text:
How to stop feeling you aren’t good enough?
Is it normal to be put down in your first year of a PhD?
I won't lie, there's been a massive learning curve for me this year to get used to how things are done at this level. Even simple things like writing papers, reports and presentations demands a standard I'm not very used to.
Maybe I'm just being self-conscious and potentially reading the situations wrong but I always leave supervisor meetings feeling exhausted and somewhat put down if that makes sense? Like yesterday, my supervisor seemed very cold and distant, only offering criticisms of my work. Maybe it's just me?

Are the comments from your supervisor focused on the work, or personal put-downs?

Both, they criticise my work and me as a researcher

Or are the "personal" ones just criticism of things you should have done but didn't? High expectations, not fulfilled?

@AzorAhai-him- Yes, imposter syndrome is very possibly part of it. But I don't know enough yet to close on that basis.  There may be an objective element. Clarity would be helpful.

If you are feeling depressed and it is affecting your work, then talk to a professional. Many universities have a counseling office for things like this.

You could always quit academia, jk.

The first year of a PhD program is very different to the years of your undergraduate program.  During an undergraduate degree, you are working through a fixed set of coursework and most of your exposure to the knowledge of your professors is merely that they know the content of this coursework very well.  Since you are able to learn the material in each course in a semester (hopefully), this means that you make regular observable progress in bridging the gap between yourself and your professors.  Moreover, in this environment you are not really exposed to the full gap in your knowledge compared to your professors.
Contrarily, once you begin a PhD program, you are exposed to an entirely new and difficult set of research skills that will take years to obtain basic competency and decades to master.  The yawning chasm between your own knowledge and the knowledge of your professors now becomes much more obvious.  Note that the gap is not actually larger than it was before --- it is smaller but it now seems larger.  This can cause some first-year PhD students to become depressed or feel inadequate or stupid (e.g., this related question).  In regard to what you are feeling, there are a number of things you should bear in mind:

Virtually every PhD student starts out being incompetent at research: Most PhD candidates enter the program having one or two undergraduate degrees and maybe a small amount of practice in research.  There are a few rare one who start the program from a position where they are already a professional researchers, but this is not the norm.  In the standard case, the student coming into the program is not competent enough to do research, and the goal of the program is to teach them enough that they can go on to do unsupervised research work.  The entire reason we have PhD programs that last 4-5 years is that it takes this long to teach competency in research (and that is for a student cohort consisting mostly of the top undergraduates who aced their degrees).  Not every student completes the program successfully and becomes a competent researcher, but virtually every student starts as an incompetent researcher.

This feeling is common for early PhD students: It is extremely common for first-year PhD students to feel overwhelmed by the task ahead of them, and to observe that they are incompetent in comparison to their professors.  Indeed, first-year of a PhD is probably the most common time where students go through this kind of crisis.  What you are experiencing is a natural reaction to being assigned a difficult multi-year task for which you are presently incompetent, coupled with regular exposure to people who are experts at that task.

You are there because the university thinks you can handle this: You would not have been accepted into the PhD program unless you have the underlying skills and track-record to make you a good prospect.  Getting through a PhD program is difficult, and there is a substantial drop-out rate, but the students who are selected into the program are the ones that have a good enough track-record in their undergraduate work to give confidence that they have the ability to complete the program.  The university professors and selection panels have a lot more experience in this than you, so if they think you are good enough to enter the program, that suggests that you are good enough to enter the program.

Good education necessarily involves scrutiny and criticism of your work: Since you are in your first year, it is not surprising that most of the feedback on your work is criticism.  At this stage it is common for the student to be doing a lot of things wrong, and you are correct to observe that there is now a standard of work that you are not used to.  As a secondary matter, feedback from supervisors is often biased towards the bad parts, because they feel the need to go through criticisms in detail, whereas there is little need to talk about the parts of your work that are good.  This means that it is common in PhD supervision to deal with a regular stream of criticisms of your work, and a standard that may seem unattainable when you first start.
Incidentally, there is a wonderful quote by the psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, that "Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem.  That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily; and why older persons, especially if vain or important, cannot learn at all."  I try to bear this in mind whenever I am the recipient of a criticism of my work.

Take breaks when you need them: Because scrutiny and criticism of your work is such a fundamental aspect of a PhD program, it is important to take breaks and recharge when you are feeling run down.  If you talk to the other PhD students in your department, and have open and honest discussions of the criticisms you are encountering, you will probably see that you are all in the same boat.  If necessary, you can also ask your supervisor to brief you on what aspects of your work are good, so you can keep track of aspects of your work where you are doing well.

