' questions are answered"), where it clearly isn't! While such misleading talk, requiring reading-between-the-lines, may be custom in politics, it clearly isn't at SE.

Why do you create quotes for things I never said here?


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Manuscript was returned by the Editor to include more data, should I prepare "Response to Editor"?
I have submitted a manuscript that was returned by the Editor mainly because there is "no enough data" on the manuscript. The manuscript is a bit shorter and to-the-point. Of course, I have been also asked to revise the English and proofread it.
Now I have addressed the editor request, should I just re-submit the manuscript alone or I need to include a "response to the Editor" as well?

If you mean "dispute the editor" then I don't recommend it. For the most part, if you don't generally follow the editor's advice as best you can, then you are likely to be rejected at the end.
But if your response is of the form "these are the changes...", then yes, include a response, as they will make the editor's job easier and more likely to give you a fair and accurate review.
There may be a difference of opinion, of course, about how much data is enough, but that can be worked out if everyone stays positive. Just don't try to tell an editor, who has all the power, how to do the job. That isn't a path to success.

Did the editor decide on "reject and resubmit", or simply returned the manuscript to you? In the former case, if you resubmit, you'll need a fresh submission in the Editorial Management System; in the latter, you can use your original submission.
In the former case, a "response to editor" is not necessary; just write what you need to in the cover letter. In the latter, you'll need to attach one because you probably won't get to submit a cover letter.
In both cases you should submit a response - it helps the editor remember what happened to your paper (especially if it took you a long time to make the revision). It's true the editor can just check the logs in the editorial management system, but that's more troublesome.


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How to stop being obsessed with manuscripts status
I have two manuscripts with status under review (and a third with ``ready for decision" status). I can't stop refreshing the journals homepage especially the one in the decision status. I know there will be an email. But I feel I'm too much on refreshing. I do check every five minutes or less.
I do have a conference submission though where I'm not doing any refreshing. I know notifications will be out on a certain date.
I feel I'm too obsessed. How to stop doing this?

Boy, it used to be easier in the old days - you sent it off and got an envelope back some time later.

@JonCuster, yes, and you spent the 3-6 months fretting and stewing, I expect.

@Buffy - not really, except for Phys Rev Letters. We worked hard on the papers and had good collaborations. At worst we had some small things to clear up for the reviewers. Plus, out of sight out of mind.

This is a question about obsessive behavior, not about academia.

Do something else. Work on the next paper, paint your house, build a boat.

Start on a new paper.
Fall in love.
See a therapist.
Take up a new hobby or sport.
Get a dog.
Talk to your mom/kids.
Re-read Lord of the Rings.
Design a new course.
Go for a walk/run/swim/ski.
Repeat as necessary.
Not joking here. You are probably just bored. Do something that makes you less bored.

Read Dune :), but seriously, a good answer.


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Charging graduate students for printing
My university is starting a policy where graduate students need to pay for printing (10 cents per page) while It was free before. As a student coming from another university, I see it very weird policy. Actually, I am not aware of any university charges its PhD students for printing. I heard faculty members will be charged as well but at lower rate.
is freely printing a fundamental right for PhD students? If Yes, how to raise it?
is this common in other universities across the world (charging PhD students for printing)?

What kind of printing are you talking about? Printing out articles? Printing out dissertations?

@earthling both.

Both universities I have been to give the students a certain number of pages per semester (500) that are included in the tuition.

Does this charge include printing that is essential as part of your duties, such as printing lab sheets in case of T.A. and so? (I have free printing, but I print very little).

In principle, my department charges everyone (including faculty) for printing.  In practice, it's cheaper to subsidize everyone's printing than to manage the accounting and fee collection, so printing is actually free.

If you're printing something necessary for a class you're TAing, email it to your instructor and ask them to print it. If you're printing something necessary for your research, email it to your advisor and ask them to print it.  Be sure to explain why.

is freely printing a fundamental right for PhD students?

A fundamental right? No. But charging for printing borders on the ridiculous. – Printing is a necessity, not a right.
Think of it in economic terms. A PhD is a job (there are a few peculiarities, and it’s also part of a student’s education, but nevertheless you ultimately are doing a job, which consists of doing research). If preventing you from printing makes your job harder, the institute has a financial interest in removing that obstacle.
What company charges employees for office supplies? The concept is ludicrous. Why not charge them rent for their cubicles as well? Printing publications, drafts and reports for reading is simply a fundamental part of doing research – unless your institute sponsors ebook readers; and even then your PhD will probably involve filling out forms for HR etc.
If your institute suspects that printing is predominantly used for non job related purposes then that may be a problem that needs addressing (and the same goes if the institute suspects that printing could be reduced without impacting performance – lots of companies have tried paper-free offices but so far I haven’t heard of any resounding success, at least not in science). But charging students for printing is still unacceptable since it obstructs them from doing their jobs.

