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How to deal with a micromanaging supervisor?
I am doing my PostDoc with a reputable professor, who achieved a lot in our research area. I really learnt a lot of things from him, but the problem is that I am uncomfortable with his supervision.
He is kind of person who wants to show that they are open and accept different opinion but when we start discussing he does not accept the other opinion and very often justifies his opinion by "If I was a reviewer I would reject ....". After a few discussions with him, I just say you are right. He has also an annoying attitude; he points out what he does not like directly (which is not always from the aspect of wrong and true) and if he believes something is wrong, he shouts and says it is wrong (even if you are presenting). At work, he has opinions about everything and I should apply (not because it is his opinions but because we discussed and his opinion is always true).
When we write something together based on one line idea, of course, I write what I think is right, but he just gives the feeling that you are doing something stupid and says it does not work (it is still an idea). Overall, I am allowed neither to do mistakes, to disagree with him nor to give wrong assumptions.
-I would prefer that he gives his opinion by saying I prefer this idea better and pointing out a wrong assumption by saying I don't think this works. Evaluating me (monthly for example) instead of just saying directly you are wrong (because most of the time the mistake does not affect the work). -
Since I started working with him, some colleagues just left because not agreeing with him (I don't know the details) but he told me that because they were not able to do what I asked them for. Also, during our meetings, he made so many people cry, especially girls because of his way of criticism.
We are now writing a proposal together and he asked me to write about his ideas, but he does not like that I am just doing what was assigned to me and not taking lead and drive the proposal. Actually, I don't feel that I am allowed to do thing by myself because he is pointing out everything so I just wait for his orders.
Before, I just accepted this fact and to deliver the work and accomplish his orders until I finish my PostDoc contract, but now he behaves as a micromanager and wants me to take lead. The two things don't match in my opinion.
I don't know how to deal with this situation.

Less than one year.

@Capsule Just out of curiosity, if he is not open to accept/discuss the difference of opinion then how and what did you learn from him?

He is one of the famous researchers in the field (which I think what he made him like this). I really learnt from his knowledge. Working under these conditions was also benefiting to learn how to deal with different people characters. I didn't find it professional to just leave because of this. Of course, I am not judging his person or his knowledge. I don't agree with his way of managing his team because it makes people robot and at the same time he wants his employees to take lead. I don't believe that he even knows about his difficult character.

Is he wrong in asserting If I was a reviewer I would reject ....? This is a skill that comes with experience. Maybe he is guiding you towards a solution that a reviewer is more likely to accept? Of course, this is rather subjective.

In my opinion there is no middle ground and you have only few possible options:

You politely leave, blaming something external while thanking him for the support (just to have a slight chance to get good references).
You confront him honestly, and say what you think it is not working and that your plan was to leave as soon as the contract ended so you did not plan to lead any research projects for more than the remaining time. Probably here he will fire you, but there is still a chance he might understand and he will listen to your feedback (nothing is impossible).
You fake politeness and productivity until the end of the year while trying to do your best. This might give wrong signals to the professor, but if you really want to leave only after the end of the contract, it is one of the fewer options I can see.
Alternatively, you can try to earn his respect and have what you want in a more subtle way. At the beginning,  this would include: compliments, self blaming, high work productivity and so on. I have seen people do that and also achieving their goals, however, I can see why you would rather not go towards this path.

Moreover, by better reading what you wrote (also about other people leaving the group and students crying) I can totally see this as a mobbing case. In such situations, the university should have some people you could talk to about this (I understand there are consequences). Of course, I only heard your opinion and I am assuming that you are totally honest with us.

Control freak. You can learn a lot about getting things done, but it will be high stress. If you are asking how to win with such a person, well you need to become their "star". This requires you put in long days, 7 days a week, at being the world's greatest bootlicking assistant. You decisions will have no value, your hard efforts can be discarded on a whim for an alternative approach that only differs in that he thought of it instead of you, and you may never be allowed to get full credit for any major aspect of the project.
I'd say the real danger is the recommendation you need from this person. In my experience such people write pretty bad recommendations, even for their "stars". Look into how much he has helped previous students and postdocs. If they struggle, just leave asap.

-1: previous students and postdocs may struggle or succeed for reasons not linked with their former supervisor.

@DmitrySavostyanov Of course. But in the face of uncertainty the most robust decision is to blame the professor. You have some idea on how to reach a better decision?

It is a difficult situation but you can try the following:

Tell your supervisor the following:

I would prefer that he gives his opinion by saying I prefer this idea better and pointing out a wrong assumption by saying I don't think this works. Evaluating me (monthly for example) instead of just saying directly you are wrong (because most of the time the mistake does not affect the work). -

It is not guaranteed to work —  if he's certain he's always right, he's probably certain that he's right in how he does the supervision. But it may hive him the food for thought and eventually lead him to adapt to your needs.

Take a more leading role in collaboration. He explicitly expects you to do it. Yes, you will probably be criticised for your mistakes, but if you manage to process this feedback constructively, you will get  a lot of useful knowledge and experience.

I don't feel that I am allowed to do thing by myself because he is pointing out everything so I just wait for his orders.

Don't wait for his orders. He explicitly wants you to try and fail and receive his feedback on it and try again. This is his supervision method. It's annoying but it's not the worst. Maybe, ask him also to note and appreciate good things about your proposals when he sees them.
Micromanaging requires a lot of time, effort and thought. It's not an easy or pleasant strategy. Being control freak is not fun. PI's are pushed into it often because they:

are responsible for large and complex projects
do not have time to do all the work personally and have to rely on postdocs
do not receive the expected outcome from their postdocs — for various reasons postdocs may waste project time and funds and achieve nothing.

There is a delicate balance to strike between developing a postdoc as an independent researcher (i.e. allow them to take lead, try and fail), and achieving project goals (i.e. get excellent results and produce top-level publications). These two goals contradict each other, and any PI is under a pressure to deliver both. This may lead to the conflict you describe as:

he behaves as a micromanager and wants me to take lead. The two things don't match in my opinion.

Unfortunately, this is a direct consequence of modern funding system and culture of success in academia.
I disagree with another answer suggesting to "blame the professor". My advice is to try to help your professor.

I would advise avoid justifying micromanagement. If PIs are "pushed" into it "because", they are just unable to manage a project, and they should probably consider to follow a management course. Lack of management skills is a acknowledged problem in academia.

Who said the PI is not able to manage a project? The OP says their PI is a reputable professor, who achieved a lot in our research area. Surely, such success would've been impossible to achieve in a highly competitive academic environment if the PI was clueless in how to manage a project.

I see your point. Here, as I see it, there seems to be a misunderstanding: reputation (in the academic field) is made of outputs, not of processes. Management is not just "doing whatever it takes to get your outputs at the expenses of your PhDs and postdocs' mental health since you are often untouchable as a professor". Management includes being able to manage a team, and this is often overlooked in the academia, in my opinion.

Management is also delivering on targets. In academia, outputs are recognised as targets. Happiness of the team, well-being of postdocs and graduate students - not necessarily (as long as no-one dies or takes Uni to court). So arguably the PI is a good manager, at least from the University point of view. He is achieving goals he was hired to achieve. The issue is not his management, but wrong set of goals.

Question asks:

How to deal with a micromanaging supervisor?

@DmitrySavostyanov's answer mentions:

Being control freak is not fun. PI's are pushed into it often because... (a list of several quite realistic reasons)

Everyone works within the constraints of their neurological & psychological strengths and weaknesses, and the skill sets the have managed to assemble so far in life.
Sometimes people are simply set to "output only" either by choice or hard wiring. In these cases "Try to explain to them that..." is probably pointless and counterproductive.
In these cases focus on your goals and what you can bear.
If you are worried about a recommendation, and you can find it within yourself, focus on agreeing with them, validating their positions and emulating their style rather than only focusing on demonstrating how good and independent-thinking you are.
"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" has substantial truth to it.
If you encounter what seems like dismissiveness or reflexive criticism of your thinking, change tack and ask a probing question about their thinking with as much apparent interest as you can. This has two benefits:

They may start thinking "Aha, this one is finally coming around and catching on, unlike all the other useful idiots that I have to manage".
You might actually learn something useful! They are not a substantial contributor solely via micromanagement, they must have some insight. Drain as much of it as you can out of them through whatever mixture of flattery and genuine interest you can muster! Consider this the reward for the unpleasantness of it all.

And always keep your eye on the prize - which is whatever you decide it should be. Presumably it's moving on with knowledge, experience, acumen and at least a non-negative recommendation.