It is best not to infer put-downs merely from "coldness": Academics have busy jobs and many stresses and concerns outside of their supervision activities.  They frequently have to worry about the progress of papers they are writing, grant funding, administrative responsibilities, teaching work, and various other issues.  Like other human beings, academics may be cold or distant in meetings for a range of reasons that have nothing to do with you.  Consequently, it is best not to infer put-downs unless they are obvious.  (You read questions on this site you will see that some students have had to deal with explicit put-downs from academics; try not to infer put-downs unless they are obvious.)

Ultimately, self-confidence comes from competency: In the long-term, feeling self-confidence in your abilities is going to hinge on whether or not you can actually attain competence in a set of skills you can feel proud of and use these to do something of value.  Presumably you already have an undergraduate degree (maybe more than one) so you can feel some self-confidence in having attained the skills in those programs.  Try to work through the challenges in your present program and be realistic about expectations of progress.  Competency will come in time, and self-confidence will follow.

I hope this advice provides you with some perspective on common experiences and expectations for an early PhD student.

Dimitri, this is a very big question that has probably generated a large number of research studies on questions like dissatisfaction and bullying in academia. The way that you're feeling is sadly very common among graduate students in relation to supervisors and dissertation committees. And new scholars at their first job, in relation to mature scholars. And mature scholars in relation to the administration.
You have to have a tough skin in academia. For a variety of reasons, academics are not a uniformly happy lot. They live in a power hierarchy governed by politics where the people at bottom are not always treated well. I have seen people's careers threatened by others who preferred to sabotage rather than support them.
I'm sure this occurs across all kinds of work, but conditions for academics have gotten worse under neoliberal economic policies that led to cuts in university funding, delegating much of the teaching load to underpaid adjuncts, and a lack of open tenure-track positions. People who feel undervalued pass their resentment off onto the people under them.
What can you do about it? Be tough. Don't let criticism get you down. Translate it into strategies for improvement. Stay positive. Do your best possible work. Ask for clarification and suggestions when you're criticized. Show a sincere desire to improve and ask for feedback to see how you're doing.
Know the difference between supportive criticism, unwarranted grouchiness, and abuse. You do have a right to be supported by your supervisor. The fit between you and your supervisor is important. Personally I wouldn't tolerate a cold, critical supervisor. I would find someone with the qualities that make graduate students feel confident and motivated.
You could always just say to the supervisor, "I sense that you don't really enjoy working with me. Is that something we could discuss, to make sure this is going to work well for both of us?"

The last paragraph is academic suicide some places and with some people.

It can also be academic suicide to put up with a sabotaging supervisor. But you make a good point so let me rephrase my comment to Dimitri: You could ask your supervisor, "I was wondering how you feel things are going as my supervisor." There's no need to confront the supervisor. If things are really terrible, you can quietly approach another professor you know and like and ask if they would like to work with you, or ask that person for advice.

Too much of this is just the Rambo Solution. Be tough. Do your best work. Everyone is aligned against you.

Rambo solution, interesting choice of words. I've seen a great many mature adults in academia break down emotionally when they were under attack from coworkers, department chairs, and administrators. They describe it as a diabolical war with pathological people. They do have to become very tough and savvy on the job. Any hand holding has to come from outside the institution. I wouldn't say that "everyone is aligned against you," but you do have to carefully choose strategic alliances. What Dimitri needs to do is survive, get his PhD, and leave his university with strong recommendations.

Without clarification you are jumping to conclusions. You assume a problem that may not exist.

The problem in the OP's words: "I always leave supervisor meetings feeling exhausted and somewhat put down. . . . My supervisor seemed very cold and distant, only offering criticisms of my work. Maybe it's just me?" My simple answer: No, it's not just you. Many graduate students feel this way and it's not their imagination.

Some studies suggest competence and confidence correlate opposite to expectation; the most competent people lack confidence because of their over awareness of what they don't know and the skills they don't have. Might you have imposter syndrome? Many academics do. Combining that with the increased expectations of graduate level work is really tough.
Feeling down through to depression and anxiety are very common in graduate school. It is hard, often isolating, frequently we don't have access to the social supports of our past, and it involves a lot of criticism of work and the academic identity you are deeply invested in. I suggest you take advantage of any support offerings your university has as early as possible so you can develop the complementary psychological skills that will help you thrive, in academia or if you move into an alternative career. It is not just a matter of 'toughen up'. Additionally, a third party who can spend more time with you, can help you work out whether there is a real issue going on with your advisor as a seperate issue. Maybe a co-advisor who you get on well with could provide the balance you need.