Nice answer. The two aspects of doing a PhD as on the one hand getting education, on the other hand doing a research job fit nicely here. I think whether charging for printing is ridiculous or not would depend on the balance of these aspects in the individual institution (or even for the individual student).

We had unlimited printing through our department (Computer Science).  When I taught high school, we also had unlimited printing and copying but we also had a copy card that counted down the copies -- when the card reached zero, we had to get it refreshed.  I assume this was to keep us apprised of just how many copies we were making, but I don't think it ever slowed anyone down.
These days, I don't print much, but one of the best purchases I made was an inexpensive laser printer that cranked out lots and lots of pages with nary a whimper.  The convenience outweighed the cost significantly.  It's amazing what you can get these days, e.g., duplex and wireless for $80.
If you can't get the policy changed, and are going to print more than a couple of hundred dollars worth of pages (2000 at $0.10/page in your case), I'd recommend a cheap laser printer (to print 2000 pages, it can cost as little as $80 for the printer, $15 for paper, and $45 for a high-yield toner refill).

I finished my Ph.D. at a large state university. We could print 250 pages a month, and after that it was five cents a page.
I still remember being informed one month that I owed four dollars, and having to trek upstairs to find the right person to pay it to. It struck me as undignified and distasteful, and reflected a feeling among many of the grad students that the support staff were there to enforce rules, and were "not on our side".
This issue becomes especially salient if students are expected to print out worksheets, solutions, and other materials for TA assignments. If I had to pay for this out of pocket, given poverty-level graduate student wages, I would be quite resentful.
I believe that policies like this are relatively common, perhaps usually with some free monthly quota -- but I nevertheless urge you to oppose this policy at your university.

250 pages does seem low, however, charging students for printing is to discourage waste. Where I work the students get a large amount of print credit when the school year starts and if they use that credit they would have to pay the school to "top-up" their credit (although no student has ever reached this limit).

This issue becomes especially salient if students are expected to print out worksheets, solutions, and other materials for TA assignments.  I can't imagine where this would be policy, and seteropere should be able to make the case that this is ridiculous.

Here in Asia my university does not support any kind of 'free printing.' If (any) student wants to print a dissertation, an assignment, etc. they usually either print at home or they go to a printing store where their work gets printed and bound properly (for a fee).
Honestly, I'm a little surprised that some schools support students printing for free. First, it's not very eco-friendly. Second, it's wasteful. Everything should be left in its digital form.
That said, my school does tend to print a lot and they require students to submit printed copies of their assignments. Still, we should be moving towards less printing, not more. One way to do this is to add a disincentive to printing (having people pay for it).

so you need to pay each time you print an article related to your research?

Students do pay to print. Faculty could avoid paying.

"Everything should be left in its digital form": Too strong a statement. It's very hard for me to edit or review a manuscript just reading it on a screen. Not everything needs to be printed out—but some things do.

@aeismail Could be a difference in our fields. I regularly do all my reading on screen and I prefer to edit digitally as it's easier to move words around and if I need to insert a significant amount of text, there's always room in a digital document (unless someone gives me a PDF, which makes adding significant amounts of text quite difficult). I also like the ability to change the font size for those times my eyes start to hurt. Doing the same with a printed page requires a magnifying glass.

unless someone gives me a PDF — In my field, this phrase is synonymous with "unless someone gives me a document".

@JeffE Well, for things we're going to edit collaboratively we use a LaTeX document on a revision control archive somewhere, but other than that unmodified "document" means PDF. Posting slides in powerpoint will actually bring on booing from the audience. Which is as it should be.

@JeffE I receive < 0.1% PDF files.

I have been to graduate school (MS) in India (one of the better known schools) as well as graduate school in the US (PhD, also, one of the better known schools)
I have never heard of printing charges. We have always had unlimited printing. And I have really tested these bounds. :) Sure, there are reminders not to print more than needed in order to save trees but there is and to my knowledge never has been any printing charges in any of the schools that I have been to.

In our department (in the USA) you have 50 free pages per semester, 5 cents per page after.  I used to think this is ridiculous so I asked about it.  Our department used to have problems with students (undergrad or grad) abusing free printing in order to print out entire books, etc.  Indeed, I am aware of students who do this at other universities.
Once a grad student joins a research group in our department, however, the research group usually has its own dedicated printer for its grad students to use.
Similarly, if you're a teaching assistant, you should certainly get free printing privileges for printing that is related to the job.
I will also point out that there are often ways to get around the printing regulator, and indeed this is done often in our department -- so in the end mostly the honest lose out with such a system.

