text:
Why is B or B− the minimum passing grade for most graduate courses in US?
I was recently told that in many schools in the US (maybe other countries too), the minimum grade for a graduate course is B or B−. Meaning that B is considered as a passing score. I would like to know whether this is true. Why should it be the case? Does this mean that grading in graduate school is easier?

Easier than what?  Are you saying you think a B is too low to count as a passing grade, or that it is very high and even lower grades should also count?

Easier than Undergraduate grading where the lowest grade is F and passing is C- or C depend on the university. I am thinking B is a high grade to be considered as a passing grade so does that mean there is no C, D or F in graduate schools?

Relevant PhD comic

I can't speak for every grad program in every school, but at the end of my program myself and most of my cohort got together for a party.  Grades came up and we discovered that pretty much everyone in the cohort was given an A for every class, the WORST anyone got was a B in two classes over the course of the 2+ year program.  Of course, it's possible someone had lower and didn't want to be honest about it, and we were also the set of students who were still LEFT at the end, but... I personally felt grading was easier.  I had a 3.4 GPA in undergrad, 4.0 in grad school.

I'd also say in my experience grad-level professors / teachers don't seem to CARE about grades as much as undergrad professors / teachers.  For the most part they care that you are there doing what needs to be done, and most people in grad school are there paying out of their own pockets (grants aside) to do what needs to be done.  It's a bit tougher to get into grad school as well, so the sort of lazy parents paying for everything party all the time undergrads get filtered out.  A bit.

A general caveat to the comments and answers who are saying that grades do not matter much in graduate school: this is very true in the sciences. In the humanities, this is not necessarily the case and there is a great deal more importance placed on getting As. At my university students, humanities students are advised to drop the program if the majority if they get a B into their second year.
Additionally, graduate school is like always doing coursework in your major. Undergrad programs can require a C/B- or better in core major classes to maintain standing.

In some sense grading may be "easier", but it's also just that the effective grading range is compressed, and that grades per se matter less than in undergraduate classes.
In many graduate programs, getting a grade lower than B (or even A-) is considered a warning that you need to seriously knuckle down and start doing better.  To take a random example, UIUC has a campuswide minimum GPA of 2.75 (B-), but most departments set higher minimums (as high as 3.25, or B+) Here's a relevant quote from an old grad school blog post:

My first semester in grad school, my M.A. advisor laid it out for to me: "If you get a B in a grad school class, you should ask the professor whether you should consider dropping out of the program. If you get a C, don't bother asking."

What this means is that the range of grades in grad school is effectively compressed, going from A to C instead of A to F.  Getting a C in a grad school class is, in many cases, practically equivalent to getting an F in an undergraduate class.  This grade inflation probably has historical roots in a sort of academic politeness in which it became considered more and more insulting or embarrassing to give someone low grades.
However, it's not as significant as it may seem, because grades are typically much less important in grad school than in undergrad.  In grad school (especially PhD programs) you are working much more closely with faculty and they monitor your progress at a much finer grain.  It's not just about getting a good grade, but about conducting research, making progress on your degree milestones (e.g., writing an MA thesis or PhD dissertation), and so forth.
In grad school, your class grades are meant to be not just an evaluation of your performance in that class, but a signal as to whether you are developing the skills necessary to succeed in the program as a whole.  It would be unusual (probably unthinkable) for a grad program to suddenly give someone the boot simply because their GPA dropped too low; rather, a series of low grades will lead to increasing concern from the faculty, with meetings, emails, etc., gradually escalating from "Is everything ok?" to "You need to start working harder" to "Get your act together or else".
I've known grad students who received multiple grades in the B range, and this is what happened to them; they were subjected to increasing pressure from the faculty, with increasingly more explicit suggestions that they could be kicked out of the program if they didn't improve their performance.
That said, it is true that in some cases grading in grad school can be "easier" than in undergrad.  My personal experience has been that in some cases faculty members are willing to be somewhat more flexible on grades as related to the actual course content, as long as they are satisfied that you got what you personally needed from the class.  For instance, if you are specializing in Topic X and you take a requred class in Topic Y intended to broaden your background, the professor may give you an A even if your paper in the class is only adequate, if the professor understands that that is not your specialization and you don't need to fully master it in order to succeed.  The flip side of this is that if you take a class in Topic X (your specialty), the professor may hold you to a far more exacting standard, knowing that you really must be on top of that material.

This is really on point. One comment: every grade does come from an individual professor in the context of an individual course, which may be absolutely critical to the student's future work but also may not. If you get a C, I wouldn't bother asking the professor what she thought of your performance: clearly she thought it was miserably poor. Just because one professor thinks you suck does not necessarily mean you should drop out of a program.

@PeteL.Clark Though one addendum comment to your comment (in case anyone misreads it), two Cs from different professors means it's no longer them, it's you.

I can tell you for a fact that people can get worse grades than B- in graduate courses.  People can even fail in graduate courses.  It happens pretty rarely, though, because the population of students in a graduate course are highly selected.
If you read other questions on this site, you'll see that graduate school admission is a strong filter: most people need to be both excellent and a little bit lucky to get in, because there are so many excellent students who want to go to grad school.  That means most grad students are smart, hard-working, and ambitious enough to put in the work to deserve the grade.  As for undergraduates in graduate-level courses: if they weren't willing and able to put in the work, why wouldn't they choose one of the easier options?  Moreover, most schools allow students to drop a course without penalty early in the semester, and the people doing poorly are the ones likely to drop.
Now, grade inflation can certainly happen.  But by the time you're dealing with graduate courses, usually the class is pretty much full of people who want to be there and are capable of making the grade.

I do not agree since students in the class come from different background and some of them know much more than others therefore this still can make a pretty wide curve. My question was why the very last person in the class receives B or B- and he/she is afraid that with this grade his funding is terminated.

@user59419 Why do you assume that somebody with the appropriate pre-requisites can't learn a B- worth of material?

@user59419 And as for why the person might be worried: if it's a subject critical to their research, even getting less than an A is a very bad sign that they may be unable to do the research in their plan.

@user59419 Regardless of the letter of the grade, the "very last person in the class" is in an unenviable position in a competitive field.

Part of the answer is in disputing some assumptions in the question, as remarked upon to some degree in the other answers. That is, for one thing, graduate admissions are most often selective enough so that every grad student is probably able to do the work at a level that would, indeed, perhaps be a "B+" in "grading on a curve", if the population in the course were far less selective than it ... in fact... is. This is in contrast to the common conduct of undergrad courses, especially lower-division ones, where there is often no pre-filtering at all. The students self-select, and their own judgement may be flawed.
But then why might a "B+" be considered "a problem"? What is the "problem" if it's not "failure"? Well, it's not-at-all "failure" by undergrad standards, but that standard is far, far too weak for an apprentice professional. Unlike undergrad courses, where a "C+" may fulfill "a requirement", but absolutely not indicate competence, grad students need to be more-genuinely competent. A "B+" is an indication of some gaps in competence.
So, yes, those undergrad "C+"s are not evidence of "sufficient competence", at all. Indeed, that's why people who get that minimal "C+" in calc I invariably have terrible trouble in calc II, etc. The primary reason such grades are tolerated at all is that, in fact, much of the function of lower-division undergrad math is filtering, so that content mastery is nearly irrelevant in many cases.
Again, most often, grad students are not being filtered very much after admission, so the issue is genuine content mastery, not "getting by".