text:
Advisor asking me to use my grant to cover his orders
I am now working as a postdoctoral researcher in Japan. I came to work at this institute when it received a big grant from government more than 2 years ago. My research budget is paid from a small part of that grant. I am affiliated with a lab run by my current advisor, but I do my own research topics and build my own experimental setup without support from the advisor.
This year I applied for my own funding and was lucky enough to get a small grant for young researchers. My advisor applied to the same grant (more senior category) but failed, and later I learned that he has not succeeded to get any grant up to now. Last week he asked me to use my budget for his projects, because "in this lab, we share the budget together", as he said.
I feel awkward because I don't want to share my budget with him, but if I deny the request, our relationship will be damaged.
Has any of you experienced the same problem? Is my advisor a bad one? How should I deal with this?

Can you spare the money?

No, I cannot spare the money. He will take all and use it quickly.

I am a researcher in Japan myself. Is you grant a KAKENHI?

This is delicate issue, and I would advise you to proceed with utmost care. There are a number of ethical, legal, and practical issues to take into account.
First, the legal side - as Bill Barth already mentioned, it is not a given that you even can (easily and legally) move money from your grant to somebody else in your lab. In a nutshell, only the funding agency or the respective support department from your university can help you with this.
Second, in terms of ethical issues, the question arises whether you do in fact "share budget in this lab". In other terms, did the lab head also share his budget with you when you did not yet have a grant? Do think about this critically. In my experience, young independent researchers (myself included) tend to take the support we get from senior researchers for granted sometimes, while being rather protective about our own funding. From your description, it does sound like you yourself are being funded from money acquired by the lab head. In that sense, asking you to give back a small part of your grant to support his research is not necessarily unethical. Further, has he helped you with your grant application? If he has, sharing a bit of your grant with him may be the right thing to do (if even possible, see above).
Thirdly, in practical terms, the question arises whether it is worth for you to fight over this issue. This largely depends on how bad it can end for you if the lab head is really mad at you (in Japan I would assume the answer to this is "very", unfortunately) and how much funding money is concerned. This is another issue that you can really only decide for yourself, but (again), do proceed with caution. You should consider that you not only need to work with this guy day to day, but you may also need his support for your next career step. I have unfortunately seen a few young researchers taking a stand with their mentors "on principle" over relatively minor issues. This kind of thing tends to not go as well as people hope.
All things considered, you would do well to not let your successful grant application go to your head. It is certainly a very important milestone in you career, but don't get into a lone wolf mentality ("I'm so good, I don't need anybody to succeed!").

I would add to this that it is frequently easy to put a To Be Determined (TBD) person on a grant and to then shift funds to them after the grant is awarded. However, one should be very careful about having them work on something other than he funded work using that money. So, if your advisor wants to support himself or another lab member with your money, that might be OK as long as there's room for a TBD person on the grant and that person works on things that relate to it.

Excellent answer. I have a small start-up budget given to my name and never ask the lab head to use his budget. I myself wrote the grant proposal without any support from him. Therefore I think, in terms of ethical issues, it is not necessary to share my budget with him. In practical terms, this guy is powerful but really mad and hot-tempered. Few years ago, a young tenured-track faculty was fired mainly because he did not accept to share his budget with the lab head.

+1 specific to japan, people can get very angry about this if the grant is general.  The legal issue is probably more complicated in the region, in which even if it is not allowed in the grant, someone may still be well expected to share.

@user18220 Then I am afraid you know what your options are. Share, or be prepared to fight a fight that may well end badly. Not that I am saying you should definitely do the former, but, really, there is not much we can help you with here.

@user18220 Also, should you decide to take a stand, make sure that you know what you are going to do in case it goes badly.

Excellent answer. I would add: if you do decide to share, don't just say "yes, I will help you buy this equipment". Agree on an exact amount of money,  to prevent further claims.

I would suggest looking at the terms of your grant. You could get in a lot of trouble with the granting agency if you use the money for something other than what you wrote in your grant application. There's a little slop in the exact percentages of work that you do, but most agencies have rules requiring that you certify your effort on the project.

Excellent answers from the other respondents.
One solution may be that some grants allow for administrative overhead or indirect costs. At some universities, this can be over 50% and literally keeps the lights on and the trash bins emptied.
You may want to see if you, the senior scholar, the university, and the grantor agree to divert some of the indirect costs to him.
(And yes, his behavior is inimical, at least as you describe it. Promise to yourself that you won't be that type of jerk to your own students and junior colleagues.)