Printing costs can add up to a lot of money in a hurry (recall that they include primer cartridge, maintenance on the machines, and people time to replace the cartridges and perform the maintenance). Various features such as color, duplex and transparencies cost more.
Depending on the discipline and the work culture of your department this can take a real bite out of the budget. When that happens the cost have to be contained somehow.
As other people have noted this generally involves tracking the number of print jobs and charging for some or all of them. Often students get a free allocation.
My most recent department had IT under a separate budget, and they charged print jobs to the work unit (high-energy physics group; attosecond physics group; Physics education group; the department for TAs; etc) who then did what they saw fit to get their people to conserve on it.
My work unit had a "don't print if you don't need it" culture and provided generous displays to help you get along without paper. We also tended to send only the pages with figures to the color print if we were printing journal articles (color cost ten times as much a B&W).


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Should PhD students be goal or opportunity driven?
PhD students usually go through a specific topic in depth for several years: understand it and contribute to its literature. Some topics are multidiscipline by nature. Thus, while studying, students may find nice contribution opportunities in not-directly related areas to their research problem.
is it better to be goal-driven (i.e focus on the thesis problem alone) or opportunity-driven (i.e spend your PhD in different problems you encounter in this topic)?

You're proposing a false dichotomy. They should be both.

@JeffE what if you simply cannot do both I mean deviating from your problem and investigating an opportunity takes several months from your PhD time

Yes, indeed, time is limited. Make notes of incidentally-found opportunities for later, while most likely taking care of the main project.

Not all people or topics are the same. This depends on the person and the topic, on the opportunities, the goals, the personality, the skills, etc. The only correct answer is: "it depends, should be analysed on a one on one basis". You can make a decision tree with some inequations, margins, areas, etc. That's as far as you can get before generalizing too much and trying to apply something that works in some cases to cases where it doesn't work. Needles to say, the measure of "not-directly related areas" and "different problems" are subjective.

Although naturally the details of the landscape differ from subject to subject, here is my picture from mathematics:
In addition to the obvious point that one should "both" stay focused on a long-term project and be alert to incidental opportunities, I would claim that the best kind of thesis projects (and projects in general) are those that help create incidental opportunities along the way to a worthwhile large-scale goal.
(This in addition to "educational" benefits of well-conceived projects.)
The obvious hazard is to get distracted from a reliable, long-term project by too-speculative "cooler" possibilities one encounters along the way. The hazards here are like "... but don't quit your day job" as advice to aspiring rock stars, etc.

Graduate students should be somewhat opportunistic. How far afield from their "home base" they should travel, however, is a different question that depends upon the expectations of their field, and what is allowed by the terms of their appointment.
For instance, a student who is entirely supported by a professor's research grant to study a particular topic will have a much harder time justifying spending lots of time on external problems that may be interesting but might not be covered by the grant in question. If such an arrangement is desired, then some sort of negotiation with the faculty member is probably needed to make sure everything is handled in above-board manner.
On the other hand, someone who is entirely supported by external fellowships that do not have funding "strings" attached is much more likely to be free to pursue whatever opportunities may present themselves.


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In-text citation: what is the correct way of using both last name (i.e., \citeauthor ) and typical citation (i.e., \cite)
I am using plain citation style with biblatex and was wondering about the convention of using \citeauthor (and probably \citeyear) along with \cite
While writing sometimes I do the following:

\citeauthor{johnTKDE} (\citeyear{johnTKDE}) proposed a method for
  ...etc

should I also use \cite at the end of the sentence when using \citeauthor ? what is the convention of using all these together? (Computer Science if the field matters).

Is this specific to bibtex or are you generally asking about citation conventions, i.e. whether "Author (1982) said something important" is customary or rather "Author (1982) said something important (Author 1982)"? (The former is.)

@henning I was just typing that very question. To me it seems to be the latter, and the question is about style, rather than LaTeX/BibTeX. With that in mind, what style is used by the venue (be that a journal, conference, etc.) where it is intended that this citation will appear?

@henning my question is when you have different citation style i.e. numbering [1] . I want to say author_last name proposed a method ...etc. Should I include [1] at the end of the sentence as well. or just author_last_name suffice ? Sorry for the confusion.

If the system normally used in the journal is like in this sentence[1]. ...you would still typically write... Johnson et al. [1] proposed a method... with no additional citation at the end.

I don't think there is something like a general convention for this, aside from the usual rule of being consistent. So follow your personal/conference/journal/university/whatever style.
If that style dictates to use numbered references such as [1], always include this. Even if, like in your example, you start one of your sentences with the author name (and year). Note that (as @Ian_Fin mentions in the comments) the year is usually omitted when using an author name with number styled references.

I generally agree with this, although I will say that where I've seen journals using that number citation style, and an author is explicitly mentioned in the text, the year is typically omitted

@Ian_Fin Good point, I have tried to clarify this in the answer.