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Answering e-mails with just 'Thank you'
Lately I have been applying to many universities for a position on a master's program, therefore I contaced many people asking them questions regardings these programs. What troubles me is the following:
When I recieve an answer, am I supposed to answer saying "Thank you" or something like that?
My reasoning is that these people (secretaries and such) have too much work and having an email at their inbox just thanking them will just cause iriation and disorganization.

I don't think there is anything wrong in thanking people for helping you; not a lot of people doing that, so I don't think that would be something irritating, so no you are not expected to do such a thing, but it would be always nice to thank people for the time and effort.

@onurcanbektas Equally, it can be really annoying...

@user2768 if you get lots of them; maybe, but in the place where I live, people don't even consider thanking you, so ...

@onurcanbektas I don't disagree with you, it is just difficult to know what to do and it really depends on the recipient.

also see https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/37862/how-to-show-extreme-gratitude-in-an-email?rq=1 ; polineess never hurts (in general apparently.)

also related: When to answer and when not to answer a brief e-mail from a busy academic?

Also related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/103467/is-generic-thank-you-email-a-waste-of-time-in-academia

This can depend on a lot of things, but mostly on how much the other person did to help you and how much it would be part of their normal job. But in some situations, a simple thank you, totally appropriate in person, is, as you say, just noise that takes effort to deal with.
I often don't send such thank you emails myself, for this reason, and wonder, as you do, if I'm doing the right thing. And I find thanks you notes back to me as just an additional task to handle.
I sometimes add "thanks in advance" to the end of a simple response, getting it out of the way. Sometimes the return thanks is just assumed by the receiver, in any case.
But I don't think that "in person etiquette" is really identical to "online etiquette" and that we have to wait for some time to pass until everyone is comfortable with the difference. In the short term, use your judgement.
But, after a sequence of questions and responses, it is probably more important to give thanks at the end. And if you don't send individual "thanks" but later meet the person, you can then say "thanks for your help in the past".

I know they are not the final authority on everything, and their advice predates  email, but Strunk and White say this on "Thanking you in advance. This sounds as if the writer meant, 'It will not be worth my while to write to you again.' Simply write, 'Thanking you,' and if the favor which you have requested is granted, write a letter of acknowledgment."

Sometimes a simple "Thank you" email is the simplest and most polite way to confirm that the message was both received and read. Sometimes that is not relevant, but sometimes it is.

Note that on this site, thanks are assumed, not expressed. "Thanks in advance" at the end of questions are often purged, and thank you comments are usually deemed unnecessary. Accepting an answer is the only visible way, an that is normally done without comment.

My experience on both ends is that the thank you is effective and appreciated.  I recommend also to use their name.
"Professor A, thank you."
Yeah it is another line in their box but it seals the conversation.  What really drives busy people crazy is the long meandering emails.  They are used to a machine gun of short ones.  Look how they communicate (an "OK" response to 5 para request).
I would edit the subject, also, to put "Thank you" in the subject, but keep it in the reply string.  That way they can quickly see it in list of emails and know it does not require further action.

I agree with the first part, but I would be careful about editing the subject line. Depending on the email client, that may move it into a new conversation thread, which is often inconvenient.

I have a feeling no one uses it, but I keep doing so as a small etiquette token.
Set priority to low
In most email clients you can set how important this email is. It's mostly well hidden. You might know it best from seeing everything mailed by HR people being tagged as SUPER URGENT!!!.
But there is also a converce of it, "not urgent", "low priority" or similar.
If I happen to write a mail that is just a "thank you" with no additional information, I set this flag.

I've never received a message with a low priority flag. If I did, I'd be curious and even more inclined to open the message right away (assuming my mail client displays the flag at all).

Or just put "thank you" in the subject line and keep it short enough that they can see the whole thing in preview.

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Student asking too many questions without trying themself
I work at a bootcamp where I teach programming. I have a student in my class who would ask 1 question every minute. This student would ask about every single thing like where to add this code and how I should do X and Y without even trying.
How do you deal with a student who asks 100's of questions a day?

You might have a look at the following past questions: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17231/how-to-deal-with-students-asking-very-incremental-questions?rq=1 https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/56844/what-to-do-about-fellow-student-that-hogs-lecture-time-with-many-questions?rq=1 https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/28504/what-to-do-about-students-who-ask-for-help-too-often?noredirect=1&lq=1 https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/85582/how-to-motivate-students-to-debug-their-work-independently?noredirect=1&lq=1

Thanks! I followed some of the advice from the above links. I also tell the student to work on this small thing. But then after 30 seconds they come back that they have no idea how to do that X thing.

And how do you currently respond to that?

Although I do tell them to go back and fix X things but they come back 2 minutes later with the same excuse. Then I have to jump in and either locate the problem for them or even fix for them. The problem is that in a private bootcamp company these students are also our clients. Usually when they get upset they start complaining to my boss or manager.

Having said that I believe I will be doing a disservice to them if I instantly give them the answer. Because then they will NOT learn anything or these will never struggle. During the time of this post the person has asked me at least 6 questions already :(

spam him with a link to this question ;-)

Socratic method. Instead of answering the student's questions with concrete answers, answer each question by asking the student a leading question that forces them to start thinking in the right direction in order to answer your questions.

I think the answer may be substantially different for a boot camp than for a traditional university setting.  You have different performance metrics, a different level of academic freedom, different management, and students with different goals and expectations.

Say it with me: “Let’s talk after class; we need to move on.”

Establish clear learning goals that include problem solving and finding the answers as part of the task.
This essentially falls under the "teach someone to fish" adage. The most important skill to learn in a programming boot camp isn't going to be a repertoire of functions or a mastery of a certain language's syntax, but rather a piece of the programming process itself, which includes problem solving and the associated skills.
It sounds like you're getting broken down by complaints and feeling like you have to provide an answer to help with a given line of code, but I think if you instead frame it in your own mind (and make clear to the students as well) that you are teaching the entire process, it will be easier to refuse to answer those questions and refocus on ways that the student can find their own answer.

Thanks Bryan! Out of 24 students one is the needy one. Others try their best and attempt different paths. The other problem which I mentioned before is that one of the student out of 26 complained about me saying that instructor does not provide a lot of help. My manager had to talk to me about it. Kinda sucks because I want them to hunt for answers on their own and then ask me. I don't want to hold their hand all the way.

Update: Now since I am providing minimal answers, that student is asking questions to a TA (Teacher Assistant). Ughh.. Just try yourself for at least 30 minutes before surrendering.

@JohnCarpenter That's partly why I suggest making it a clear learning goal. In that case, when the student or the manager complains, you can point to that goal as an important part of the course. Including problem solving strategies in the instruction could possibly help other students, too, even if they aren't as 'needy'. As you said in a comment, you know it will be a disservice to hand out the answers; flip that around and instead do a service by helping them find their own answer instead.

Thanks @Bryan Krause Yes I will make it clear again tomorrow. I told my students already that they should try the solution for at least 30 minutes on their own. If they are not able to find a solution then ask me. Unfortunately, for one student 30 minutes is more like 30 seconds.

You can probably do more than just suggest a time limit. The time limit is a good rule to preserve your time and energy, but it isn't really pedagogically useful. Maybe suggest they be scientific with their code: if they aren't sure if it will work, they should see what happens if they try. If they don't know where to add a line of code, have them try in different spots and see what happens. Suggest they explain their code to a rubber duck. Help with strategies, not solutions.

There are a lot of tricks.
Ask to see the work in progress before you give a hint.
Learn to give minimal hints, not answers. One sort of hint is pointing to where the answer might be found.
More extreme is to ration your hints to each person. Even more extreme is to charge "points" for hints, though it is better if they have some mechanism to earn them back.
If there is only one (or two) students who do this, perhaps an office session would be appropriate to explore why they do this. Some students come with misinformation about the material or how they should deal with it. Some of these are deep seated and very hard to solve, but some can be handled by just giving a flash of insight. The hard cases may require extra tutorials to catch up.
In CS programming lab situations, the best mechanism is Pair Programming where students work in pairs on their lab exercises. It might be applicable to some other fields. This is especially useful if you have more than a few students who exhibit this sort of behavior.
Also ask yourself if there is something about the overall class structure that is lacking and see if you can't address that. Longer lectures probably isn't the right answer for that one though IMO. More sample problems might be.

Teach a man to fish...
If a student responds to you telling to work on some particular thing with "that they have no idea how to do that X thing" it's worth taking it at face value and figure out what would be the recommended action if they needed to do X, had no idea how to do that, and had no access to you. Don't tell them how to do X - tell them where and how they can find that out.
Assuming that X is in your study plan, you can point out where in your study  materials is something on how to do X - give them something specific that they can do, i.e. reviewing particular slides or reading some documentation, or reviewing sample code, repeating some hands-on exercise.  If it's not in your study materials, perhaps it should be? Not necessarily as something for everybody to go through, but as extra reference.