I think the idea is simply that people who get into graduate programs must have gotten A's or B's in nearly all of their undergraduate courses.  So if graduate courses are graded in the same way as undergraduate courses, it makes sense that most of the students in them should get A's or B's.  Meanwhile, since a C in an undergraduate course would be a strong strike against you for admission to grad school, it is also a strike against your continued enrollment in a graduate program.

It definitely depends on the program of study...I believe the grading system is harsher for people who study something career specific---AKA nursing, physical therapy, Occupational therapy, med school, law school, etc..These programs tend to have a lot more drop outs/people who are unable to maintain the 3.0 minimum...People who study something like a Phd in Sociology, philosophy, or an M.S in Biology usually get higher grades because these programs tend to put less emphasis on passing tests and put more emphasis on producing research... Which is very different from lets say law school, where there is a huge emphasis on grades and rankings...


text:
Do I need to cite this information?
In an introduction to my paper I have given a basic introduction to Machine learning and how an investigation is conducted.
None of the information is really specific to any source - it’s basically an account of the basic terms, ideas and processes used by anyone doing a machine learning investigation.

Does https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/159078/63475 help answer your question?

@BryanKrause It helps somewhat. Even though it’s a basic introduction (talks about neural networks, basic training idea, data splitting, feature selection and assessing network performance in about 2 pages) I still thought to include it as it was a summer project and I was new to the topic.

Yeah, citation norms (and relevant information) vary quite a bit between research papers to be published for the public, and papers you are writing for a class project. If the latter, what matters most is your instructor's expectations, which we can guess at but not know, only your instructor will know for sure.

@BryanKrause I intend to upload it to arXiv if that makes a difference?

Then personally I'd go with what I wrote in the answer to the linked question: Either you refer to things "common knowledge" - in that case, really not much need to cite but also no reason to put in your paper as its own section, or you refer to things "not common knowledge" and you provide citations.

In these circumstances, I rarely rely on the notion that something is "common knowledge" unless it really is so well known as to be, as legal writers describe it, "notorious" (e.g., the fact that Wednesday follows Tuesday). It is easy for academic writers to forget what it is like to be ignorant (not stupid ... just ignorant of certain facts) and it is of very low cost to insert a parenthetical statement (or footnote) that says, "For a brief introduction to the main concepts of XXX, see for example, Smith and Jones, 1988; a more detailed exposition can be found in Desert & Waste, 2024)".
The reader who doesn't need the reference will just skip over it; others will be immensely grateful. If your audience is the body of your peers, or a class tutor, it will still not go amiss.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

sort: votes


text:
While doing a double masters, is my Bachelor's GPA being looked or my masters?
Say I do a masters in Nepal in data science but want to pursue masters in cybersecurity in USA. I've heard that my bachelor's GPA will be taken as my reference GPA rather than my master's GPA. Where can I verify this information?

Graduate admissions in the US will look at all of your GPAs from every program you've attended and consider the whole picture. There is no one "reference GPA" and no explicit formula for admissions for the majority of programs in the US.

I thought it was automated like filtering resumes.

@barnyard9 There is sometimes a specified lower limit to prevent applicants from wasting their time applying to programs that definitely won't be accepted. If you exceed that limit with one of your degrees but not the other you can ask the program, but to be blunt if you're in that category your chances of admission are likely very low.

Also keep in mind that masters programs in the US will expect you to pay for the tuition yourself; there's almost no funding available for masters students.

I'm talking about public universities.

@barnyard9 Yes, you pay tuition at US public universities. Especially international students.

Yeah studying isn't free, you don't need to shout about that.

Okay; I mention it because people familiar with other systems may be surprised how much students are expected to pay in the US.

That's good. Even I had delusions that you can study with scholarships in the USA in my earlier life. While that might be true for exceptional students to some extent, it's not the norm. You're doing good by letting people prepared for the worst.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
How to select problems to solve while self-studying university computer science textbooks?
How to read textbooks like you listen a lecture?
Best way to read academic/scientific books
What are some good techniques for reading a textbook?
How do I improve my ability to learn?
I read all these answers and it seems like the best idea is to solve problems. But issue with self-studying problems is that some problems are too easy whereas some are/might be too difficult.
For example, the data structures book by lipschultz contains lots of problems, but most of the unsolved  problems there are very easy. And I don't know if the other problems there are made for my level.
How to select a book for unsolved problems(I mean those that have an answer but not a solution i.e not examples but unsolved problems with an answer).
How to differentiate between such problems? How to get streamlined set of problems that you know are not challenging enough to make you quit reading but challenging enough to push your limits?

First you need to find a challenging book. I can't help you with anything modern (retired now), but The Science of Programming by David Gries is an excellent source of problems as well as an excellent source of ideas about structuring and creating programs. The book can probably be found in most academic libraries if you find it expensive. I found that book to be extremely valuable in my learning and retain my copy over many (many) years.
In most textbooks the order of problems generally follows the order of the exposition in a chapter. Not always, but it is normal. It is also fairly common to "pair" exercises with an even numbered problem requiring similar thought processes to the preceding odd numbers one. So, if you start with the even numbered problems you will do about half of the exercises but most likely cover the main ideas.
Note, however, that a book with "solved" problems may not be an advantage if it leads you to the conclusion that reading a solution is the same thing for learning as creating it without prompts.
There is a deeper issue for self study, however. You might be able to reach a "solution" to a problem with a garbage program. If you want to advance in CS then you need, among other things, to be able to create elegant programs, not just quick & dirty ones. That normally requires feedback on your efforts which is harder to obtain outside a structured classroom.
One possible solution is to find another person with a similar need and work together in learning. Decide on a problem to solve and then each of you do it independently and then share your solutions. Follow that up with a discussion of the good & bad parts of your solutions.
But any sort of feedback on the quality of your programs is valuable. Maybe even essential.


text:
What to do with students who kissed each other in the class?
Two student just kissed each other, in public, in front of the other students and me (as the lecturer), in class!
Should I report the case to the administration?!
What am I supposed to do?
I'm a tenured female lecturer, at an american university.

What country are you? Are you a tenured professor? Your question is very vague in its original form.

I'm a tenured female lecturer, at an american university...

Then why can't you just tell the two students a simple: "Do not do that in my class"? Why do you need to involve the administration into that?

Because I would not like see the similar thing in my class, again... Is such simple notifying really prohibitive?!

If you see something in your class that you do not like, first you must tell the students off in an affirmative, strong tone. If they do not behave after that, then you can find ways to escalate. Why do you assume that they will repeat it, even after you reprimand them?

If you are worried about this being a problem with other students at a different time, put something in your syllabus for next semester noting that PDAs will not be permitted in your class. It's possible it will happen again, but then you can specifically say that the broke a rule they should have been aware of. In general though, I doubt it will be an issue if you just tell them not to do that again.

In most cultures, a brief kiss (a peck on the lips) - assuming that's what happened here - won't be considered terrifying or inappropriate. In the prudish US you might hear "Get a room!", but I would find it against the spirit of Western free expression (certainly under attack by left and right) to have formal rules against a brief kiss. For me the question is more if one should be allowed to do anything formally against a kiss, and I say no. What's next - no mini skirts? If you don't like it, make a humorous remark.

I'm with @gnometorule -- where would one draw the line if a simple kiss is considered worth alerting the authorities about?