I've also come across the number citation style where the numbers are used grammatically as subjects or objects of the sentence without ever spelling out the name of the author. "According to [21], this issue can safely be ignored."


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Should a history book written as a narrative be disregarded as a source?
Recently, I found several sources relevant to my research paper, and also written by prominent historians, but the book is written in first person, in some narrative form, with dialogue added. I find it a little strange, because the text has complete conversations, that I think could not possibly be recorded in such detail.
When I studied my BA in History, there was a course that discussed in detail how to evaluate a source, against the CRAAP test and other similar measures, yet I'm not sure where this fails the checklist:

Currency
Relevance
Authority
Accuracy
Purpose

My colleagues keep recommending me such texts to use. Are these types of texts something I should skip over when writing a research paper?

It sounds like you don't think it's an accurate source.

What does your advisor think?

[T]he book is written in first person, in some narrative form, with dialogue added. I find it a little strange, because the text has complete conversations, that I think could not possibly be recorded in such detail.

The author may have recreated dialogue, rather than definitely sourced dialogue. Perhaps look for an author's note, disclaimer, or similar, to see whether techniques are disclosed.

Should a history book written as a narrative be disregarded as a source? Are these types of texts something I should skip over when writing a research paper?

Use sources you believe to be accurate. When there's doubt, sources needn't be abandoned, caution can be taken to absolve responsibility for prior errors, e.g., Author X provides the following account, "...".


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How do these UK certificates convert to the US?
Due to the pandemic, many UK universities have expanded opportunities for people to potentially earn a UK degree without leaving the US. I see several types of programs listed. All say they require "3 units", requiring one year of study:

Undergraduate certificate
Undergraduate diploma
Undergraduate advanced diploma
Postgraduate certificate
Postgraduate diploma

How do these translate to the US? Is a "undergraduate diploma" considered equal to a "bachelor's degree"?

The different levels of UK higher education conform to the internationally agreed Bologna Process and the corresponding levels can be read in the regulators documentation.
An undergraduate certificate is one year (the fresher's year) of a three year Bachelor degree and also known as level 4 study.
An undergraduate diploma is the first and second years (freshers plus sophomore) or level 4 + 5.
The others also map to the same thing. An advanced diploma is usually at diploma level but more advanced material (perhaps a professional qualification).
Postgraduate certificate would be the first trimester of a Masters degree (i.e. 1/3rd)
Postgraduate diplomas would be a Masters without a completed dissertation.


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How should one formulate a Statement of Intent for an interdisciplinary degree?
I am having trouble articulating a statement of intent because of a few things. But to keep on point for Stack Exchange I'll focus only on one: interdisciplinary coursework.
I have spoken to a Fine Arts Department at my top choice and they not only permit but promote taking interdisciplinary courses. My intention is to take as many courses as I can in Psychology while doing the MFA, as well as any required training to use the Eye-Tracking facilities.

Should I specify professors from both departments?
Should I mention that after I complete the first degree (MFA in my case) I plan to pursue a PhD in the other field (Visual Cognition in my case)
Should I state research goals in both fields or keep it to only the school I am initially applying to? (In my case: In the immediate I want to research neurotypical perception through visual design for clearly communicating complex ideas. Eventually though (as in during the PhD if not Post Doctorate) I want to research atypical perception and how to design visual communications that can be easily understood by people with disabilities. I am not sure which disability but mostly Autism Spectrum Disorders, however I also think there could be a strong use for this research in assisting those with Alzheimer's.)

How much of this cross disciplinary information should a person state in their Purpose Statement / Letter of Intent? My concern is that I don't want it to sound like I only want the Psychology Department and leave the committee wondering why I am going for the MFA in Design first.

In general, the more concrete your essay is—and the more it shows that you've thought through your plans and potential options at the school to which you are applying—the more strongly it will be considered.
Moreover, if you're pursuing an unconventional path, such as applying for psychology but also going for an MFA in design, then you'll probably want to make that clear from the very outset. Otherwise you run the risk of the faculty—which normally makes admissions decisions at the graduate level—thinking you've hoodwinked them somehow. When that happens, that can make your life very uncomfortable.
So you should mention your full degree plans including, if possible, professors from both departments.
However, when it comes to writing the essay for admission, that depends a lot on the specific program you're applying to. If you are applying only for a master's program in psychology, then you should talk primarily about psychology-related topics. Your proposed work in design should amplify your psychology work, but not dominate it. On the other hand, if you're applying directly to the PhD program, and the MFA is an integral part of your plans, then you need to explain that at the outset, and should indicate what goals you'll achieve in the MFA that will help you with your PhD.