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How much do grades matter for a future academia position?
I am completing my PhD and I was wondering how much does the PhD coursework grades affect future academia applications? My undergraduate and master's was somewhat decent grade wise (3.8/4) in both. However, I had taken two mandatory courses during my PhD and I got B+ and A- in them. It was not because of the difficulty in the coursework, but I was burned out with courseworks from master's and did not put any effort. My GPA turned out to be 3.56. I did not take any other coursework as my qualifiers committee found my theoretical knowledge adequate for continuing with my PhD.
Back of my mind, I am concerned that this will affect my postdoc and subsequent professorship applications.
Is there any academic out there in same boat as me but have made it successfully in the professional world?

No one looks at grades for even undergrads. Certainly no one is going to care if you have a PhD.

Related, if not duplicate: Why is PhD GPA considered irrelevant?

Given that many PhD programmes don’t include coursework, pretty close to zero.

@only_pro: That is not universal. Undergrad grades matter quite a bit where I live, where competition for PhD scholarships is fierce and grades are one of the biggest factors in getting one.

I would like to temper the optimism of many people here. Grades do not matter after the PhD, but getting a high-quality advisor is very strongly dependent on grades (and even more on the school you come from) since they're usually pretty much all there is to see for a fresh graduate student outside of "personality" (read : BS, anyone can act out). And the quality of the advisor is probably the most important parameter when it comes to landing good postdocs and positions. It probably even trumps talent and hard work by a very wide margin (much more than people realize). My 2c

Many countries don't have graded coursework for their PhD students. Others do. Some have a final grade, others just have pass/ not passed. As applications for further positions are international, grades are not that helpful in the big picture.

In the US, at least, and in most fields, no one will look at your grades or care much about them. If they were good enough for your institution to give you a doctorate, they will be good enough for everyone.
I'm not sure this is universal, and would love to hear of exceptions. Such exceptions might occur in situations that have rigid regulations. Of course, if you are specifically hired to do X and you got terrible grades in X as a student, people might have some problems that need answers.

NIH F32 postdoc grants ask about grades. Beyond that, I have never been asked for grades or my transcript.

@StrongBad, yes, NIH might be a bit stricter, since the fact that they deal with health issues can result in tighter requirements on researchers,

@Buffy, I don't think it's the health issues per se, just the ferocious competition that's endemic to biomedical research.

Having applied to a number of postdoc positions and some assistant professor positions (in Northern Europe and Germany), nobody has ever asked about my grades and they are not visible on my CV. Once someone asked about how quickly I finished my master's thesis.

The competition for faculty/postdoc positions is very stiff on:

Papers
Research interests/project proposal
References
Funding/grants/fellowships of candidate, if any
Prestige of alma mater
Prestige of advisor

If grades mattered to a search committee, they would be overshadowed by these. So they would come into play in two situations:

If you somehow get candidates that are so close that you need to resort to looking at their grades to distinguish them.
If the best candidates are seriously deficient in all the above points and grades are their biggest plus.

Due to extreme competition for academic positions, you are very unlikely to encounter either.

I struggled in my first year of my phd and got a C in a course. I made a few B's as well. The transition to being a phd student and scholar was far from a smooth one for me.
That said, when things were all said and done, I graduated with multiple published papers and had a post doc offer at a prestigious school. Afterwards I accepted an offer at an R1 university for a tenure position.
In the job interviewing process for tenure track positions, I was not asked one time about the C I got in a seminar course. I was asked about-

my research
my teaching philosophy
my thoughts on the open science movement

The only time that C comes up in academia is when I share grad school stories with colleagues. And I have found it useful to mention to those who are getting down about their grades in graduate school. If someone can go from academic probation after their first semester as a phd student to a tenure track faculty member at an R1, then getting a B in a course isnt the end of the world.
One other little tidbit. My adviser's thoughts on grades was that if you were only making A's, then you were not really challenging yourself or getting out of your comfort zone in grad school. She told our lab that she would rather you get a B in an advanced course in another department than coast through an in department course.

One good reason they didn't ask about your C grade in tenure track interviews: how would they know about it?

Just a short note from personal experience: I am finishing up a PhD in a science field.  I will be "leaving my field" as it were and getting a job in industry not necessarily related to my field.  In applying to jobs, most places did not care about my graduate GPA, but some of them (to my surprise) did, maybe about a quarter of the places I applied.
There was even one place that commented on my GPA and essentially asked why it was so mediocre (it's 3.7), and I told them (truthfully) that my department put much more emphasis on early research than on course performance.  That appeased the person asking the question.

Certainly research is what distinguishes you, and you need to be or become an independent researcher during a Ph.D., but I would not totally discount your grades.  Helped me get industry job offers and has helped me for decades post Ph.D. to have gotten a 4.0 in grad school.
I had heard the exact same "nobody cares about grades" as a student but was warned by a buddy not to believe it.  He ended up being right.  Note, I still did good research also.  Wasn't hard, especially as most classes were early in the program and I picked an appropriate research problem.
Of course, what is done is done, so don't cry about spilled milk and concentrate on things going forward.  For instance, I can't go back in time and get better undergrad GPA.
But I would feel a little amiss to have every new Ph.D. reading this Q&A to think grades don't matter.  Especially because many will eventually have jobs outside academia.

I have never been asked for my GPA, nor has anyone else I know in Academia.  I'm most familiar with the U.S. system, but I know people with postdocs and professorships across the world and I'm pretty sure asking GPA would raise eyebrows world-wide.

Occasionally HR will require you to submit a transcript, but I don't believe hiring committees pay attention to this. Often they are submitted after an offer has been made.

@Dawn, that is probably just a formality and a check against fraud. Are you who you say you are? The existence of the transcript is likely what interests them.

@Buffy - Yes. And perhaps for bureaucratic record keeping and statistics.

Another data point: for the U.S., in math, in my R1 big state univ I don't recall seeing transcripts or every talking about GPA for any postdoc applicants or tenure-track applicants. Yes, I think there is some very formal business where transcripts may have to be supplied at some point to prove to Central Administration that the person really has the degree the math dept knows they have... :)
The actual work the person has done, and letters of recommendation/expert opinion on that work, is essentially the only thing considered.
EDIT: insertion: as in the comment, "what about teaching, diversity?" Currently, these play very little role, operationally, though I myself would like them to play a much more substantial role, because they really-really matter "on the ground". But the shift in the 1950s from "math dept" as a completely service-teaching department to "doing important research" (maybe saving us from The Commies, who knows?) is still in the throes of that exaggeration. So, many empty pretenses about the actual function of a math dept. (end-of-edit)
For that matter, for our grad admissions, already undergrad GPA is not at all decisive. For one thing, there are wildly varying "standards", so that it's hard to know what a GPA out of context means. Sure, a high GPA from a known-to-be-harsh place is some sort of positive... but, even then, it's not clear what sort of positive it really is. :)  Rather, it's letters of recommendation, and the general shape of a student's background (given their opportunities, which strongly vary).
For industry, I have no idea...

What about teaching statement and possibly diversity statement? A professor once told me, "Oh, the diversity statement is just for HR." But I'm not sure how true that is.

@cgb5436, I myself would like to see more things matter, such as teaching and diversity, but, currently, that seems not to be the case. A major source of misunderstanding and conflict among faculty...

I support increased diversity, but at least for college admissions, diversity is multi-dimensional: racial background, gender, first-generation status, socio-economic background, diversity in viewpoints, even geographic diversity (not everyone being from Massachusetts!) matters. For academic hiring only a few factors seem to be considered. Then again, the end goal (whatever that is) is different.

Some people argue (including myself) that the "real goal" should be to make up for past exclusionary practices, as a matter of "setting things right," and that the diversity initiatives are primarily a more palatable, less controversial way of doing that. I think it's all controversial: what is the "promised land" of it. Anyway, an important discussion to engage in and not ignore.

@cgb5436, in fact, in my observation in many local cases over a few decades, the notion of "good faculty hire" has often meant almost exclusively "good theorem-prover"... Nice, true, but what about the other things the department does? What about being a role model? Being encouraging to kids who are "not traditional". Turns out that quite a few good theorem-provers are oblivious to other people...