Can you say a bit more about what was inappropriate about the kissing? As @WolfgangBangerth said, in the US minor public displays of affection between adults, including kissing, are not unusual nor necessarily inappropriate. It sounds like we're missing a good deal of context about why this bothers you so much. Also, you mention that you're female, and honestly I think that's a bit inappropriate, as it is completely irrelevant to what your reaction should be. Overall, the question in its present form makes it sound like you are grossly overreacting to a completely benign incident, which ...

... probably explains why the question was voted down by several people. But we'll only know for sure once you add more details.

I'm not at all convinced that this was not a very effective act of trolling. Can any of you imagine reporting a classroom kiss up the chain of authority? I thought at first maybe this question was from a foreign university with very different standards for public behavior. But in the US? It's ridiculous and I don't really understand how someone could be a tenured lecturer and not realize that.

Honestly when I read the title I was expecting this to be a question from someone working in some horrible little repressive theocracy somewhere. But no, apparently it's the US.
Why does it bother you so much? People kissing isn't scandalous or terrible.

I recommend calling the vice squad and burning them on the stake. Always remember the most important part of being offended: "Their rights end where my feelings begin!"

(Assuming that the kiss was worth noticing: personally, I wouldn't mind) What do you do with, e.g., students who chit-chat in the classroom? With those who play with the phone? With those who look at Youtube videos? With those who eat spreading food everywhere? With those who arrive late giving high fives to their friends?
Do the same.

As I'm sure you're aware, kissing in public is an entirely acceptable part of American culture. It happens at the bus stop, in the restaurant, in movies, on TV, and pretty much everywhere else where people can see you. In itself, it isn't a big deal, and nobody feels offended by it.
It becomes a distraction when it either happens at a time where it's in appropriate (e.g., during a quiet exam) or in a way that makes it inappropriate (e.g., a couple french kissing for an extended period of time in a fancy restaurant) or if the norms within your institutions are different from those elsewhere (e.g., in a strictly Christian college). Your question does not specify whether either was the case. If so, you are within your right to ask the students to not do it in the future. But if it was a peck on the lips somewhere in row 3 during class, or someone hugging and kissing during the break between classes, I don't think that that goes outside the norms of American culture. You can of course put something into your syllabus, or call out the students, but the best you're likely going to achieve this way is to come over as prudish. That's not likely what you're going for. If the students themselves feel distracted or think it goes beyond reasonable bounds, they will feel free to police themselves.

Talk to the students involved privately.  (E-mail them, if necessary, to set up an appointment.)  Ask them to refrain from over-the-top displays of affection during class.  Once you have talked to them, make a concise announcement to the whole class that you do not want to see that kind of display during class (although it may be best not to refer specifically to the event that happened, so as not to embarrass the student involved).  In the future, have more detailed notes in your syllabus about what kind of behavior you consider inappropriate for the classroom.

Only because one lecturer considers something inappropriate, it shouldn't be forbidden by simply outlining it in the syllabus.

A lecturer needs to decide what behavior they consider too distracting or inappropriate in the classroom.  Barring students from public displays of affection is perfectly reasonable, just like barring students from eating in class.  I personally have never felt the need to forbid either of them in my classes, but obviously the questioner found the kissing incident to be disruptive.

I think we shouldn't encourage trying to suppress behavior that I, like apparently you, find possibly out of place (eating, a peck, ...), but well within the range of normal behavior of young people in a Western culture; hence my comment. At least I would add that you should write it in the syllabus as "I would appreciate if you refrain from ...", putting adherence to the audience, while expressing personal discomfort with some actions.

@gnometorule I completely disagree. As the professor you are able to set the rules how you want as long as they do not discriminate and they are reasonable. I don't allow people to have smartphones on their desk because I see them distract students and that distracts me. Another professor might not care, and that is their prerogative. If these students aren't able to follow a simple rule like "no eating" or "no kissing" then they aren't mature enough to be in a college classroom at all. You don't have to be mean about it, just mention it and only take further action if that doesn't help.

concise announcement to the whole class ... (although it may be best not to refer specifically to the event that happened  so as not to embarrass the student involved). If there are only a few students that have kissed in class - I can name only one couple in any of my classes - this may be impossible. Second note, I would keep in mind that this could reflect badly in student evaluations (all students) if one comes off to prudish/authoritarian

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
Shall I explain to grad school admissions that 'the first year didn't count' (UK)?
I am considering applying for US PhD Program. In the UK, at many unis the first year does not count towards degree classification. Is this known in the US? Will they be wondering why I stated I have X %, but they calculate Y % ? Shall I explain to grad school admissions that 'the first year didn't count' towards my degree classification?

This needs more explanation. Why didn't it count? Is it a special case? Is it a regional thing that schools you are applying to may not know about?

The schools you're applying to may decide that your first year "counts", even though the school at which you spent that year does not.

For the benefit of non UK members, the first year marks of a degree at a UK university is not used for calculating a student's final grade. The only requirement to continue on the degree is achieve at least 40%. It is therefore not uncommon for students to achieve marks in their first year which do not reflect their full abilities, and while it does not affect their grades it can affect how future employer or post graduate admissions view their application!
If this is the case you should address this in your personal statement. Tell them how you gained a new perspective and work ethic after your first year at university and demonstrate this with your improved results in your subsequent years along with appropriate participation in university clubs and societies.
If however your first year marks are consistent with your subsequent years, there is no need to mention it. Your application is about you as a potential student, not about explaining the intricacies of UK grade calculations.
Edit: The reasoning behind only requiring a mark of 40% for the first year is to allow students some adjustment to a more independent study style and also to give young adults entering university the freedom to have new life experiences outside of academia. The prevalent philosophy at UK institutions is that academic achievement is not the only goal of attending university (though it is obviously still important!)
Since the progression of students enrolled on a degree is decided on a department by department basis its impossible to find a single decree stating this how all UK universities operate it is by far how the majority work. Provided below are links to progression guidance from 2 UK universities, stating that only pass marks (40%) are required and that this mark will not be used to calculate degree classifications.
University of York Progression, University of Durham Progression

Would you please provide more info (or link) about the first year marks of a degree at a UK university is not used for calculating a student's final grade? Thanks.

Thank for the explanation. As you said, "impossible to find a single decree stating this how all UK universities operate it is by far how the majority work", obviously the OP needs to explain to us what he is asking and also he needs to explain to the school he is applying to since  not necessarily all UK universities operate the same way.

This is not true at all UK universities, e.g. the first year counts at Imperial College

Interesting, thanks for explanation. It reminds me of the MIT system where you can take courses as Pass/No Record, but here you have a record... but it doesn't really matter? I think in this case it should for sure should be mentioned in the personal statement, but people in the US would only buy it if it's clear your low grades were due to experimenting (i.e. many extra/hard courses or a side job). If it's because you knew that those grades didn't matter so you just partied around, no one will care if you say "but those didn't matter".