Actually I'm applying only for the MFA right now. Only after completion do I plan to first apply for a PhD program in Psychology. So not really applying for both right now. Just going to take my non-design coursework in the Psych department. Would that change your answer at all since it seems you thought I was going to apply for both at the same time?

If that's the case—then yes. You should focus primarily (almost exclusively) on the MFA part of your career goals. You could mention future priorities, but if you're going to need to make a separate application, then spending too much time on the PhD work in the MFA application will be a waste of space (assuming you have some sort of word limit on the essay). Stating that you have a long-term vision that connects this to a psychology degree is useful, but is not really all that helpful in the long run.

I disagree with aeismail, but with some qualifications.
Generally, I encourage you to lay out your goals and overall plan, including both MFA and PhD. It's vital that you convey your thought process and justification for this plan, not just the plan.  Is this an impulse? Or has it been many years in the making?  Why does this plan suit you with your unique skills, capabilities, and disposition?  Why does this plan fit the University and department that you are applying for?  What about this plan is well known and what is uncertain and unknown?
For example, you should be able to answer this critical question: Why bother with the MFA first?  Why not just enter an interdisciplinary PhD program now? What does the combination give you that neither, alone, would provide?
Have you evaluated the many Design Schools (D-Schools) at major universities?  Stanford, MIT, and many others have these.  If a PhD from these D-Schools won't meet your needs, explain why.
In all of this, what you are really communicating to the committee is what is unique about you for MFA and how you will be successful in the MFA program.

The qualification is that admissions criteria and process is very different for Masters vs. PhD.  In Masters programs, no one cares whether you will be a valuable member of the academic research community.  What they care about is: can you succeed in the course work (and thesis or capstone project, if required), and will you be a valuable contributor as member of the community of students.  In PhD in Psychology, admissions is nearly always determined by whether you are the most attractive research assistant for one of the professors, given their interests and funding.
Therefore, when you write your Masters application, you need to emphasize how your preparation and previous academic work set you up for success in course work and engagement with other students.


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How do I cite a mathematical definition replicated verbatim?
I am writing a paper, in which I must include a definition of a particular mathematical structure. It's a structure with which very few people would be familiar, thus I wish to include it verbatim, as opposed to citing it. Rewriting it in my own words would only obscure the meaning. Putting a long mathematical definition (perhaps half a page) in quotes looks bizarre and messes up the type setting. Is there a standard way to indicate the definition is cited, whilst avoiding any appearance of plagiarism?

Read other papers in your field of mathematics - some of them must run into similar problems.

Immediately before the definition, you could say "Quoting verbatim from [source], we define a [whatever-it-is] as follows:"
That is, in general, thinking in terms of honesty/forthrightness is an excellent guide.

Thanks, just a follow-up. Would you say this behaviour is common / standard practise? And how closely do I have to stick to the original before it's a misquote (i.e. can I change formatting, the order of the arguments, fix typos)?

If you fix typos and change format, then say "essentially verbatim", rather than "verbatim". And, yes, the behavior I recommend is common practice, not to mention inescapable.

Beware if you later put the paper on the arXiv, though. It might say "substantial text overlap with..."

In my experience it is not common to see math papers state "quoting verbatim from ...".  One simply references the definition, as if it was not a direct quote, with an attribution to the paper where the definition originated. This is not considered plagiarism in mathematics.

@Flounderer: if quoting a few definitions leads to the "substantial text overlap" warning, one should rethink whether the entire paper is worthwhile. Also, I wish more people would read the arXiv help document linked above to see what that automatically generated comment really is intended to mean.

My paper involves the unification of two (pretty obscure) theories, to prove a more general result. The reader would not be expected to know either of the theories, and given that I comment heavily on both having substantial overlap with several other papers is unavoidable.

This is common practice in mathematics.  Definitions are not normally thought of as containing creative content, and if you need to use exactly the same definition as the previous paper, you use the same words.  As far as I know, no mathematician considers this to be plagiarism of any kind, provided an appropriate citation is given.  Quotation marks or block quotes are not used, because, as you say, it would look weird.
Some phrases you might use:

We define, as in [4]:
The following definition is taken from [4]:
We follow [4] by defining:
We use the definition from [4], which we include here for the reader's convenience:

Then format the definition as you normally would.  Minor paraphrases and spelling/grammar fixes that do not change the meaning are also fine.  If you fix a typo that makes a mathematical difference (e.g. the original author wrote 2 but from context obviously meant 4) then you should point it out explicitly, but this is more for mathematical correctness than citation practice.
Note that if you are publishing in a non-mathematics journal, standards might vary, and you might have to use quotes or otherwise format in some way that would look weird to a mathematician.

Another common practice is that one usually only cites unfamiliar or recent definitions. Definitions that "everyone knows" are often stated with no citation at all.