Example: a very good theorem-prover, female, said to me, literally, that we couldn't have more women grad students without greatly lowering standards. That profession of belief offsets whatever virtues of the theorem-proving. Some job candidates have said incredibly stupid things... things that, even if you were thinking it, a sensible person would have the sense to not say out loud. Thus, saying such things out loud is a sort of failure-of-a-test. Now, yes, some people are wanting to "be libertarian", so claim the right to assert that women are innately inferior mathematicians... Sigh.

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

@cgb5436, I'd prefer if you just email me ... if you don't mind. That's more a part of my current work-flow, etc. garrett@umn.edu  It's not a secret.


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How to to deal with advisor's criticism of my writing?
I am about to finish my PhD, which means I have to write a lot. I am also a non-native English speaker, so my English sucks a lot, especially when it comes to formal writing. In contrast, my adviser is a very good writer and good writing is very important to him.
Whenever I write anything, from an e-mail that gets CCed or a draft or a paper, it attracts relentless criticism. I know that I am supposed to use this feedback to improve, but I am a bit tired of this “tough love.” I often get desperate and anxious because I feel I can’t write anything worthy at all. It causes severe writing blocks because whenever I am about to write a sentence, I immediately imagine it being totally destroyed and thrown into a garbage bin.
I do try to improve my writing by reading a lot of high-quality English texts and practicing on my own. I took an online course on writing and developed my own writing routine: at first, I plan paragraphs and the flow between them, write a first crappy draft, then edit into something tangible during multiple rounds.
I also try to incorporate my adviser's guidance. However, my writing morale is currently so low that it stalls my productivity. I do try to not take my adviser's criticism personally, which is quite difficult sometimes, but I am just so tired of being judged all the time. I know many students lack feedback from their advisers, but I am just fed up with feedback. Is there any way to get out of this hole?

Your writing in this post is very good, and comes across as written by a native English speaker. You should be able to do similarly in your thesis. Quality communication of mathematics makes the difference between an idea in your head and something that other people might understand, so you should take very seriously the non-trivial task of writing up your results in a clear way.

Sounds like you're doing everything right. Especially the separation of drafting and writing is crucial to silence the inner critic when s/he is just blocking your progress and getting their help when she's needed.

Good writing typically tends to be less a question of getting the first draft right and more one of finding the courage to attempt the next draft. Try not to be discouraged, refining drafts is simply part of the process.

@j0equ1nn better than many native English speakers, IMO!

You receive much good feedback in this thread. I would only encourage you to find a couple of examples in good writing practice (say, avoid excessive use of passive form, lack of parallel form, or any few that you feel weak at) and apply those to your self-revision work relentlessly, until they become second nature. In other words: decouple your preferred way to improve your satisfaction at writing in English from the authoritative yet unsolicited advice you receive. In other words again: fence off your sandbox, be the owner of your difficulty, and borrow only when in need of integrations.

Last addition: writing, even in your native language, can be a painful experience that generates beautiful reading. Perhaps your dissatisfaction is party exhacerbated by rushing into a (harsh) judgement well before you have recovered from the effort of writing? Be reassured: your English doesn't quite suck a lot... even if I look at the edits your post has received

@XavierStuvw I am very grateful for all the encouragement I received here. It is very important for me because I am finally able to get something done after many days of idling. Speaking about the satisfaction of writing, I used to greatly enjoy writing both in my native language and English.  However, due to the sheer volume of negative feedback I got over time, it turned into a dreadful chore. I am trying to rebuild my confidence so that my productivity will not be as vulnerable to external judgment.

It is also statistically conceivable that supervisors can be destructively jealous of their pupils or that pupils are (self-)destructively reliant on their supervisor. In that case, beside the necessary copying strategies, the fact that a PhD terminates is the greatest and most effective relief, if you ask me.

Being a non-native English speaker is a bad excuse for bad English. A lot of native English speakers' English also sucks a lot. The by far best writer I have ever met is a non-native speaker from Singapore (PhD thesis, in fact).

This doesn't answer your question, but I think your real problem isn't your writing, but the way how you and your advisor communicate. What I suggest is that you have a sit-down with your advisor and raise the issue with them. Tell them what you told us - that their barrage of negative feedback is hampering your motivation and productivity, and that you would have an easier time incorporating their feedback if they could find a more positive way to phrase it.
Of course there is no guarantee that this conversation will go over well (some people think that "tough love" is the only way to give feedback, and others understand on a rational level that a more "sandwich" style of feedback works better for most people but are unable to change). However, you will never know if you don't raise the issue with your advisor.
Edit: to say a little bit about "writing better", the actual topic of your question -
You should also try to understand if your advisor is really dissatisfied with the mechanical aspects of your writing (spelling, expressions, grammar, paragraph construction) or with your skills in scientific storytelling. It seems to me that basic command of the English language is not a real issue for you, so potentially what your advisor is actually dissatisfied with is that you do not know the terminology of your field well enough, common rhetorical moves in your discipline, how people like to construct arguments, etc. If this is your problem, a general-purpose writing course is not going to help - you will need to study papers in your discipline to improve.

I often get desperate and anxious because I feel I can’t write anything worthy at all.  It causes severe writing blocks because whenever I am about to write a sentence, I immediately imagine it being totally destroyed and thrown into a garbage bin.

Your writing course is giving you the correct guidance here.  Good writing is mostly about  clarity and good editing, so it is not terribly important that one's initial sentences be of good quality.  When you are writing academic work, it is best just to get your thoughts down on paper in the first instance, to express the substance of your ideas and their logical connection.  Once you have some material down on paper, you can edit and polish as much as you like to improve the clarity, structure and prose.  The most important thing is to edit to make sure your writing is clear, and does not tax the reader.  If you are having difficulty with structure then it is useful to work from an outline, and to create a reverse-outline from your written work to check that it follows the structure you intended.
Developing good prose is more difficult, but the best way to do this is to read material by good writers and then analyse why you found their writing so compelling.  Make sure you do not confine yourself only to reading academic papers; read novels, other prose pieces, and even good journalistic works (very rare these days).  When you read good writers, over time you will begin to pick up techniques they use to make their writing clear, compelling, and powerful, and you will also expand your vocabulary.  This will allow you to improve your own writing and develop your own style.

I do try to not take my adviser's criticism personally, which is quite difficult sometimes, but I am just so tired of being judged all the time.

I guess this is the nature of being in an educational program, even as a higher-degree student in a PhD program.  These kinds of programs generally entail non-stop judgment of your work and critical feedback, with the goal of having you gradually improve.  It is important to balance judgment and critique of work with occasional morale boosters, so it may be time for you to take a break and look back on all the things that you have already accomplished.  If you are feeling burned out by all the criticism, talk with your supervisor and see if it is okay for you to take a break from your program to take stock of your existing work and accomplishments, and give you time to boost your morale.

You are not alone. I am a native speaker of the British standard English dialect, and fluent, for reading, writing, and listening, in the US formal business dialect. I got 800, then the maximum score, on the verbal portion of the US GRE.
I hated writing until I got access to word processing software in the early 1980's. Since them, my approach has been to first get down what I want to say, without worrying about telling a story, paragraph organization, etc. When I think I have all the points I want to make written, I switch to polishing. What you are reading is not the first version of this answer.
My excellent PhD dissertation advisor cares a lot about the quality of academic writing. When I sent him a draft it would come back covered with comments, very few about the technical content and most about how it was expressed. I had to fight writer's block because of that. I tried to explain my writing process to him, but he could not resist the temptation to make expression comments even when I told him a document was an initial draft and would be reworked later.
In the end, I had to decide to ignore his expression-related comments until I was ready to use them. When I was in the polishing phase I found his comments extremely useful. I think I write better now because of them.
From the quality of the writing in your question, I am sure your problem is nothing to do with not being a native speaker, but is similar to the problem I had with my advisor. Your advisor is trying to take good writing and turn it into excellent writing.
I suggest dealing with his comments in two phases. During the first phase, look for comments that are about what you are saying, and firmly ignore any comments about how you are saying it.
For some writing, such as an e-mail, I would simply ignore any expression-related comments. You have as much right to judge the usefulness, to you, of your advisor's feedback as your advisor has to comment on your writing.
For writing you want to make really good, such as a paper you are preparing for publication, go into a second phase during which you consider each of the comments about expression, remembering that you are trying to turn good writing into excellent writing, not fix bad writing. Treat the comments as suggestions. Would the suggested change make your draft better? If so, make the change. If you disagree, make a note. Look for general themes in the comments that you may be able to use. Discuss the most important disagreements with your advisor.
Ultimately, you may never produce anything that makes your advisor completely happy. You are different people. The objective is to produce clear, readable papers, not to mimic perfectly your advisor's style.