I've served on a PhD admissions committee as a student member, and we considered many different kinds of extenuating factors that might explain low GPA. That committee would certainly have appreciated the info. I would mention it, being careful to frame it in a way that portrays myself as a successful future researcher.
The concern of a PhD admissions committee is primarily, "Will this individual successfully complete our program?" and secondary, "Will they be a leader in their field of research after completing our program?" What you do not want to do is imply that you blew off the entire year because you didn't have grades to motivate you. No grad school wants someone who's primarily motivated by grades. Even if your PhD program puts emphasis on grades in the program (mine doesn't, but I think the more STEM fields might), you won't have grades to motivate you after you complete the degree.
So mention it, but tell a valid story--something like:

"I've always been more concerned about learning than grades, although grades are important. In the UK they do _____, and this was ideal for me because I could get settled and embrace all the learning opportunities of my university without having to worry too much about a summative assessment. [Give an example of something valuable you learned that first year.] So I can understand your need to look at grades, but I'd point out that grades weren't my primary concern my first year because of the UK system, and that my GPA after that point was _____.

I don't think this feature of UK higher ed is well known in the US.

thanks a lot. do you think it is even worth mentioning if my grades aren't too bad? I asked my supervisor about it, because I had some health issues etc. and she said to just not mention anything.

@Chris Doyle Depends on how not-bad is "not too bad." If you feel like you otherwise have a strong application and it shouldn't be an issue, then I wouldn't worry about it. You can always mention it in passing in the phone interview (if you have one). I don't think it's a problem to mention it if you want to.

authors: Алексей Смирнов

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
How to use Microsoft Word for formatting references according to ACM (and others) guidelines
It is commonly known that using LaTeX is the best option for formatting a scientific paper (including references). I know.
But recent versions of Microsoft Word use a quite interesting reference management system (see this video for a demo). However this system only include few formatting styles, e.g. APA, IEEE, ISO, etc...
Is there a way to "install" a new style, to get reference formatted as required by ACM journals (and, possibly, as required by any other scientific association, journal or conference guidelines)?

At this link there is an interesting tutorial that explains how to use Microsoft Word for formatting references in any style.
Below I summarize the salient parts.
First of all, we need to download some additional formatting styles, and we can found some of them at this link. Here, we will find a .zip file containing several .xsl files, which represent the formatting styles used by MS Word.
What we need to do is to copy those .xsl (all of them or just the ones we want to use) in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\Bibliography\Style. Actually this directory can vary according to the MS Office version or the system architecture (32-bit or 64-bit). However if you look at the main Office directory, the Style directory should be easy to find.
Then you just need to close MS Word and reopen it. And you will find all this additional formatting styles available in the dropdown box, under the Reference tab.
EDIT: For some Office version (I had this issue with Microsoft Office 2013, installed on Windows 8.1), you will probably need to copy the citation style (.xsl files) in
C:\Users\<YourUserName>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Bibliography\Styles, as explained in this website.

Another option is to use a citation manager that has a Word plugin. RefWorks and Zotero both do.

I recently tried the one provided by Mendeley, and it worked really well!


text:
Do abstracting journals still exist (in the natural sciences)?
As of this writing, the (APS’s information for authors example) states:

abstracts are reprinted in abstracting journals

The style guide for Reviews of Modern Physics (by the same publisher) states:

[The abstract] will also be published separately from the article in at least one abstract journal.

Now, in my reality, abstracting journals are a curious thing of the past and were made obsolete by the Internet.
Apparently they still exist in the social sciences¹², but I fail to find any in physics or any field sufficiently close to it that it would contain abstracts from a physics journal.
I am curious: Do abstracting journals still exist (in the natural sciences) or are the quoted passages a historical relic?
To clarify, I am not interested in journals that have gone the way of the times and morphed into online databases. I am interested in journals that are available in print or at least are in a format that could be straightforwardly printed.

Not a science, but Mathscinet and zbMath are still both alive and well - they have morphed into online databases but still publish reviews of every mathematics paper.

@AlexanderWoo For an example of an abstracting journal in a natural science  that has morphed into a database there is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_Abstracts

@Anyon: That brings up an important distinction. I clarified that I am not interested in such cases. In fact, online databases are the reason why I presume that classical abstract journals have died.

@Wrzlprmft - most journals are pretty much just online databases now, with a thin veneer of ‘issues’ overlaid on top. Making a clunky printed abstract journal into a useful database should not be held against them.

@JonCuster: Making a clunky printed abstract journal into a useful database should not be held against them. – Absolutely. I am not interested in true™ abstracting journals because I consider them to be a great thing to have nowadays. I am interested because of the quotes in question, and those mention abstracting journals, not online databases. (Moreover, they use these as arguments against citations in abstracts, which are much less of a problem when you have an Internet where you can just follow a link.)

While not exactly the same as abstracting journals, something very similar exists in mathematics: Mathematical Reviews and Zentralblatt. They publish either abstracts of math papers or (sometimes informative) reviews of math papers and books. In some cases, reviewers even find mistakes in papers that they review and warn readers about these.

Also, in Russian, there is Реферативный журнал which serves a similar purpose covering many areas of science, including math, physics, computer science.

Can you provide some more details on these cases, in particular for Реферативный журнал? Are they available in print (or a similar format)? What is Реферативный журнал similar to, an abstracting journal or MR/Zentralblatt? Does it publish abstracts?

@Wrzlprmft Yes, it exists in both print and electronic form. Yes, it is similar to MR/ZBL: Mostly what it publishes are just abstracts, but sometimes (or, rather, seldom) reviews. I know at least one instance (long time ago) when a reviewer spotted a mistake in a book under review.


text:
Am I taking the Right steps at Switching from Geoinformatics Bsc to Information Technology Msc?
I am a Bsc degree holder in Geoinformatics from Nigeria intending to apply for Msc in Information Technology program in Germany, looking at the prerequisite its entirely a different ball game. So I decided to take some training for IT certificate courses like Network+, Cyber Ethical Hacking (CEH) and hoping to do Cisco certified Network Association (CCNA) and even planing on learning German language soon.
My question is will these certification acquisition give me a boost for admission to study Information Technology in Germany or anywhere in the UK.

Related: http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/16013/what-is-the-best-way-to-take-missing-courses-before-applying-to-ms/18194

This heavily depends on the program you are applying for. Usually (in Germany) they require you to have an equivalent Bachelor to what they offer as Bachelor in the field, i.e., Information Technology in your case. Whether a Bachelor is equivalent is typically decided case by case. The whole procedure and detailed requirements are described in the Zugangsordnung of the faculty.
Since you are a student from a non-EU country there are most likely more requirements you need to fulfill, e.g., assessment of the German university entrance qualification, language requirements, visa, etc. You should get in contact with the international office of the university as soon as possible.


text:
Should I referee for MDPI journal Mathematics?
As a general rule, when I receive a request to referee a paper from a journal, I do my best to accept it unless I have a strong reason not to. One possible reason is that the journal in question is predatory or otherwise morally objectionable (emphatically, this does not include rigorous journals which are just not particularly strong). Usually, it's easy enough to tell a predatory journal from a legitimate one, and a moderate amount of googling tends to resolve most remaining cases. However, I've just run into an edge case I find difficult to resolve, and I was hoping that people wiser than me have already done their due diligence and can share the result.
I'm specifically interested in the MDPI journal Mathematics. It definitely seems to be a real journal publishing papers that are not obviously nonsense and include DOIs. For what it's worth, it even seems to be open access. They have a Wikipedia page, which does not outright call the journal predatory, although it has a section on "Evaluation and controversies" which seems to be longer than all the other material combined. The paper which I received seems to correspond quite well with my fields of research, which is usually quite a good sign, but the deadline sounds unreasonably short.
Any advice would be appreciated!

https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/192222/reviewing-papers-for-mdpi-general-feeling-as-a-reviewer Does this answer your question? Or this https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/8959/should-i-accept-review-requests-from-dubious-journals

It does, thank you! And apologies for my poor search abilities :)

There's also the question of Is MDPI a reputable Academic Publisher?