+1: this answer contains what I think is the last key point -- grants have substantial overhead.  The philosophy of overhead is that you are using someone's facilities and resources, so some money should go to them so that they are happy rather than sad that your work is being done.  As RoboKaren points out, in the US this is a highly non-negligible amount, and there is often some fungibility in where in the university these funds go.  If the OP is working in his supervisor's lab, the supervisor has a reasonable claim to some of the overhead.  How much is something to be negotiated.

But the guiding principle should be that it really is the overhead that is being given: i.e., whatever funds have been earmarked for the research project proposed by the OP and then funded must actually be used for the OP's research project and not his superivsor's.  Finally, this is a US-centric answer.  I don't know how they do it in Japan...

If you do decide to share, consider working with him to identify equipment, services, and resources that you could purchase with your grant that would benefit your work that you could share with others.
Turn the conversation from "You must share your money with me for my purchases" into, "We both are doing research in this direction, let's buy equipment/services/resources that will help everyone rather than just support one grant."
Further, involve everyone in the department in this discussion.  That way even if he does complain you can point out the discussions you've had, the purchases you've made, and show how you shared the grant and how it's benefited him.

Do the right thing and ignore/stop the recursive career considerations of the other answerers. If he helped you, now you help him. If he was not helping you, then explain you cannot. If he was miserly, then be miserly. You are ultimately beholden to your own self.

If only we could live in your world: one without nuance.

Your Tit-for-Tat strategy would be a good one if this were a Prisoner's Dilemma situation.  But it isn't. If you like thinking in such a way, it might be a good exercise to identify the fundamental game theoretical differences between that situation and the OP's.  Hints: (i) the matrix is not symmetric. (ii) the outcome in the situation in which the OP cooperates and his supervisor does not is probably not the worst possible one.

The greater insight is to understand the dimension of conscience. Of what use is to dissect all the external angles when the poster will tear inside at the perceived injustice? Better to understand whether it is an injustice or not, and then act accordingly.

@PeteL.Clark That's a nice way to put it.

The use of dissecting the external factors is considering long-term consequences. The OP will need to decide if it is the potential injustice that will tear him apart worse than the potential setback or full stop to his career. I, for one, would focus on getting out as fast as possible while prioritizing salvaging my career in such a situation, even if it meant suffering an injustice for a period of time (I can grin and bear it for a year, but find the idea of not being able to continue research in an academic environment truly horrifying).

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Academic or non Academic Journal as a professional?
I'm a professional game developer looking to write up and attempt to publish some graphics & game development related items and I've found two journals but am having trouble trying to decide which I should try for first.
One journal is ACM Transactions on Graphics, which is free to submit to, but readers have to pay to get access to the publications.
The second is the Journal of Computer Graphics Techniques which both free to submit to, as well as free for readers to get access to.
Since I'm in the private / professional world, and not the academic world, it doesn't seem like I have much to gain by submitting to acm, since it seems to be primarily for, and primarily read by, academic folk in academic institutions, despite it probably being more prestigious than JCGT.
JCGT on the other hand is free, which means fellow game developers will be more likely to be able to read it (doubtful that most other game devs will have access to for-pay academic journals).  They have a partnership with SIGGRAPH too which is intriguing, since it means the possibility of being able to present there.
Is there any angle I'm not considering that I ought to be, or for someone in my position, is JCGT the way to go?  I definitely don't see value in submitting to a journal that costs money to submit to, but it also seems like putting my paper behind a paywall would be detrimental as well.
For what it's worth, I'm a self taught game programmer so have no degree, but now have 15 years of experience and am at a pretty well known game development company.  Not sure if doing research and publishing it in academic journals can likely help one earn an honorary degree or not, but I guess that would be another item to consider, if that's within the realm of likelihood!
My main goal is just to explore and share some techniques, and contribute to my field for the betterment of science as well as my fellow game developers.

Research is almost always an incremental venture: current breakthroughs are dependent on, motivated by, and understood within the context of past work and the current state of the field. Good academic journals generally aim to publish articles that are significant and novel contributions to human knowledge, and if you aren't keeping abreast of the research that is being done, then it's very unlikely that you will be able to understand how your research fits into the field and whether or not it actually is new or significant.
If you're planned article doesn't address those concerns (usually through a short literature review and the proper citations of previous work), then it will almost certainly be rejected from most reputable academic journals. You should read papers from the venues that you are looking at to get an idea of the expectations and practices, but it is very rare for someone who is not trained in and/or experienced with the research community to publish articles at their venues.
Note: I am not familiar with those particular journals and the nature of what they publish, so I do not know how "academic" or not either of them are.
To address some other aspects:

despite it probably being more prestigious than JCGT.