I am in the same boat. Trying to get my PhD Thesis written currently.
To add to all the great advice from others: Try also to read the papers/project proposals and other text you wrote in the beginning of your PhD, and compare them to what you wrote now. This really helped me a lot to see how my writing (non-english native as well) developed over the course of my PhD. I am sure yours has developed too!
What also helped me is to note down/realize my most common mistakes and then when proofreading specifically check for those. For me usually it is using "that" in all places where it is unnecessary. While proofreading I do one run just paying attention to that one mistake.
And in addition: Do you have friends/family/colleagues or even english natives willing to proofread? Even if they do not understand your Topic they could give you feedback on your language. So you can send your advisor a first draft where you already polished the language a bit.
But generally keep your workflow up! Writing a draft and polishing it is the best strategy to get something done. Polishing is always easier than writing the perfect sentence in the first place.

In addition to other good points: an underlying problem is the nature of most of the world's educational systems is the idea that "no critique, no comment" (apart from vague praise) is the goal.
Yes, encouragement is good, and people too often do forget to be positive...
But/and it would be a mistake to interpret "criticism" as "assertion that you're failing". Rather, it is a constructive response to the work you've done so far. Ok, and, now, next round of revisions?
It's not "oh, you are wrong/bad/evil/stupid", but more like "you can do better at this point... and better serve yourself, make a better impression, be more successful with other people".
And, yes, for example, one does not want one's English to be soooo obviously an issue that it distracts people, or makes them wonder about whether they can trust that you are saying exactly what you intend...
If nothing else, apart from native language..., decades of experience can (but does not necessarily) give a person a refined sense of what language choices "work best" in a specific professional milieu. In particular, merely "trying hard" is almost disconnected from this, since the "useful/correct" answer is to "sound like you fit into that milieu". (No, I'm not really a fan of this kind of conformist pressure, but I am well aware of it, and would hesitate to recommend trying to ignore it!)
So, quite possibly, it's not even whether your grammar is literally correct or not, but whether you "sound like" established people writing in that milieu. Until you are well established yourself, it can be a good survival strategy to conform in some ways. I do remember imagining, years ago, that "math (my own subject) is objective", so that, surely, it didn't matter how one wrote about it. Oops... :)

I used to say to my students when we started meeting that very likely I would ask them to rewrite many things many times, and it would seem exhausting, but that was just part of the process, and they should never take it personally or think of it as an indication that they were "failing".

Do not let this criticism destroy your confidence in your intellectual capacities. That is the main thing. Let it also not interfere with the progress of your work on your thesis.
I am a non-native English speaker myself. Notwithstanding that, some of my works I published in prime English language scholarly journals are today part of the canon of the scientific literature. They are today cited by hundreds of scholars worldwide.  And I find your English at least as good as mine. So, be optimistic!
P.S. None of journal editors I contacted during my university career ever signalled any deficiencies in my English. On the contrary, they praised, among others, the lucidity of my English communication. Once my English got up to the level that was required by these very demanding journals (it took me about 3 years) my papers were never rejected since. I think I ought to stress here that some of these journals reject up to 97% submitted manuscripts. I suspect, most of those rejected are written by English native speakers. The conclusion is: while the quality of your English may be important, there is a very good chance other things are even more important when it comes to ensuring your manuscripts get published and cited by hundreds of scholars. I wish you good luck!

Thank you for your encouragement and kind words! I did publish papers that were cited and my research was used as a basis of others' work. However, I feel like all my hard work “in trenches” that made those papers possible is basically irrelevant because "I can't write." I will try to remind myself of my achievements to boost my confidence, but it is not going to be easy to get back on track. But thanks again!

"my papers were never rejected since" -- how is this possible? what discipline are you in?

At this point, as you are close to finishing your PhD, it is best to avoid any distractions. Clear writing is important and many academics love to point out faults in the writing off others: you have to get used to that.
You need to be analytic about the feedback from your supervisor -- mark every bit of advice (e.g. green if it is stylistic, orange if it is about clarity, red if it is about the content) and then work with the bits that are important to you. You have to thank your supervisor for everything, but it is worth doing some prioritizing and focusing on the bits of advice that really help.

Let me provide an analogy that may help you determine more about the problem.  When you first learn to drive a car it takes most of your focus just to keep the car in your lane, not hit other cars, not exceed the speed limit, and other essential skills needed to just drive the car.  Once you master those skills then you can advance in your driving and learn to drive to another city, and later even have a conversation with someone else in the car while you are driving to the other city.  Ultimately, you have to learn to navigate well as an essential part of driving.  If you drive from New York to Maine by driving through Texas then, even though you have done an outstanding job keeping your car in the correct lane the whole time, people would not say that you are doing a great job driving.
This is analogous to writing.  You can write great sentences that obey all the grammar rules, but if they go through Texas to get to Maine then your writing will be viewed poorly.  It is unclear if your advisor is saying that you don't know how to stay in your lane, or if your advisor is saying that you go to Texas to get to Maine, or that you are never getting to Maine at all.  The first step in fixing this is to find out exactly what the advisor thinks is the nature of the problem.  Is it a problem with grammar and sentence composition, or is it a problem with the flow between sentences, or is it a problem with never reaching your destination.  Once you understand the main area of the problem, then you can focus on fixing the problem.

How do you know your adviser is a good writer?  Most academics, other than English or literature professors, aren't particularly good writers. The reason is that no one ever criticizes academic writing. When professors submit papers for publication, the reviewer may criticize their ideas or conclusions, but almost never their writing style. Who really cares if a paper in an academic journal is well-written or not?
By contrast, the average journalist or other professional writer is usually a far better writer than the average academic.  Why? Because people pay for newspapers and magazines, and they're not going to pay for badly written articles. If a journalist doesn't write well, his or her editor will tell them so in no uncertain terms. And if they continue to write poorly, they get fired - something that will never happen to a tenured professor who writes poorly.

I care, all my collaborators care and all the mathematicians whose work I admire care that papers are well written. As a reviewer, I am frequently asked explicitly to judge the clarity of writing and the command of the English exhibited. I have a less favorable impression of journalists than you. I have seen very few popular science articles or articles which attempt to convey statistics which are actually clear.

This is getting downvotes, but unfortunately it's the truth. The checks and balances just aren't there, and in my opinion academic writing is just appalling 90% of the time.

I agree that good writing in academia is an exception rather than a rule. At least in technical fields.

I think I should clarify my downvote. It is not due to our difference in opinion regarding the quality of academic writing. I downvoted your reply because you do not answer the question: What should OP do! You speculate that OP's estimate of the advisor's abbilities is wrong. That does not help OP address the underlying problem. Returning to my comment: research scientists are motivated to write well. Why? Poorly written grant applications do not get funded.

Yes.  Improve your writing.  You are smart enough.  Put the effort in and do it.
Will you be perfect?  No.  Even most professional, native, writers are not capable of flawless flowing first-try prose.
But you could take more of a strain.  Seriously.  Like in your question, why do you write in one long paragraph?  At least chop it up.  And ditch the Schoen-like ellipses.
I am SURE that you could make a significant improvement.  Yeah, maybe you still get chipped away even after that.  And that's a different issue (basically requiring developing some rhino hide--life is like that).  But first improve.  I mean, heck, even if you NEVER get any attaboys/girls/things  from the critical fooker, at least YOU will have improved.  And writing well, in English, is a pretty damned important skill for academics.
Furthermore, I don't think all the issues are just native language use.  Sure, some very particular word choices and nuances of intonation may be.  But having a strong structure to your writing is a transferable skill to all languages.  As is proofreading (e.g. developing and using a checklist of common previous mistakes).
Oh...and don't shy away from writing because of the criticism.  Do MORE of it.  Wear the guy down with how much he has to correct you.  ;-)  And not because you troll him or make deliberate errors or don't give a shit.  But because you, while still trying to do your best, are continuously practicing and "out there". (This is THE WAY in foreign languages, written or spoken.  Plunge in!).
N.B.  I am guilty of every grammar flaw that I call out. But that does not change the points I'm making.  Take it as from a fellow sinner.

You are vrey mcuh aehad wtih you're wrting tahn msot of tdoyas yuoth.
It wasn't terribly difficult to read that first line was it. I believe in education and having pride in your work but I think it is possible that the criticism you are getting is just a bit too much on the OCD (obsessive compulsive) side of things. I can't imagine anyone having absolute expectation of excellence in the writing from a non-native person that has what seems to be very good communication in the English language. English is the hardest of all languages to learn and with the way young school students that are native to the language defile and tear the language all to hell I think he should give you some respect for your accomplishments and how far you have come instead of constantly chopping you down. He would probably start calling me bad words and spitting in my face if he was given the line above in his email but truth would be he wouldnt have a problem reading it and therefore has received the message I wrote and that is the important part of it anyway. Isn't it?