"the deadline sounds unreasonably short" - it's up to you whether you're willing to do it in that time frame or not. I personally will as a matter of principle not prioritise review jobs just because they come with tighter deadlines than others. Furthermore, one could interpret the tight deadline as an implicit admission that they don't want a quality review as quality takes time. In my view this reflects badly on the journal, but then many journals also non-MDPI do this these days.

As a mathematician, I do not consider MDPI to be a serious publisher and would not accept referee requests from them. Their reputation varies field to field, but they are looked at pretty unfavorably in math.

The only time I reviewed for a MDPI journal (not Mathematics) they ignored my reviews/concerns and accepted the paper without asking the authors to reply to my comments. Since then, I am very dubious  about the quality of the peer review in MDPI.

"it even seems to be open access" - you write that as if it was an indication against being predatory. Quite the opposite, I would say. Predatory journals usually are open access because that's the only way they can earn money, as no reasonable librarian would pay for a subscription of a predatory journal. Also, it's the fact that open-access journals earn money purely based on the number of accepted articles, and not their quality, which gives them an incentive to "skip" peer review and accept almost everything.

Of course, while most predatory journals are open access, this does not mean most open access journals are predatory. But, Bayes rule. Either way, being open access is certainly no indication against being predatory.

Few on their editorial board are reputable mathematicians. I would agree to requests from editors whose names I recognize and whose work I respect and decline the rest of requests.

This is not really an answer to the question asked, but it provides background. For context I'm currently employed at MDPI.

MDPI is not predatory in the traditional sense of the word (i.e. does not conduct peer review and accepts everything). I don't believe there's anyone that seriously disputes this.
MDPI is also not predatory in the sense that they'll take your review and hide it. You can expect your review to be shown to the authors and a response solicited. Exception applies if your review is unacceptable, e.g. if it contains personal attacks.
MDPI is arguably predatory under an array of other definitions, however. See the answers I wrote to the linked question above for more. (Someday I hope to be able to write even more, but today is not that day.)
It is standard procedure to request reviews in 10 days, but note the review invitation says if you need more time, just ask for it. I don't work for Mathematics, but for the journals I handle, standard procedure is to approve requests for up to 2 weeks (more than that and we look for other reviewers, unless we are struggling with that and/or you are an exceptionally appropriate reviewer for the paper and/or the academic editor explicitly requested you as a reviewer).
If you're wondering, the idea behind the very-short review time is that, in theory, it does not take two weeks of non-stop work to review a paper. (I'm told the review culture is different in mathematics, but the people who came up with this don't work in mathematics, so they're unaware.) So the short review time is allegedly more of a "Are you free to provide a quick review? If not we'll ask someone else" question.
The fact that the paper is within your expertise indicates the editor who sent the invitation did a good job, which makes me a little happier, since we screw this one up a lot (as in, A LOT).
If you accept the invitation, you can expect reminders from the journal office once the deadline is approaching. In this case please communicate with them, since non-responsive reviewers who have agreed to review are one of the most frustrating parts of the editor's job.
If you accept the invitation, recommend major revision/rejection and the manuscript is revised, then you'll get a revised version review. In this case standard procedure (at least for the journals I handle) is to ask you for a review in 3 days. You can once again request more time, which may or may not be granted depending on how major your comments were. If you need so much time they feel they can't wait anymore, they might ask the academic editor to check the revision instead.
If you accept the invitation, and especially if you write a comprehensive review, you can expect to receive more invitations. It can go up to 2 invitations / month, which for many people becomes spam, especially since quite a few invitations will be to out-of-expertise papers or papers that don't look like they're of reviewable quality. The silver lining is that there is no expectation you'll review, and you can always decline (or not respond - although in this case you'll receive reminders about the invitation).
Strictly speaking the above can also happen if you decline or don't respond, but it's less probable. Writing a comprehensive review makes MDPI editors notice you.
If you accept the invitation, then you can expect to receive a discount voucher of 50-100 CHF that you can use to reduce the APC, if you choose to submit a paper to MDPI journals in the future.

On a personal level I wouldn't do it,* but ultimately, it's up to you.
*This is not a typo.

3 days for checking a major revision seems insane to me... If that's the kind of timeline publishers want, they really should consider paying reviewers.

@Anyon +1, the timeline makes me uncomfortable and I'm the one sending the invitations. It's like, even if we accept the premise that the short review time is a "are you free to provide a quick review" question, and I am free to write a review right now, I can't possibly predict that I'll be free by the time the manuscript is revised. It would be irresponsible to decline that invitation however (since I've already checked the manuscript once, I can do it a lot quicker than a fresh pair of eyes). At least it's possible to ask for more time.

The rest of this conversation has been moved to chat; please do not continue the discussion here. Before posting a comment below this one, please review the purposes of comments. Comments that do not request clarification or suggest improvements usually belong as an answer, on [meta], or in [chat]. Comments continuing discussion may be removed.

Personally, I have denylisted MDPI as a publisher I will not review for.  They consistently sent me terrible manuscripts to review and ignored the information I provided about my area of expertise.
They are the only publisher on the denylist.


text:
Can I quote a full paragraph which contains some other citations?
I am trying to quote a full paragraph in my PhD dissertation. The problem is that this paragraph contains some citations. What should I do?

Copy the paragraph with all citations, putting the references in my list of references?
Copy the paragraph with all citations without putting the references in my list of references?
Copy the paragraph without the citations, indicating omissions by "..."?
Any other ideas?

I took the liberty of editing your question. I am unclear on what you meant by "Copy and paste the whole paragraph with all citations and refer only to the paper that I am quoting from?", so please feel free to change where my edits made stuff worse. Also: it might be good if you could indicate your fields, as writing styles and guidelines may vary between fields.

Stephan Kolassa, Appreciate your effort for the editing. Yes, that's exactly what I meant in my inquiry.

By the way, I am studying in the civil & environmental engineering department and doing a research on the bridge's management. The quoted paragraph about 15 lines in length and contains 6 citations. Is it appropriate to quote a paragraph in this length?

I assume that the citations in this paragraph are not material to your dissertation.  I also assume that they are also not material to the quoted paragraph.  If so, then you can omit the citations and note that you have done so by adding "[citations omitted]" immediately after the quoted paragraph.
For example, if this is the original quote:

"Counterfactuals are thus temporally asymmetric: Events in the counterfactual world prior to the antecedent would be more similar than would subsequent events to those of the actual world (e.g., Edgington, 2004; Lewis, 1979). This asymmetry may be related to the finding that people have an easier time imagining counterfactual alternatives to later events in a sequence than to earlier events (Miller & Gunasegaram, 1990). The earlier events seem fixed, the later events more mutable, at least when no further relations constrain them (see Byrne, 2005; Kahneman & Miller, 1986; Parker & Tetlock, 2006)."