If you aren't and don't plan on working in academia or doing research, I'm not sure why academic prestige would matter to you.

Not sure if doing research and publishing it in academic journals can likely help one earn an honorary degree or not, but I guess that would be another item to consider, if that's within the realm of likelihood!

It's almost certainly not worth considering. Honorary degrees aren't actually useful in any real sense. They are more like lifetime achievement awards; if you're in a position to get one then you almost certainly have no need for one.

My main goal is just to explore and share some techniques, and contribute to my field for the betterment of science as well as my fellow game developers.

If that's your goal, then I'm not sure why you care about publishing in a journal at all. Why not just write a blog post or put your work online at some other venue? That's free, open-access, and you retain all the rights to your work if desired.

That chain of progression is what I'd like to contribute to and be a part of. I do have a blog, but its not a part of a collaborative effort and is unknown to most people (of course!). I have techniques I want to get out there to my colleagues which of course are built on existing techniques, but are seemingly novel. I'd also like to see how people extend those ideas as well, if anyone has any thoughts on taking things further. While I'm not as in touch with pure research, I have my finger on the pulse of leading edge practical techniques, which isn't as common in academia.

And I have to mention, with most research being behind pay walls, it sure is difficult to connect to that chain as an individual! (;

@AlanWolfe You should look through papers at each of the venues that you are considering. If your paper deals with leading-edge practical techniques, then a journal that mostly publishes theoretical work will likely not be interested. Also, in any academic journal, if you can't detail the specific works that you build on and are motivated by and justify the novelty of your ideas, then your work won't be seriously considered. That usually requires a serious and thorough review of the previous literature. To continue the analogy, you can't contribute to the chain if you don't know what's in it.

@AlanWolfe The inaccessibility of academic research is a whole other issue. Unfortunately, though they may be sympathetic, no editor or reviewer will consider that as a reason to publish your work.

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


text:
What major is beneficial for a long-term career goal in medical robotics/ robotics/ artificial intelligence?
I have done my undergraduate degree in a Indian university in electronics and communication engineering and have done a job in one of my field of interest medical image processing and I worked in robotics while doing my degree projects. Now I am going to apply for masters in US universities but I am confused about what major I have to choose. My long term goal is to be a researcher in medical robotics/ robotics/ artificial intelligence also I can work with nano electronics but I have not done any work or not so much study in that before so I am a bit nervous to choose that.
As after masters I will go for PhD so please help me to resolve which of the above field will be favorable. As I have doubts like medical image processing is not a vast and not so many funding is there for PhD students.

Robotics in itself is an inter-disciplinary field, which I assume is why you are asking the question and have no just found it online.  There are some programs specializing in robotics, but the main question is what part of robotics you want to work on.  Control, Design, Theory, etc..  Humanoid robotics is different than nano robotics.
If your end goal is Nano electronics, look into schools that specialize in... Nano electronics.  In that field as well, you should figure out what aspect you are interested in.  Department of Physics will sometimes have these majors, or some inter-discipline schools may have a special Nano program.
Purdue has a Nanoelectronics field inside engineering: https://engineering.purdue.edu/NRL/Students/index.html
Carnegie Mellon Univ. has a Nanorobotics lab inside mechanical Engineering:
http://nanolab.me.cmu.edu/
Utah State has a bionanoelectronis lab in its Biological Engineering lab:
http://be.usu.edu/htm/research/research-labs
As you can see, "nano" is a hot topic, and can be approached by different fields.  First figure out what aspect your intersted in, and if you do not want to go directly to PHD, you can major is a more generalized aspect, either Mechanical engineering, Physics, Chemistry, or Electrical Engineering.
If your interested in Artificial Intelligence, then you may want to go into Computer Science.
If you want build medical robotics, it may be useful to have some medical training ontop of your EE background, which may make you attractive to interdisciplinary labs.  Or you can do Mechanical Engineering.
Saying your interested in Robotics, is a bit like saying you want to "Build Things".  You want to build Sculpture, Houses, Sky Scrappers, Bridges, Circuit Boards. Etc..