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What can stop me from getting a PhD degree?
I am mid stage PhD student. I have done qualification exam and course work etc and from last around one year I am working on a one research problem. There is small progress on that problem, but till needs to add more things to make it publishable. I am also aware that in the field I am working research gets their PhD with 1-2 papers and even I have heard they can award me a PhD without even a single publication ( I have seen few online ). Some senior researcher told that TAing etc also a part of work and should be considered as a integral part of PhD.
Question : Is it possible to get a PhD without a single publication? What can stop me from getting a PhD? Other than If I show a bad behaviour etc

Obviously, not finishing a satiafactory thesis can easily stop you from getting a PhD.

Also note that a PhD diploma is just a piece of paper. It is useless if you have nothing to show for it.

Like @FBolst said, and adding the fact that for the most of life a PhD degree is really totally useless. Focus on what's in it for you.

As a general rule there is no connection between a PhD and publications. I have seen many students graduate without publishing. But check your program’s requirements.

@DanRomik That depends on country/institution. In all universities I have visited in China, a PhD student cannot graduate without at least one published SCI paper as first author (usually also including advisor as correspondent author). It is common that these students will stay at the university on their own pockets until the paper gets officially accepted so that they receive their degree.

@DanRomik Uh, well, my university requires PhD students to publish at least one journal paper to graduate (no need to be first author, though).

@Scientist and Massimo interesting. My experience is mainly with mathematics in North America. Yes, I guess it’s clear that what I said isn’t universally true.

@DanRomik This requirement was introduced just a few years ago and it's actually causing a lot of headaches to us advisers, especially because of the short duration of the PhD (3 years standard, 4 years maximum), which means that if the student doesn't publish within 3 years they will have to do one more year without scholarship and if they don't publish within 4 years, they're out.

It is pretty rare that one gets a doctorate without publications and/or an acceptable dissertation. What is "common" in your field has little relevance to your particular situation. You need to make your advisor and maybe a committee satisfied that you have done work of sufficient quality. Your requirements are local to a University, or, perhaps, to the regulations of a particular country.
Serving as a TA may get you better recommendations for an academic job after you finish, but have little relevance for the doctorate itself.
Yes, bad behavior would stop you most likely, but you need to focus on the research that leads to acceptance.
Complaining to a supervisor that "others have done it" will likely get you precisely nowhere - if not set back.

In another question here you have indicated you are in your fourth year. This makes me wonder whether you are getting sufficient guidance from your PhD supervisor/advisor. If not, you might try to improve your relationship with him/her in hopes of obtaining the guidance you need. Four years isn't yet excessively long in the current situation, but you should  assess your progress and make sure you and your advisor agree on a plan for completion.

"It is pretty rare that one gets a doctorate without publications" -- not really, I have seen a few. This is highly dependent on field, institution, country.

@Scientist, without either publications or a dissertation? Also, is "a few" different from "pretty rare"?

I see your point. I meant without publications. More common in social sciences, from what I hear, but a few colleagues got there in Biology.

@Scientist back in my era, mathematicians normally didn't publish before finishing the doctorate. I don't know about other fields. I realize that has changed now. But the dissertation was pretty much guaranteed (by the faculty) to be worthy of publication. Partly the new "expectations" account for the (much) longer time to get the degree. Back then four years was pretty standard - post baccalaureate. Now? Seven, more? I think in some other countries than US you can have a pretty regular position (i.e. not just TA) before the doctorate so time matters less. Less common here.

There is no connection between successful Phd. and any number of publications in most of the universities. The evaluation of the Phd. is done independent of the publications. It can be the case that a student fail even with multiple publications if these publications were not sufficient for Phd. and vise versa, many students can pass without publication but their work is sufficient for Phd.
Also there is no connection between tutoring and getting a Phd. but you can get good relations with other professors, get experience, and learn from it. A good behavior is required for every relationship even with strangers in the street as well as in the university. But each university have guides on what constitute an offense and the penalties. Good behavior does not mean you suffer in silence or you see something wrong but accept it not to be viewed as problematic. There are rules and procedures for how/to whom you talk.
What gets you a Phd. is a novel contribution in the field. Not necessarily a breakthrough or an invention, but new results or methodology, etc. By definition, novel mean not known before and new. So the results/study/system should not been something have been known already (replication). This must be discussed with your supervisor and also you should make your own judgement as at the end the examiners are independent of your supervisor.
I have not ever seen publications as requirement for a Phd. in any university. Students can graduate without publications and I know many have done this. They can work on publication afterwords and some have published after the Phd. Most of the times, your supervisor must support your direction if you want to postpone publication.
However, it is highly recommended that you publish at least one paper. Venue/journals/publishers and reviewing committees have different strengths. Try to send your paper for a reasonably good one. Try to benefit from the feedback if your paper got rejected to improve your work before the Phd. exam.
Publishing will give you confidence before the Phd. exam. It will also give the assessors some confidence that others have looked at the work and accept it. But they make their independent judgement.
If you did not publish, that does not mean you do not have novel contribution. But make sure from your supervisor it is acceptable for going to Phd. exam.


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What does it say about someone that accepts adding their name to a publication without doing any of the work?
I'm a government researcher in R&D and have spent my career doing and publishing my own work.  Some time ago I was asked to take over some research from another scientist that was being transferred.  She barely started the work and all I ended up receiving were some rough notes for background info - no actual analysis.  I told her that since it was her project at the start, I would add her name to the publication as a co-author.
I have since spent several months doing the research and analysis and am ready to submit the publication.  Since I did promise her to add her name, I did so fully expecting her to tell me to remove it since all the work was really mine - I didn't even use her notes.  All she did was thank me for adding it.
I guess I'm disappointed in her decision to keep her name on the publication.  Is that unethical on her part?

She created the foundation on which you built the paper, which might well constitute a sufficient contribution for authorship. Moreover, she may have accepted authorship under the believe that her notes were incorporated into the paper.

This question could be improved by being more explicit about what you are hoping to gain by knowing whether it is unethical. Are you asking that in order to take action, are you asking that to know more about academic authorship etiquette, or just to know more about human behavior?

No, I won't be taking action.  I just want someone else's viewpoint on whether or not she is being unethical or not.  That would depend on how I view her as a colleague in the future.  My viewpoint would stay with me.

This may depend on what field this is.  In some fields, it is standard practice for the director of the lab to be listed as the last author on all work done at that lab.

How does she know you didn't use her notes?

Related: Is it ethical for advisors to automatically coauthor papers?.

In some fields and journals, it's not uncommon to see footnotes in the list of authors which spell out the specific contribution of each, when you cannot infer it from the order of names. For instance, sometimes the first 2 authors have a footnote "these authors contributed equally". Have you checked whether there is a precedent for you to add such a footnote to her name? If so, you could ask her what to put in it.

Because she reviewed the paper she would know that I didn't use her rough notes , and I mean rough.  They were just scraps of points she gleaned from various references.  I knew the references very well already so there wasn't anything new there for me to use.  I've been doing this for 36 years, she for about 6, and I would never in my life consider adding my name to a paper in which I didn't have a significant contribution.  Hence my disappointment.

You knew the references quite well, but did she know that you already knew them? If you used them in the paper, she might have thought you got them from her notes, even if you actually didn't. Also, she might not have remembered exactly what was in the notes, in contrast to what she might have been thinking about and planning to put into the notes before she was transferred.

This looks to me like a rant with the goal of getting answers along: 'you are totally right, she is a terrible person'. Ask yourself another question: 'why have you offered something that you didn't want to give'? No one forced you to do this. You could have reviewed the work, mentioned that nothing was done and this is it.

Sorely tempted to ask what it says about someone who agrees to add someone's name to the publication as a co-author, then goes on the internet to complain about that person accepting.

Keeping her on doesn't cost you anything at all. Why worry about it? Maybe she contributed the initial idea, but if not, consider it a nice courtesy. Perhaps somebody will do the same for you one day.

Look, when I started the analysis I didn't realize how much effort it would take to complete it and that's why, at the initial stage, I suggested a co-authorship.  I didn't know how little she had done when she passed it to me.   "Salvador Dali" and Valorum, I'm not complaining nor am I angry and looking for internet sympathy.  I thought I knew this person well enough and like my original post stated:  "I guess I'm disappointed ...".  Scientific integrity is important to me, but I guess human nature and the desire to get ahead at any cost always wins out.