You could quote it this way:

Counterfactuals are thus temporally asymmetric: Events in the counterfactual world prior to the antecedent would be more similar than would subsequent events to those of the actual world. This asymmetry may be related to the finding that people have an easier time imagining counterfactual alternatives to later events in a sequence than to earlier events. The earlier events seem fixed, the later events more mutable, at least when no further relations constrain them." [citations omitted]

EDIT
By "material to the dissertation or quoted paragraph", I mean cases where the citations are important or central, and leaving them out would leave a void for the reader.  For example, let's say your dissertation chapter was a comparison of two rival theories, and your quotation made specific points about one or two of the prime authors of those theories.  It would then be material and including the citations in the quote would be valuable to the reader.  Another case: let's say your quotation was a commentary on what one or more authors said or did.  Leaving out the citations would make it ambiguous for the reader as to what source material your quotation referred to.

However, don`t forget to put a citation for the paragraph itself.

MrMeritology, Thank you so much for your clarification. But, honestly, still confused what do you mean by " not material to either my dissertation or to the quoted paragraph".

@AliSultan I edited my answer to clarify.

As far as I understand from your edit that it is recommended to cite the other citations in the paragraph beside the one that I originally quoted from, right?

@AliSultan No, that's not what I'm saying.  Either: A) omit the citations; or B) include citations in the quoted paragraph.  A) is the option that fits most circumstances. Under rare circumstances where citations are "material", the choose option B).  In option B) you must also include these in your bibliography.

Now I got your point. Many thanks for your help


text:
Does it make sense to get a PhD if a person does not want to be in academia and prefers to stay in business?
I am working in a highly technical field (quantitative finance/ statistical analysis) for a private company with a Master of Science degree in economics.
Does it make sense to get a PhD (in quantitative finance, math, statistics) if I do not want to be in academia and prefer to stay in business.
What I expect from PhD:

Structure and deepen my knowledge in the relevant fields through
high quality classes (where I sit and listen and learn and do
homework to make sure that I have learned).
Get the ability to read any scientific article in the related fields and without much pain understand 90% of it to the very last detail (and implement ideas from the article in my work).
Possibly acquire certain thinking and problem solving culture (so vague... and I guess after my Master I have a fair part of it already(?))

Also important:

PhD was never mentioned as a prerequisite for a promotion or a salary increase.
My colleges who have PhD are not visibly advantaged by the company (do not know about the rest of the industry, but the company being a big player is representative of it).
I enjoy learning new stuff on my own (not a problem to spend many nights with a math book), but hate the status of a student (little money, slave of professors and their peculiar exam requirements).

So should I go for a PhD or rather a specialized Master, or develop myself through separate university courses of my choice and professional programs + self-study?
Any pieces of advice from people used to be in my situation?

If you do not enjoy research, do not do a PHD. It is as simple as that. You do not do a PHD for attending courses, e.g., in many Europe countries, PHD programs do not even have courses. Your (2) reason "get the ability to read any scientific article in the related fields ... without much pain ... and implement ideas", is also unrealistic, since even reviewing a good paper on your area of expertise might take several hours to days (without actually implementing anything).

Where do you live? And would you be willing to relocate? PhD students always get lower salary than industry, but the gap and conditions in some places (and some groups) are not so bad (definitely, I am not enslaved).

Does it make sense? It can, depending on the situation. Does it make sense given your situation and expectations? Probably not. What you describe is much closer to many masters programs. PhDs are all about conducting research and creating knowledge rather than just consuming it.

@Alexandros concerning the reading of articles I formulated it to naive, let me reformulate it "get the technical background to be able to fight your way through most of scientific article in most of quantitative finance, statistics, financial math fields (and not only those one researched during his/her PhD) within a reasonable time". Would it be a realistic expectation?

@Davidmh I leave in Germany, and yes I could relocate. What do you mean "PhD students always get lower salary than industry", you mean once you have done your PhD and get a job you are underpaid BECAUSE you have PhD???

@RogerFan thanks, at least it is my perception for now (they say "we hear what we want to hear";)), I want to be a professional consumer of ideas and translator of those into business reality, not a producer.

@Szzz I meant that a student salary is lower than an equivalent peer in industry. You will not be underpaid for having a PhD, but there may be a cost of opportunity for not having field experience (no idea if that is really the case here).
If you go for it, consider applying for Scandinavia.

possible duplicate of Career for a mathematician outside academia

If you work in a very specific, very technical field and are considering getting a PhD to further your skills in that field, it is likely you have access to people who are more experienced than you currently working in that field. Do these people have PhDs? Would they dismiss a PhD as a waste of time or encourage it?At this site, you are asking people outside your field if some research experience might help you. None of them really know. Someone in your field might.

I'd recommend browsing through our other questions tagged both phd and industry.

Ultimately no one else can make this decision for you. At best we can give our biased (after all many of us here will have taken the PhD/academic route) opinions.
First of all doing a PhD for financial or career reasons is not, in general, a good idea. Yes we all know the story of google, but Larry Page and Sergey Brin didn't go into the PhD planning to make it big and it was their passion that produced google. A PhD is a long and sometimes painful process taken on because the individual gets a buzz from the challenge, the field and a desire to push it forward. There will be weeks if not months when nothing is working or making sense. I think it was Boot and Randall, after having developed the high-power magnetron for radar at Birmingham university and giving the allies a much needed early warning system, who attributed their success to something akin to "the one day in which all the equipment in the lab happen to work". Tongue and cheek and modesty no doubt, but it serves as a good antidote to research life - very few things, codes included, work first time! Its the burning passion that keeps you going time and time again until you get results.
Second, a PhD is not taught (Not sure where your from but the USA and some European PhD's do have a taught masters in the first year, but this is not the norm in Europe). Classes to a large extent are not an efficient use of time, they serve to give a broader overview of the field but will certainly not be anywhere near enough to get you through a PhD. If its being taught in a class its not research! And its certainly not going to be a novel idea for your thesis. At the end of the PhD you should be the world expert on the niche area of your field, there are no (or few) textbooks on the subject - because you have written them yet!
When reading papers, even the most experienced academics, are unlikely to understand everything first read, the specific technique maybe, the unique application? probably not. As a research you don’t want to waste time absorbing every little detail, just the bits relevant to your research. You simply don’t have time.
Research does teach you a certain set of skills, first is how to deal with failure and keep going - Persistence. Project management (3 year long project after all) skills and of course critical thinking and problem solving skills, particularly in the  technical areas.
Now, none of what I said should be taken as trying to put you off but rather help you make an informed decision. You could possibly look at a research masters, known as an MRes? This may be the best of both worlds. Good luck with whatever you choose to do and remember you don't need PhD's or degrees to continue learning, someone above mentioned online course and these open access avenues are a great way to expand your knowledge.

My gut suggestion? The PhD simply wouldn't be worth your time or energy. I applaud your interest in truly bettering yourself and making yourself the best candidate you can be, but if you've already found a great position with a good company, returning to a PhD would be a serious blow in your career. In order to complete a PhD, you'll have to leave your current job to return to full-time graduate student status, essentially take a 5 - 7 year hiatus from your current work, and then return back to the field with only a marginally higher market value.
Remember: PhDs are research degrees. Whether you use that degree to enter into academia or into a private research organization doesn't matter, provided you're interested in conducting research. Doctoral level training is, at its core, a preparation for a specific vocation. Medical school teaches one to be a physician or surgeon; law school teaches one to be a lawyer; and PhDs teach one to be a researcher (the field of study is, in this analogy, unimportant).