It might be an over-statement to claim that definitions have no creative content. In some situations, finally coming to an apt definition can be a large part of the work, depending how one couches things.

If you define terms in a "Definition" environment, then you may state the reference after the heading.  For example:
Definition 2 (Noche, 2014). A real number x is said to be small if 0 < x < 1.

A minor point: I think it would be more typical to omit the `and only if' in a mathematical definition like this.

I agree.  I've edited the post.


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Research on practices in addressing faculty bullying/harassment in academia
Recently, the chair of the faculty senate at my institution began an effort to systematically address issues of faculty bullying/harassment. In particular (but not exclusively), we are worried about the exploitation of non-tenured and non-tenure-track faculty by senior tenured faculty. The institution has a policy on employee-employee harassment that is vague - something like "all employees have the right to be treated respectfully. The institution will have a process to address claims of harassment."
The institution does not have a process beyond 1) informally complain to the deans and 2) file a formal complaint with HR. The second process is a matter of record keeping and thus does not lead to negotiation and resolution except for egregious and repeated offenders. The first process is not formal, so each dean handles cases as he/she sees fit.

We are seeking to propose a process and are looking for research on best practices. We are aware of the ombuds model that some institutions use. Are there other models? Has research been done on how effective they are?

Note: We are only concerned with non-sexual harassment, like "I will not support your application for tenure unless you X," where X is some activity not normally required for tenure, like teach a number of extra courses without pay, perform clerical duties for other faculty, etc. It also includes abuse of full-time and part-time adjuncts - "We won't renew your contract unless you do X," again where X is not in their original contract. Our institution has very clear and legally mandated processes for addressing sexual harassment.

At some institutions a faculty union might represent faculty members who have a grievance.  I doubt that helps since you probably will not wish to create a union for this purpose.

Perhaps AAUP could help you answer this question.  If not, I suggest checking faculty handbooks from institutions similar to yours.

I'd say one of the keys to a successful system is that one only needs to file a complaint, after which the system takes care it is being properly handled. If the person filing the complaint has to very carefully track the already difficult process then it is prone to leaving cases unsolved. Also, a junior researcher might not be willing to take a "risk" complaining - you should give the possibility for others to take action too. Option of (some) anonymity would then be a +.

In lieu of best practices, I will accept an answer with policies and procedures as long as it contains some research data on effectiveness. For example, what percent of faculty participating in the process feel that their issues have been resolved [Likert Scale]? Also, was there a change in culture (i.e. number of reported incidences of harassment/bullying) before and after? Etc.


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What contents should I put on my academic website?
I'm planing to setup a personal academic website. From visiting other researchers websites I have a rough idea of the things I want to put on it:
- Research interests
- List of articles & conference contributions
- CV
- Links to affiliated institutions
- Contact information

Would you agree that this list constitutes the information an academic should put on his/her website? Is there anything else you would hope or expect to find? Would you advise against putting any of these pieces of information on the website?

You may find this question about academic web presence very informative , as well as this one about putting a CV online.

At the very least, you should have your name, contact information, and a bio of what you do. That's the minimal advertising necessary to serve as a useful "see my site for more details on what I do".
Given that almost everyone who visits your site will either be looking for someone's name or a paper you've previously published, the next most useful information to include would be:

Lab members contact info & bios
Publications with downloadable links

I would definitely recommend putting pictures up as well, so people will recognize your face when they see you at conferences. Same for lab members.
Links to other affiliations is nice, but almost certainly not important. Practically no one will follow them. Whether to list your CV is up to you; people who need it will often ask you, but it won't hurt to have it live. Depending on your research, you can have a "recent news" section where you advertise any particularly notable publication or mention in the popular press.
Finally, if you teach, I recommend putting links to the course website (which may or may not be part of your academic website), as many students will find your page by googling and will be looking for course info.

eykanal's answer is great.  My main addition would be to put up slides for your talk.  If you give talks using Latex (Beamer) or Powerpoint, it's almost no work to upload them to your website; and it can be great advertising, because many people are more likely to skim slides than to skim the actual paper.

Just to extend upon eykanal's reply, I'll add a public relations spin to this topic.
IMHO, all depends on the mode in which you operate. If you are an established professor, your website is going to look differently from somebody who is striving to climb the ladder. This also depends slightly on the community you operate in, I'll speak for CS/AI, specifically more applied streams.
As an established member of the community, you rule your time and do not need yourself to be "discovered". Hence you do not need much bragging on your site and can stick to practical info. In the case you are climbing the ladder, your website is your shop-window. You need to have it up for your potential future employers, potential future collaborators, etc. It's can be used as a personal PR shop window. In that case you might want to break down your CV into pieces and include projects you work(ed) on and their descriptions, possibly even attach publications to these entries to document the rate/quality of the deliverables. Many people list Activities section, where they keep a list of academic services they perform, i.e., program/organizing/steering/... committee memberships, refereeing for journals and announcements of edited books, etc. As eykanal pointed out, expanding on teaching activities is important. Now, first and foremost, you want to serve your students, but remember also the (future) hiring committees. They want to see indications of those activities as well.
All in all, anything what can help you in the future, but still won't look as too much bragging about your achievements can be useful, but think about balancing it with practical stuff as well. For example, to add a "human" touch to their academic personas, many people also include "family" section with a handful of links and pictures of their family, pets, hobbies, etc.