China has "scientific integrity" embedded into their culture; 'plagiarize' anything you want and forget about names. What you're talking about is literary authorship recorded for posterity, which outside of etymological linguistics, is useless to science. - With the information given, the only unethical thing to do would be for you to renege. If science was the only thing important to you, you wouldn't care whose names are on it.

No, it is certainly not unethical. You made an agreement at the beginning and you fulfilled it. She thanked you for your courtesy. All is well. The one, perhaps, contribution that she did make was to get you attached to the project idea, from which you will benefit. You are the primary author, in this case, of course.
There are many reasons for including someone on a paper and not all are benign, but I think this one is. I assume the other person is quite grateful, and maybe even a bit embarrassed. She may even not want to insult you by asking to be removed, since you had the earlier agreement.
But judging her ethics will get you nothing but trouble.

Someone must have had the original idea which became her background notes, it may have even been her idea, so it would be appropriate to still list her as a co-author.
It's not clear where the research idea came from, but also since you took over the research from her and told her that you would add her name to the publication it "costs" you little but gains you more to include her in the author list.
She may not take any action if you were to not include her, and the thankyou could be an expression of appreciation that you included her even though you carried the research through from idea to publication. Again, the long-term goodwill is worth it.

+1. The good will is worth it. Who knows whether the two will meet again professionally as they likely have similar interests. Good will aids good research.

It's a bit cyclical, but because she's an author on the paper, you should (must?) have her read the paper before you submit it.
I assume since she was once involved on the project, she would have an interest in editing the paper beyond rubber-stamping it. Therefore, you can have a meaningful editing round with her, which would increase how much of a contribution she had to the paper, which might make you feel better.
To address your question specifically, you said you didn't use her notes. While I'm somewhat skeptical you didn't look at them and therefore learned nothing at all from them, she doesn't know that (unless you sent her an odd email about how much you didn't use her notes), and so probably assumes she made an intellectual contribution and still deserves authorship. So no, I don't think she is behaving unethically.

See my comment above.  In our R&D lab we apply operational research principles to solve problems for our clients.  These rely heavily on statistical analysis.  She nor I originated the problem.  It was given to us by our client.  She did no analysis.  That was all left to me after she left.  I'm close to retirement so I'm not chasing after promotions any longer, but of course she is.

@Angus Oh, I see. Still, w/r/t to your other comment, I don't think it's really possible to glean from reading a paper whether or not you used her notes. That said, the more details you add, the more I would be willing to think she's playing the system a little bit to get a publication she doesn't really deserve.

In medicine, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) has defined the roles of authors, and who should be acknowledged.
I know you are in a different field, but I can imagine one still wants to follow these guidelines. In that case, she would not qualify for an authorship.
You have a different question: who is at fault, ethically? I would say both of you; I wouldn't have offered an authorship to people of whom it is clear they do not fulfil the criteria for authorship. If I were her, I would not have accepted the offer.
Maybe you could offer to acknowledge her instead?

The ICMJE guidelines are terrible, robbing a lot of people of getting any meaningful credit for their contributions; let's not encourage their spread.

@JackAidley Could you elaborate a bit more? Am I correct in assuming that you consider the alternative (i.e. acknowledgement) not "meaningful" credit? Why is that? Because acknowledgements aren't as easily gathered in a list as authorships? Trying to understand your point and learn something :-)

yes, I don't consider acknowledgements to be meaningful credit. They're a nice thing, that should be extended to people who have been helpful but not involved not used to credit people who were involved. The root problem is that authorship is a crude, frankly not-fit-for-purpose, means of crediting scientific work but the ICMJE guidelines in trying to remove gift and insubstantial authorship go too far in the opposite direction denying fair credit to people who played an important role in the work.


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How to write an effective but gentle reminder email to a journal editor?
I have received an acceptance email of my article from editor in August-2015 and I was told that my article  will be published in their issue of XXXXX 2015/2016. Meanwhile one issue of the journal is published in january-2016 without my article and the next issue is expected in May-2016. Now I am going to write a reminder email mentioning to consider my article for publication in the forthcoming issue. Please guide me or share some gentle format, so that I may be able to communicate with editor well in time.

Make it a question, not a reminder.
I see no particular reason to worry that your paper has been forgotten. It seems more likely just that yours is scheduled for the May issue (or later in the year) because there were enough earlier-submitted articles to fill up the January issue.
On the other hand, asking politely “Roughly when should I expect my paper to appear?” is a completely reasonable question — there are many reasons you might want to know it — and contains no implied criticism that an editor might take offence at.
And in case the editor has forgotten your paper, this will have the desired effect of a reminder anyway.

From many experiences, asking questions of this type as if I had forgotten something (instead of as if the other person forgot something) are always better received. "I can't seem to find the original acceptance email you sent me for [Acrticle XYZ] last year. Could you give me an idea which upcoming issue it will appear in?" is much more polite than "You said my paper would be published by now. Where is it?"

How about this :-)
Dear [Insert journal editor’s name]:
This is with regard to my/our accepted manuscript, [Insert manuscript reference number], titled “[Insert manuscript title],” submitted to your journal on [Insert date of submission].
We have not received an update regarding the publishing status of our manuscript. Could you let us know when we can expect notice regarding the time and the issue it will be published in?
Thank you for your time and consideration. We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
[Insert author name and correspondence details]

Of-course more feasible one.

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How important is the writing sample for PhD application in Political Economy
I'm planning to apply for US's PhD program in Political Economy, and a writing sample of maximum 20 pages is part of the application requirements. The problem is I don't think that I have any recent high-quality writing to submit. I didn't write a thesis for the B.S. as my university didn't have that kind of requirement. I've been working for an international research center, but most of my works are mostly applied econometrics and I didn't really get to do any writing.
Bottom line is my writing sample will most likely be the weakest link in my application. If so, how bad will it hurt my chance? Is there anyway to get around this?

Of course this can vary from one department to the next, but in the humanities, the writing sample is generally considered very important.
According to the Department of Politics at Virginia Tech,

Your writing sample is the most important part of your application.

Political science types are likely to weigh the writing sample more heavily than economics types, at least according to this political economist.
If you do not have a thesis, you should at least have a relevant term paper or similar paper from your coursework that you can use as a starting point. Your writing sample should demonstrate critical and analytical writing (not merely descriptive).

Your writing is important if you are going to political science department. However, if the department or the program is focused on the economy part enough, your math background can be more important. Also, keep in mind to use a writing sample that actually articulates a political theory argument if possible not just any writing sample.

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text:
Preface requirements concerning acknowledgement
I am curious to know what the preface requirements are for bachelor and master theses. Are you legally (or morally) required to use the full names of the people included in the acknowledgements?
Does anyone know?

I used the full names of people who provided help on my dissertation itself: the committee members and proofreaders.  I used first names only for supportive friends and family.  As far as I know, there is no legal requirement in the United States, and no moral requirement.

The acknowledgments part is the only place where you are completely free to write whatever you want. You are not legally or morally required to write anything unless you agreed to previously. Some funding entities, generally private companies may require you to do so (e.g. NVIDIA gives free GPUs to researchers with the condition they acknowledge NVIDIA in papers).
I've seen people in this site mentioning that they acknowledged God, a fictional dog and non-existent people. Just write what you want.

Thank you too for your feedback. Or, rather, your responses.

@Christopher However, note that is a good practice to acknowledge the people that actually helped you, such as your supervisor or colleagues. Don't burn bridges by not putting them there.

I did add the acknowledgements, I was just curious to the general requirements:)


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What does "pers. commun" stand for in academic papers?
I have encountered  "pers. commun." in some academic papers when referring to a source or reference . Like in :

Authors also made sure that they covered the range of self-focused and symptom-focused constructs (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2001, pers. commun.).
Attempts at using nutrient-solution culture for screening have been unsuccessful ( M.E. McDaniel, 1989, Texas A and M University, pers commun.).

What does it stand for?
I looked it up in some dictionaries but couldn't find anything.

It stands for "personal communication." It usually means that the paper is not (yet) publicly available, but, for example, the authors have been shown a draft and are citing that draft.

Or it could mean an email or letter that's not intended for publication.

@NoahSnyder, thanks. So it could be any online or offline personal communication, right?

As an aside, it can also be used to mean "data available to the authors but unpublished". I've seen a few papers where (Smith, pers. comm.) is used to cite information when Smith is a co-author. Unorthodox, but it works.

My favorite citation like this is "W. Thurston, personal communication", which appears in W. Thurston's PhD thesis...