Yeah I have to do a self analysis for being more precise about it.


text:
Interpretation of the median of submission to first decision
I am an author who submitted my manuscript to a math journal for the first time.
I want to ask for opinions how would one interpret the median of the time to the first decision without knowing the other two quartiles (to know that the manuscript has undergone normal timeline)?
As for my circumstance, the website reports that the median is slightly less than 5 weeks. On the other hand, I did not see/receive any update of the status after the initial submission for over 6 weeks.
The general advice may better be patient, but how long would one worry about this issue if the status kept unchanged?
Thanks in advance!

What are you worrying about here? The median is just that, there must be many that take longer. Are you asking how much longer it will take? Are you asking whether the delay hints at some specific state, such as the submission being exceptionally good/bad?

This is not an "opinion" site, but one where answers are valid or not.

@MisterMiyagi Thank you asking for further clarifications! I have seen some posts back in 2020 where an author's paper was forgotten for 3 months and got unfortunately rejected at that point. I feel like it may well be better for me to receive an earlier feedback rather than possible negligence (due to the relative importance of my work).

Half the papers are claimed to take five weeks or less to a first decision. The other half could be years, actually, especially in math.
The obviously bad and crank papers are probably within that first half. The serious ones take longer, some much longer.
There are too many variables to make any real predictions for an individual paper. Finding reviewers, and reviewers finding the time for review can be highly variable. The more esoteric the paper, the longer, I'd suppose.
Follow up after a month or two if you haven't heard anything. Ask whether there is any information you might find helpful.
Unless you have decisions to make about this paper or other deadlines that depend on it, relax. Bugging the editor won't speed things up. Withdrawing and submitting elsewhere probably won't either. It is unlikely that they have forgotten or that "worry" will be productive.

Thank you very much for your very detailed suggestions!

According to this post https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/55665/what-does-the-typical-workflow-of-a-journal-look-like-how-should-i-interpret-a, I have a feeling / believe that my manuscript hasn't been assigned editors yet (at least to the associate editors?). So what might be some reasons/factors in this situation? Thanks again!

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


text:
How and where can I find meaningful feedback on my practice research articles?
I graduated with a B.Div in 2020 but unfortunately, I was forced to enter the workforce before I could achieve my dream of working in academia. I want to eventually return at some point to continue my studies and get a master's and PhD. I won't be able to do that any time soon. So, in the meantime, I have been advised to write practice research articles to try and achieve proficiency in research skills and writing. Are there any places online that I can look to get helpful feedback on my practice articles? Bonus if its in the field of Religious Studies.

Maybe check with the person who advised you to do so?

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


text:
How should I cite a labor union CBA in Turabian style?
I need to cite a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiated between a labor union (United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 555) and an employer (Fred Meyer Stores, Inc., a subsidiary of Kroger). How would I do this? I am using Turabian notes style.
The best I've come up with is this:

Fred Meyer Grocery Contract, Coos & Western Douglas Counties & Brookings, Oregon. Tigard, OR: UFCW Local 555, 2022.

That takes it as a book with no named author, published by the union. It takes it as the first edition, even though there have been revisions, because it is the first under this title; the most recent change was for the purpose of including workers in Brookings, Oregon in the bargaining unit.
Should I list the union and employer as co-authors?
Front cover

[UFCW Local 555 logo]
Fred Meyer
Grocery Contract
Coos & Western Douglas Counties
& Brookings, Oregon
FI05FO
Effective
November 6, 2022 - November 5, 2025
Updated to reflect 2023 state wage increase
www.ufcw555.org

Title page

FRED MEYER STORES, INC.
COOS AND WESTERN DOUGLAS COUNTIES AND BROOKINGS, OREGON
GROCERY, BAKERY, AND NON-FOODS CLERKS AGREEMENT
WITH
UNITED FOOD & COMMERCIAL WORKERS UNION LOCAL 555
November 6, 2022 through November 8, 2025
[table of contents ommitted]
Contract Ratified December 30, 2021
Language Changes Effective November 6, 2022
Brookings, Oregon Effective October 23, 2022
Unless Otherwise Specified

Page footer
This footer is found on each page after the title page.

FRED MEYER STORES, INC. and UFCW 555
Coos and Western Douglas Counties and Brookings, OR
Grocery, Bakery, and Non-Foods Clerks
November 6, 2022-November 8, 2025

Back cover

[statement about Weingarten Rights]
UFCW LOCAL 555
7095 SW Sandburg St.
Tigard, OR 97223
503-684-2822
[UFCW 555 union label]

I found a source explaining how to cite CBAs in APA style, and it recommends including essentially the same information I had, but also listing the union and employer as authors. I changed my citation to this; I called my professor to check, and he agreed that it's OK.