As an established member of the community, you ... do not need yourself to be "discovered". — Except by prospective graduate students.  Unless, you know, you don't need those.

@JeffE: well, that's right. Any thoughts what's good to put up if your target audience are prospective students? I guess, the stuff for the "future" hiring committee's should be fine. Though many people also publish a message to the prospective students, sometimes even a manual for doctoral studies under their supervision. But I guess, that's rather exceptional, isn't it?

My two cents: Put the things on your homepage that you like to see on the homepages of people like you.
Well, this is probably not the full story since not only people like you will be interested in your homepage. Maybe you also think about hiring committees, potential referee or the like to have a look at you homepage. However, you are probably to look at the homepages of people like you through the eyes of a hiring committee member, reviewer, student (or whatever) and then have a look at you homepage again. This should give you an impression whether you homepage is cool enough or not.

I'd love to see conjectures and open problems.
This is a good way to advertise for your field, and maybe someone knows a solution/related problem.


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Why do Math journals provide you with LaTeX class files and instructions and they also advise you not to spend time typesetting the paper?
This is what I don't understand. Journals provide you with LaTeX class files and instructions and they also advise not to spend time typesetting the paper into the exact format of the journal. What does this mean? I don't know if this applies to all journals or to most of them.

My understanding is that they want it to be in a somewhat standardized format, but also acknowledge the painstaking difficult it is to 'perfect' the format.  Some more prestigious journals probably have editors that iron out the final formatting details.

I don't know, but here's a possibly useful tip: when I get sent latex style files and complicated instructions for how to format my (accepted) paper, I usually try right away to get these files to work and to format things in the way asked of me...for up to half an hour.  If at the end of half an hour (or slightly less if I am feeling impatient that day) the task is not yet finished, I generally give up and say that I wasn't able to get the style files to work.  In almost all cases, the editor in question asked no further questions and gladly did the formatting himself.
The exception was a note I submitted to the American Mathematical Monthly, where they were extremely picky and passive aggressive about the changes they wanted made.  After at least six (not an exaggeration!) emails from a secretary of the form "For some reason you still haven't included your references in the proper format..." I lost my cool a little, gave them blanket permission to format the (three page!) paper however they wanted, and requested that they leave me out of it.  Which they did, and the note appeared a few months ago.
Moral: this is one of those tasks that will expand to take up as much time as you let it.  Given that most journals have professionals who will devote further time to typesetting your paper after you sign off on it anyway, why not sign off on it sooner rather than later?
Let me add as a counterpoint that there are some smaller, internet based journals where most of the nuts and bolts work is done by a single person, who is working hard to put out the product rapidly and well (example: the Journal of Integer Sequences).  In fact I seem to recall that Prof. Shallit of JIS spent some time reformatting my accepted JIS manuscript, which then got electronically published within a few days of its final acceptance.  He really went above and beyond, and if I have it over again I will do more on my own side.
Added: Looking back at your question, I worry that I may have misinterpreted it: are you asking about the initial submission of the paper? Definitely do not mess with any style files or publication instructions before your paper gets accepted. I agree that "instructions for authors" pages seem ambiguous on this point, but in all of my experience authors, editors and referees have a common understanding: first we decide whether we want to publish the paper, then we worry about its format and type-setting.

+1 for the addendum.  Referees really do not care how your paper is formatted, as long as it's legible.

The instruction not to typeset means that you should not worry about the appearance of your manuscript over and above what the style file provides. Don't worry about strange page breaks, overfull hboxes, and floats that end up in the wrong place. Fixing these would be examples of what the publisher means by "typesetting". Any fixes you make will almost certainly be removed by the publisher once the manuscript is final and being prepped for publication, so you will have wasted your time and made extra work for the publisher. You do want your manuscript to be readable using the publisher-provided style file, and you should probably be judicious about adding packages to your document. (Ideally the publisher will give guidance on this.)
I agree with Pete L. Clark that you shouldn't worry about this issue at all until your paper is accepted. Journals should provide clearer instructions about this.