What I expect from PhD:

Structure and deepen my knowledge in the relevant fields through high
quality classes (where I sit and listen and learn and do homework to
make sure that I have learned).

Get the ability to read any scientific
article in the related fields and without much pain understand 90% of
it to the very last detail (and implement ideas from the article in my
work).

Possibly acquire certain thinking and problem solving culture
(so vague... and I guess after my Master I have a fair part of it
already(?))

Regarding expectation #1, you have to remember that the bulk of a PhD is actually not coursework; it is self-directed research. In America, you'll spend 4-5 semesters taking structured courses, followed by 3-4 years of unstructured research. You're talking about 5 years during which you're:

Not advancing in your career
Not accruing significant income or putting money away
Not establishing yourself within your field

This leads to expectation #2. You will certainly emerge from a PhD program equipped to read scientific articles ... but that could be accomplished by taking 2 - 3 graduate-level courses at your local university. Why not see whether your current employer will pay for these specialized courses?
Regarding expectation #3 - I'm not actually sure what this means.

PhDs programs vary depending on country and discipline. In some countries, it's possible to do a PhD while working a full-time job. That incurs a very high workload and I would only recommend doing so if you are pretty much bored by your day-job and can do it 'en passant' (and are willing to say good-bye to your private life).
As for the expectations, also difficult to answer, but I think:

you can become an expert in the tiny area where you specialize. How long you can keep that expertise once you are out of Academia and no longer being part of the research community is another question. As for applicability, I think in many disciplines there are intermediary steps between research and public use by professionals. It's less papers that make a difference but books that summarize research (e.g., many papers).
you will likely get an understanding of how science actually works in your discipline. A view behind the curtain, so to speak. I did a PhD in psychology and found it very enlightening and would not have missed it for the world.
you will likely be able to work with scientific literature, e.g., knowing how to quickly skim articles and extract the relevant parts. Personally, I think few people read articles like they read books, so going for 90% does not make sense to me. Papers aren't meant to learn about a subject. They are meant to communicate findings on a very specialized subject.
thinking and problem solving yes, also (if successful) persistence and dealing with setbacks and failures.

As for the advantage of having a PhD, what about those in higher positions, do they have PhDs? What about in other companies? I think a PhD is the entrance card to Academia, not something that should be used for promotion, but others might (and do) think differently.
Personally, I think the main advantage of doing a PhD in your situation would be to find someone in Academia you like to work with, use your practical background (something many students lack IMO), and use the opportunity to contribute something under the scrutiny of Academia (which is a "joy" of its own). But seriously, in contrast to learning on your own your thesis has to be accepted and if you get someone who is critical, it might really be beneficial. At best, do it while continue to work for your company and with their support. Just expect it to be very stressful. A PhD in itself is already a full-time job.

If you absolutely won't an academical carrier, then the price of the Phd is probably too big for you.
Yes, in this case it means 5-6 years of needless and low-paid hard work for you. If you want to research, it will be later the "golden age" of your life. Everything has its cost. I know many Phd owners thinking similarly to you, and I know also people who left the academy after MSc and they repent this in their entire life.
Working by that company isn't the only option for you.
Your market value will get higher, much higher, by your PhD - especially if you can find a job around your research area. On the nearer region I know better the wage difference between MSc and Phd is around 30-50%.
But you have your role by your current employer. This role doesn't change automatically. Your promotion depends not only on your degree, but on the possibilities which this company can give you.
Every hierarchy has its limits for you. Its limits, until them it allows you to advance. Over this limits you can't advance efficiently.
On my experience, it is a very common thing, that getting an academical degree results a workplace change in a year.

would you say that expectations I formulated above are adequate or have nothing to do with the reality of "PhD getting". Can one get all I expect without sacrificing 5-6 years of professional life?

@Szzz Your expectations are correct, but you shouldn't freeze your professional life to a single company. There is a market race, for better jobs, better employees and better customers. You, as a Phd owner, are on the side of the job market, for which the companies are racing.

@Szzz On my opinion, if you know from the first moment, that you absolutely won't an academical carrier, then the price of the Phd is in most cases over its value.

Meh. My father went back for his Ph.D. near the end of a long and productive industry career (for self-actualization reasons mostly, I think). He was able to do it on a part time basis and since he didn't need support there was nothing resembling "enslavement". And it paid off for him as his employer was able to offer clients Dr. McKee as the PI for their project and when he got out of that job the title has served to help his consulting sideline (especially in the matter of being a expert witness in court).

@dmckee It is a beautiful result but I don't think it would be representative. And my answer had absolutely nothing to do to such unconventional life stories as your fathers.

@dmckee - that's a nice tale, but you'll note that you mentioned that your father was at the end of his career. The costs were significantly lower for him. The market is different these days, and the costs of taking 5-7 years out of your professional development in order to be able to call yourself "Doctor", particularly when you don't conduct any actual research, are insanely high.


text:
Whom to cite from an article: the reporter or the person who provided a quote to the reporter?
I am reading this 2016 article: EI benefits (The Globe and Mail)
The article is written by the reporter R. Younglai. In an academic paper, I am talking about a specific theory/concept which is mentioned in a number of sources, including the Globe and Mail article.
In the article, R. Younglai quotes a university professor

... blah blah ...
  "It is sort of ironic. When a big negative shock comes, the unemployment system is not generous enough. When the economy starts improving and the unemployment rate starts going down, it is too generous," said Miles Corak, an economics professor with the University of Ottawa.

In my paper, I am discussing this concept. Who should I cite - the reporter or the professor who gave the quote?
Here is my sentence with the in-text citation:

... blah blah blah concept ... (John 2013; Jack 2015; XXX 2016).

Should I cite as (Corak 2016) or (Younglai 2016)?
Note that I don't want to write "According to the report by Younglai (2016), Miles Corak said ..." because there are many other sources in the same citation parenthesis.
I am following the Chicago Author-Date style. I can't find anything related to this in the guide.

If that newspaper article was a genuine piece of reportage, you wouldn´t mention the journalists name, just the fact, and the issue and page number. In oldschool newspapers, there is no name under such articles, but they only carry the initials of the reporter.

@Karl I see. It is one of the leading newspapers in the country.

The oldschool way was to only give the full name under a piece of commentary or opinion. Today, many journalists are men on a mission, who never just "report".

@Karl: Yes.  What I've seen in situations like this is something like "(Person), quoted in (newspaper name), date", possibly page number or article title.  No mention of journalist's name.

@jamesqf How will you then enter that reference in the bibliography? If I use "According to The Globe and Mail (2016) ..." then I have to use that very newspaper name in the bibliography reference list. But that will be a problem as the name of the author is given - that is the journalist. CMoS says when the name of the author is available, use that and not the name of the organization.

Don't you usually do something like "______ (as quoted by ______)"?

Since you did not interview Corak and have no firsthand information on what he actually said, you must cite Younglai.
If you had access to a reliable transcript of the interview, and verified there that Corak said what Younglai claims he said, then you can cite Corak.

I see. I was hoping it was the other way round. I don't know if the reporter is at all credible. I wanted to cite the professor who is well known in this field.

@AIQ you could confirm it with Corak then, e.g. by emailing him.

That sounds like a great idea. Thanks very much.

@AIQ - Seems like if you didn't feel the reporter was credible, you ought to be much less inclined to ascribe those words to the interviewee, not more.