UFCW Local 555 and Fred Meyer Stores. Fred Meyer Grocery Contract, Coos & Western Douglas Counties & Brookings, Oregon. Tigard, OR: UFCW Local 555, 2022.


text:
Is it problematic to use a Wikipedia article I wrote in my PhD thesis?
I'm working on a specific subject, and I thought that sharing my bibliographical and synthesis work from peer-reviewed journals on Wikipedia could be a good idea. Moreover, there is no Wikipedia entry on that subject.
But as I will use that work for my PhD thesis, is this problematic because someone might think that I have plagiarised the material from Wikipedia?
Note that this question could apply to any similar collaborative encyclopedia, not just to Wikipedia, and that the article I'm writing is subject to collaborative change.

Edit : by synthesis work I do not mean :

combine material from multiple sources to reach or imply a conclusion
  not explicitly stated by any of the sources

but

reduce the information in lengthy sources to an encyclopedic length

More information on Wikipedias SYNTH policies and here
Also the question is related to sharing my bibliographical work on a collaborative platform, regardless to the platform policy (assuming I can), and potential problems re-using it afterwards, in a PhD thesis.

It's not really researching per se, it's more bibliographical work, I do not create knowledge. Otherwise, yes, it's related to self plagiarism.

Wikipedia is not considered acceptable source even for 4+th grader school work... I'd just assume if noticeable  parts of your thesis would match Wiki you'd at least would have to rewrite these portions...

@AlexeiLevenkov: From the description in the question, this is not an "I claim fact X because Wikipedia page Y says so." situation, but an "I claim fact X because well-reviewed source Y says so, and this was already stated on Wikipedia page Z." situation. In other words, you are probably thinking of using a Wikipedia page as a source for facts, whereas the OP is asking about citing a Wikipedia page as a source for words.

This is great that you contribute to Wikipedia. Can you add links to the Wikipedia pages you created?

@FeralOink: Neither do I touch that question, nor does Alex say anything about it. What does your comment refer to?

Wikipedia has a "No original research" policy, so it would likely reject your contribution unless you already published your research elsewhere. You should wait with the Wikipedia article until after you published your thesis and then cite it as a source when writing the article.

@FeralOink: Reading the question again, it even seems to me more like the OP's situation is as follows: The topical overview has been published in peer-reviewed journals. The OP has then, or wants to, re-write that same information in a way (e.g. structure of explanations, cross-links) suitable for WP (i.e. not performing any original research for WP). Then, the OP plans to take over the conceptually same contents once again for their PhD thesis, while using more or less the same text as in the WP article. If that is correct, any discussion about original research on WP is beside the point.

@FeralOink A PhD thesis must contain original work. It should also place this original work within the body of previous work, which is usually done in the form of an introductory chapter summarizing the literature. While the original work often (also) ends up published in the form of a peer reviewed paper (or several), the introduction usually doesn't, even if a significant amount of effort was put into it (i.e., more than the stereotypical "this problem was also considered in [1,2,5-25]" in a paper).

(cont.) This is why PhD theses often make excellent reading when getting into a new field -- and why (if the topic is of significant general interest) having such a summary of the field would be of great benefit, both for people interested in the topic (even if the thesis is online, the text is much more discoverable on Wikipedia) and Wikipedia in general (carefully crafted content by an expert).  As far as I understand, OP is only talking about this summary of previously published research.

@FeralOink Also, this question is purely about the academic side of things ("how will this affect the evaluation of my thesis"), which is an interesting question no matter what Wikipedia's policy is. Although it goes without saying (as your strong feelings have hopefully driven home) that such a large edit should first be brought up on the corresponding talk page, where the Wikicommunity is in a much better position to judge the appropriateness (and suggest improvements) than in this comment thread.

@O.R.Mapper - The only thing I was trying to say if pieces of your work match Wikipedia article (almost) word for word it will not look look ok. I.e. reviewer may happen to check wikipedia article on the subject and be puzzled by similarity - I'd not think it would make positive impression.

I think the situation would be much clearer if you stated which section of your thesis is relevant here. Even in the context of a thesis, the Introduction is more or less an overview of the current state of knowledge in the field, with numerous references to previous published work. I can see how that may be re-used in a Wikipedia article. But if you are talking about the Results, Methods or Discussion I don't know how relevant this question is. Maybe stating "PhD thesis introduction" to the title would help :)

No, but make sure you cite it and mention it, to avoid being accused of copying and pasting from Wikipedia.
In any case, it is great that you have contributed to Wikipedia and I wish more people considered using pieces of their introductory chapters for Wikipedia. Just make sure that people know that you copied to, not from, Wikipedia. (I mean, the order is irrelevant, i.e. whether you first wrote text for Wikipedia or your thesis, but the authorship is.)