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What format should the Methods & Materials section of a thesis be in?
I am writing my thesis in biology, and am not sure how to format the M&M section of my thesis.
One option is like an experiment protocol, with a lot spaces, itemized lists of steps, etc...
Another option is more like an article, which is usually more dense, and harder to comprehend, but takes up less space.
Which format is the norm for a thesis?

definitely include all information required to reproduce the results.

Ask your supervisor. They know the norms of the field, and the regulations of your university.

Thesis writers generally have much more freedom to format them as they please. The only real requirement is that it follows any guidelines of the department and institution to which it is submitted, and receives the approval of the writers' thesis committees.
That said, I believe that these days, space should not really be a limiting consideration for a thesis writer. The methods section should be as long as needed to convey the necessary information. In addition, since this is not normally a journal publication, there is much more room to explain things in detail—which can be very useful for future members of the lab group who might follow up the same project.


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Are academic book buyers legitimate?
I have recently been receiving number of visits from "academic book buyers" that are looking to buy books that I no longer want.  It is never stated outright but they seem to be looking mainly for evaluation copies of textbooks.  At least 2 of the cards that I have been given indicate that they are "recycling" the books, although what this means is not clear.
Are these book buyers benefitting or exploiting academia?

I do not know, but I treat them suspiciously. I have a colleague who believes that they are buying books from you and then marking them up and selling them back to students. I don't know.

@BenNorris: What else would they plausibly be doing with them?

@NobleP.Abraham thank you for your feedback but I don't feel like the current crop of answers really do answer my question.  Two of the answers don't really address my question at all and the top-voted answer, while plausible, is highly speculative.  I continue to hope that a SE user familiar with the practice of book-buying will encounter the question and provide a more detailed and specific account of how it affects academia as a whole.

I agree with Yves that they are selling the books back to students.  Then I think the economics works out as follows:
The faculty selling the books and the book buyers benefit a lot.  The publishers stand to lose some money, since reselling the books hurts the market for new ones.  They presumably pass some or all of this cost on to students through price increases, so the students also lose money in aggregate.  Now the question becomes what price the books are being resold at.  If they are resold cheaply (used book prices), then the students who buy the resold books benefit (they get near-new copies at cheap prices), at the expense of the other students.  If the books are resold at new prices, then no students benefit.

I don't think it's the cost of production that's relevant, but rather the elasticity of demand as a function of price.  The question is what determines the price of a textbook.  If the price isn't extraordinarily outrageous, many faculty won't take it into account when choosing a textbook.  In that case, the only limitation is that the higher the price becomes, the more likely students are not to buy the book (they can use library copies, share with friends, etc.).  The publishers do their best to choose the price that maximizes their profits after taking this into account.

Now suppose the recycled evaluation copies amount to 1% of the market.  If you assume these copies are sold below list price and end up in the hands of the 1% of the students who are most price-sensitive, then the publishers can neglect these especially price-sensitive students in their calculations.  They can then slightly increase the price and still sell to the other students.  This won't make up for all their lost profits (so I shouldn't have added the "or all" in my answer), but it will increase the expense for the students who don't get the recycled books.

This model may be oversimplified, and I don't know how textbook publishers actually set prices.  Maybe they rely more on intuition than economic analysis, in which case all bets are off...

There are good chances that they are selling the books back to students. Given the price of academic books, this is  is the most profitable way of "recycling" a book.

I would refrain from doing any business with these buyers, mainly because I find their solicitations annoying.  I wouldn't want to encourage them to continue bothering me or my colleagues.
If you want to ask whether it is ethical to resell evaluation copies at all, start a new question.

thanks for your thoughts but this doesn't really answer my question.  I also find them kind of annoying but if they are benefitting academia as a whole then it might be an annoyance I can tolerate (I find flossing annoying too but I do it).

I would say that these book buyers are legitimate from personal experience, as a student, from Kerala, India. May be the perspective is different in different parts of the globe.
I have seen a lot of second-hand book sellers and street vendors, selling used academic books. I don't think they are making much profits by selling them. They acquire books at no price or at very low prices directly from the users, students or faculties, and sell at one-fourth or even one-sixth of the original price of the book. They manage to do so, because they do not pay taxes to the government (either they are not bound to pay or they simply do not pay). They usually do not have permanent shop for selling the books. Sometimes they acquire books in exchange; the customer exchanges some of their books with the seller, for more useful ones, without money transaction. This is the kind of recycling that happens.
The reason why I argue that they are benefiting the academia is; they market their books, saying that they are used by scholars and has lots of annotations, side markings, simple explanations on the margin etc. I have even heard one fellow saying 'this book was used by a famous rank holder of the university'.
As the demand of used books is large, they are actually fulfilling the customer interest.
The reason for giving away of the books vary; having an extra copy, or the book is too old (some like new books), or the area of interest has changed or one has moved to higher class.