@T.E.D. By "credible" I meant to say that I am not sure if the reporter has extensive experience or knowledgeable in that specific subject/field (the professor on the other hand has for sure). I don't doubt their ability as a reporter. A journalist who spent 10 years reporting on say income support would know more about it than someone who spent 6 months on it. But both can be equally good journalists. I may have used the wrong word.

@AIQ - The fact that you reference the words of that professor (and mention his name) in the body of the paper is sufficient for establishing "credibility". The actual name which appears on the citation itself is not so important. If, however, you really want to have a citation in your paper in the name of that particular professor, you could read a few of his relevant published works, and cite something from one of those, in addition to what you have already included in the paper.

To add to Allure's suggestion, I think it would be most appropriate to make a slightly longer citation like

According to (Corak, reported in Younglai 2016)

You stated that you didn't want to include both names, but I think it is more helpful to the reader that way. Additionally, the above citation tries to be not too wordy (compared to yours), as it is just a footnote inside the parentheses rather than disrupting the flow of text.
The ideal, of course, would be that you find a paper originally published by Corak or some other academic that identifies this phenomenon (the "theory/concept" you mention), but you may not have the time to do a detailed dig through the literature.

Thanks for the great advice. Just to clarify that as per CMoS, it would be "According to Corak, as reported in Younglai (2016), ..." I am going to use your suggestion.

@AIQ Thanks for the correction -- I guess my answer doesn't cover the specifics of Chicago style. That sounds like a good approach.

If you absolutely must reference this, @6005's solution seems like the best approach. However, I suggest that you find a better source instead.
The major purpose of citations is to direct the skeptical or curious reader to sources supporting an argument. Referencing a newspaper article where someone restates the idea doesn't serve that aim. The other major purpose is to assign credit. This quote may just reflect a idea in the field, rather than Dr. Corak's innovation. Both of these goals are better served by citing better sources from the relevant literature. However, you can (and should!) do some digging to see if Dr. Corak has written anything relevant.
On the other hand, there a few situations where you might want to cite this instead. A major one would be to demonstrate popular support for—or at least interest in—the idea being discussed. In this case, the newspaper article is more relevant, though you might want to namecheck both, using the "reported in" or "quoting" formulation in the other answers.

Matt, this is a great answer. Thanks for the suggestions. I have checked to see if Dr. Corak has done any work on the employment insurance program - he has. And I have cited his other works. But that statement in news article is interesting and very specific
(on which not a lot has been said) and so I wanted to cite that. I have cited other sources on the idea/concept (you can see that in my question - John/Jack). And yes you are right - what I intended to do was what you say in your third paragraph. I wasn't able to state this in my question. Thanks!

I'd still feel a little weird mixing them together. Maybe something like "has been discussed extensively in the economic literature (Jack, 2014; John 2018) and more recently in the popular media (Younglai, 2016)" would work?

The basic issue here is that you don't cite people, you cite sources. There is only one source involved - the Globe and Mail article - so that is what you cite.
However, whenever you attribute something to a source you should give any necessary context, which in this case is that Younglai is quoting Corak rather than giving his own opinion. 6005's suggestion seems like a reasonable way to do this.

There are already some good answers, which so far say to quote the interviewer.
I would just like to mention that in situations when you're not sure whether to cite A or B, you may also consider citing both of them.
A similar situation comes up when there's original work in "A", that has then been summarized in neat way in a "review article" which I will call "B". You might like to cite a summary table that was made in "B" (which means you have to cite "B"), but you should also give credit to the original source (in this example I called it "A"). This ensures that both "A" and "B" get credit acknowledged in citation metrics by Google Scholar and such (this may or may not matter, but it's never a bad idea to at least take it into consideration). In the case of an oral interview, a citation that is recorded in something like Google Scholar might not be so relevant right now, but maybe it will in the future (there was a time when citations to arXiv articles did not matter at all, but now with Google scholar they do matter), so it's not a bad idea to consider adding the citation.
When in doubt, I tend towards including borderline cases in my citation list, rather than making someone angry for not citing them.


text:
Physics dissertation: Do I give a reference every time I mention a certain piece of work?
I'm currently writing my BSc Physics dissertation and I'm using LaTeX with BibTeX so the format of the references is all correct, but there are a number of other papers that I talk about at several points throughout the paper. When referencing one of these papers do I need to include a reference each time I mention it?
Example:

Throughout this paper I will adopt values for cosmological parameters
  obtained by the Planck Collaboration [1].

and later on in the paper...

... there have been numerous projects attempting to measure features
  of the CMB including the COBE satellite [2], the WMAP [3] and, more
  recently, the Planck Collaboration ([1]?).

Your department ought to have a preferred citation style, which will give you details for how these citations need to be formatted (for example, some styles license "ibid." and/or "id." for repeated citations under certain circumstances).

Not twice in the same paragraph, though. I'm not a physicist but don't go overboard.

@1006a This is something I've already remarked several times elsewhere: many universities or departments around the world don't have style guides or the style guides don't cover such details. See also this meta answer of mine. Said in another way, don't expect there's a policy for everything everywhere.

Yes indeed. For several reasons:

people might not read your work sequentially, from page 1 to the end;
people might forget that there was already a citation somewhere;
people don't want to recall all previous citations;
the context is different and people don't assume that the reference is the same.

Thanks for the reply, in a case where I talk about a general topic and cite a selection of works on the topic, I assume I wouldn't have to repeat these references each time I talk about the topic since it's not relating to a specific work?

and: While editing, the first reference might be moved or removed.

There is no downside to following this advice: it is  so easy to include citations with the tools you are using. And if you are worried about distracting the reader: a. don't; b. choose a style of citation eg [23] which offers minimal visual interruption to your text.

With the reasoning in the first three points, you would also need to put full terminologies instead of their abbreviations throughout the dissertation.

A numeric superscript style interrupts the flow of text even less than the square bracket style @JeremyC suggests, and is common in physics (e.g. AIP journals)

@Orion It's much easier to flip (or text-search, or Google) back to the first reference to look up an abbreviation that it is to link two possibly entirely distinct statements to a single reference.

The short answer is yes, for the reasons mentioned by Massimo Ortolano.
How sparsely can you cite? If you're talking about others' work, you should make it clear what work you're talking about at least once a paragraph. E.g.:

The Planck Collaboration ([1]) produced estimates of cosmological constants using lasers and mirrors. The lasers were really cool and allowed them to precisely measure X as equaling pi. Further, Y was e, and Planck's constant was 7.
It also turns out that Z is a complex number, 1+7i. This further implies that our universe is shaped like a donut. The implications go further, suggesting time is periodic. [1]

Having the citation at the end of the paragraph means that every single fact in that paragraph is sourced from that paper. If you are interspersing your own calculations or implications, then you would have to put the citations back at the sentence-by-sentence level.
If your work is in conversation with one main work, then you may have a case for giving them a nickname for that section only, instead of constantly citing them.

In this section that follows, I closely review the 2012 paper by the Planck Consortium [1]; for convenience, I will refer to that work as PC.
...
PC further found that Z is complex. I question that assumption based on my calculations. If we start with PC's assumption of ..., then necessarily ...

As the others already mentioned: Yes you should. I know, that it sometimes could disturb the reading but as Massimo said, somebody  may just read a part and not your whole dissertation and may want to know the citation there.