As said by Thomas in a comment, it means personal communication.
Under this phrase, there can be any kind of communication: a discussion (in the university corridors, at a conference, before a couple of beers etc.), an email or whatever.
The communicated piece of information might be something already published, something that is going to be published, or something that will be never published but it is related to the communicator's experience.
For instance, while doing a certain research, I might stumble across some curious phenomenon of which I don't know the origin: the phenomenon might be totally secondary with respect to my research, but I'm curious and I ask someone else, maybe an expert in another field, the origin of this phenomenon. Then, while writing up a paper I might say: you see that bump over there in Figure 2? Well, it has nothing to do with what I'm saying here, but it's due to this and that, Jack told me (tacitly: I'm writing this in the paper because then you, reviewer, will not ask me: hey, what's that bump in Figure 2?)
In your examples, instead, the personal communications are really more related to the research described in the papers.

From "as explained to me personally by the Pope." Right down to "my barber told me" or "I mouthed off to my department chair and then got told."


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I regret publishing a sloppy conference paper
I have published two conference papers at one conference in physics with two other authors and I am the first author in both articles. And I am currently in the second year of my PhD Thesis and these were my first published papers at all.
I have trouble with one of those articles and I am constantly thinking about it. The positive thing about this paper (as well as for the second) is, that it is very interesting for my scientific community and also for the authorities for decision making about a political charged topic. I used a fancy method and the results are good.
Firstly, I was satisfied with this paper. I thought it its "just" a conference paper and spending to much time for writing, wouldn't pay off, because this paper doesn't even count for my PhD-Thesis. So, all in all I was very happy with presenting it at this conference.
The bad thing is, that I was very stressed, when I wrote it. The statistical analysis took a long time and I had not much time, due to caring for my newborn child. I finished writing and correcting this paper (with the other authors) shortly before submitting it. After the reviewer mentioned a very small revision (a more detailed abstract, spelling error or a hint for a better literature reference), I recognized that three sentences within the results had to be changed and also two or three sentences within the discussion. I fixed it, showed it to my supervisor (I don't know how carefully he read it) and now it is published.
After reading it again after some time and very often, I found some mistakes, especially in the parts which I fixed lately after the revision. At first I didn't realized them, but after reading it again and again, I found more and more: A typo as well as at least three grammar mistakes, which are in my opinion not that bad and I only recognized them by reading it a lot (two of them are even in the abstract), but that doesn't makes it better (I don't have an eye for grammar). In the corrected sentences in the discussion I partially used wordings which are more common to say, but uncommon to write in science. Because its my first publication I was more focused on writing things correctly, but after asking other people, I now think, that it is not so handsome and sloppy. There are some other sloppy wordings in other parts of the paper, but I think its not that big of a problem due to the proofreaders didn't complain, but the sum of the mistakes makes me feel very bad about this paper.
Another point is the discussion: The results are great, but the discussion could have been way more precise with a better interpretation, less focus on repeating the results and a stronger focus on other literature. After rethinking it, I would have done it quite differently.
All in all I regret publishing this paper and I fear that I am in my scientific community now known for bad writing style. And another problem is, it is forever available by Google Search and it could have a significant negative influence on my career, because everybody who writes my name in Google search, will find it very easily. I think many people don't differentiate between conference papers and journal papers.
Has anybody been in a similar situation or can you give me any advice for dealing with it? I think an errata for grammar mistakes wouldn't be justifiable.
By the way: The second conference paper has got a better style.

Nobody will think poorly of you for a few typos and awkward language in a paper written early in your career, especially if your later papers are well written.

As I tell my Ph.D. students, any document longer than 4 pages contains a typo.  (That's not strictly true, but very close.)  So don't worry about a few typos.  If your field has a standard place for posting documents (like the arXiv in my field, mathematics), then, as Laurent Duval suggested, prepare a new improved version of your paper and post it there.

Don't worry too much, typos are not errors at all. However, for the future, perhaps asking an english teacher and a peer to proofread the final version of the paper would help.

If we were judged by the first papers, there would be no researchers... My very first paper has a typo on the first word of the abstract...

I guess, every researcher starts with such errors and continually evolve with writing and more critical thinking. That is what research is for me.

I think typos are fine but technical mistakes are not good

There is one very easy answer to your problem.
Relax. Do nothing. It's fine.
Really. Your data is good, your results are interesting, people are reading your work, and you haven't found anything particularly wrong with your science. This is more than most of us can say about our first forays into publishing.
That being said, maybe you should work on how much you let small problems get to you if you want to survive in academia. If grammar errors and awkward formulations in a published paper already make you be unable to sleep, I worry that the real setbacks that characterise academic work (experiments that are not working out, unjustly rejected papers, dozens and dozens of faculty applications that you never hear back on, ...) will do to you.

+1 Whoever gets hung up on really few typos is not worth worrying about. I regularly review papers with massive mistakes in the math, probably not fatal ones, but incredibly tedious to read because you have to guess what the correct statement should be. I completely agree with "Relax. It's fine." Good one @xLeitix, I'll keep that for other opportunities, too...

Thanks for your comments, xLeitix and Captain Emacs! You are right. There are enough other reasons in academia to worry about than typos. Nevertheless, I will try to end my analysis next time earlier, to invest more time in proofreading.

I have felt the same on my first conference paper. I see two main options:

publish (make public) a kind of "full" erratum, the paper as you wish it should have been written (for typos and grammar), for instance on your website, or on a preprint hosting service. Make it clear in the paper that it is an improved or corrected  version of the published conference paper (forr instance, highlight the modifications), shared for the sake of readers.
perhaps more useful for your thesis: write a journal paper with more details and discussion, updated references, using your experience. Then you can differ much more from the original paper. You might have more feedback from the reviewers, because quite often, conference papers are reviewed in a fastest way than for journals. For these reviews, you can get more improvement venues. This is why, in many domains, there is a differentiation between conference and journal papers.

Thanks for the comment! Due to the fact that I published it in my native language (not English), the chances are high to publish it in an international Journal.

@Ole What you can expect in a scientific career is a steady improvement of your skills. Keep that experience as a beacon, I am sure you will remember it each time you write a new paper.

Don't worry about it.  Maybe when you are 65, and a world-famous scientist, and you publish your "collected works", you can include a revised version of this paper.  But until then, go forward and don't worry about the past.

If you contribute to your community as a reviewer you will quickly gain some needed perspective.  The average quality of conference papers is really not very high.  This is why they typically don't count as publications.  The purpose is to communicate recent/ongoing research results to your community and often time constraints require that these documents be less polished than archival publications.  That's perfectly alright.
View these early publications for what they are and don't stress because they're not perfect.  Conference papers seldom are and shouldn't be expected to be.


text:
Transferring to a new PhD program
Last year, I applied to several astronomy PhD programs in the United States, and ended up attending a certain institution with a pretty good reputation in the field. However, in the eight months since I've applied, I've come to realize that this is not the discipline I wish to pursue for a career for a variety of reasons. Instead, I would like to pursue the field of condensed matter physics, which has many more applications. Unfortunately, these two fields are different enough that they have two separate programs at many universities, including the one I am currently enrolled in.
To make this career goal attainable, I thus need to transfer to a different PhD program. If I were to apply to my own university again, I would have no competitive advantage from what I have heard. So far, I've identified around ten different programs where I could see myself ending up. I graduated summa cum laude from my undergrad institution with a major relevant to both fields, have significant research experience (albeit in my old subject area rather than my new one), and my general and subject GRE scores are great as well. The only issue is transferring itself. Would potential institutions look unfavorably on my application since I am already in a grad program elsewhere? Is my plan feasible?
Any information/advice would be greatly appreciated!

I doubt that it would have any effect. People learn and change and others recognize that. However, the only way to know is to actually apply, or at least make contact with some of the other universities.
You will want to be able to explain your reasons, of course, and be pretty sure you aren't making a mistake by changing.
But you don't have to abandon your current studies to explore other opportunities. Find and contact a professor or two in the new discipline and ask them if you would be a good candidate in their program, or even working under their direction. You could also just make application a few places.
However, if you are currently funded, and/or other people are depending on your research to complement theirs, you will need to deal with the consequences of that so that you don't put yourself or others at a disadvantage.
But, as you are early in your studies, I don't really see much of a problem. Just ask at the institutions you are considering.


text:
When are tenure-track positions in the social sciences usually announced in Canada?
I am ABD (All but Dissertation), and I want to start applying for TT jobs in my field. Probably for Fall 2024 or Winter 2025. When are these advertised?

There’s no uniform date although the plurality of ads get out in early Fall closing in December or early January. However some schools will advertise as late as April for a September start.