"I mean, the order is irrelevant, i.e. whether you first wrote text for Wikipedia or your thesis, but the authorship is."  The order is not irrelevant.  As bsg points out, Wikipedia doesn't want original research.  Posting a summary of thesis content after it's been made public and peer-reviewed is fine, but the other way round is not.

@JoshuaTaylor How are the policies of Wikipedia at all relevant here? The OP is asking about the potential consequences on the evaluation of his thesis, not about whether it would fit on Wikipedia. He has also stated that Wikipedia was just named as an example and that this is not "new knowledge".

Thanks for your answer. It encourages me to continue that way, even if it takes a looots of time, I hope other will take advantage of it.

@JoshuaTaylor OP ask about "bibliographical and synthesis work", not original research. But anyway, my answer on order is not wrt to Wikipedia policy (which would require more details on the exact contribution), by wrt to the thesis.

I would specifically NOT cite it, but would add it in (a subsection of) my list of publications, conference presentations etc.  The reason for not citing is to avoid the appearance of an inappropriate cite, especially as your work will be modified on WP, and although you started (i.e. wrote most of) the article, what you're citing ends up being the collaboration with random people.  If you do cite it, you shoudl make sure to cite not the page directly but your final publication-grade version -- and consider contributing under something close to your real  name.

@PiotrMigdal I missed that this was the bibliographic potion in my first reading.  Yes, in this case, this is a good situation then. This is (hopefully) doing some good literature review and then making it available on Wikipedia. It probably would be easier to publishing thesis first, and then put the section in wikipedia, citing the thesis with a note that the author explicitly allowed this.  Sorry for the initial misunderstanding. +1

@TobiasKildetoft the fact that this isn't original research makes part of my point not so important, but wikipedia's policies are still important for two reasons. i. Part of being a good academic is respecting the wishes of others regarding publication wen it makes sense and is possible. ii. If wikipedia's policy was something like "you grant us an exclusive license to any previously unpublished contributions," then it would not be ok to contribute and then subsequently publish in the thesis.  The same applies to the policies of any place that you publish something.

@JoshuaTaylor Literature review is not a extant article type on Wikipedia. I've left several comments regarding why such an article would not meet NPOV and SYNTH criteria. Apparently, Academia SE thinks it is a great idea to violate the standards of Wikipedia. I have no personal stake in this, so I'll just move along.

@FeralOink Literature review isn't, but many of the things that appear in a literature review could certainly be incorporated into the "Background" or "History" section for a high-level article.  E.g., the Symbolic Logic/History/19th Century section is essentially a very condensed literature review.    If an author can publish something in another venue, retain rights to it, and then license it to Wikipedia in a way that meets their standards, and it useful to Wikipedia, it doesn't seem like a problem, much in the same way that…

…material from sources for which copyright has expired, or that photographers can release their photos for Wikipedia.  The situation that I'd be concerned about is that many publishers don't want previously published stuff (so publishing on Wikipedia first is a problem) and don't give authors permission to reprint elsewhere (so authors don't have the right to release to Wikipedia).  This is a problem I've seen on Wikipedia, an author published in a Springer proceedings and then tried to put the material in a Wikipedia article, too.  Unless permitted by Springer, that's not good.

@FeralOink Many universities allow authors to retain copyright to their thesis, and that's why my advice here would be "present your thesis first, and then put parts on Wikipedia if they're acceptable and you've got the rights to do so."  Issues about NPOV may come up, of course, depending on what the content is;  that's why I said "if they're acceptable".

I would just add that hopefully the Wikipedia edits were made from a user account (and not anonymously), and then I would simply put it in the acknowledgements that some of the contents were also added to Wikipedia under the author's own account.

The other answers address the question of "once I post this on Wikipedia, can I include it in my thesis?" I would like to address another angle - I am not sure that you should be posting this on Wikipedia at all.
Wikipedia has a policy banning the inclusion of original research. This means "research that is not exclusively based on a summary, review or synthesis of earlier publications on the subject of research." (See English Wikipedia's policy on original research here)That is, basically anything that would be publishable as a thesis. This is because Wikipedia is an encyclopedia - that is, a tertiary source that aggregates information from secondary (and sometimes primary) sources - it cannot accept primary-source material like original research.
You say that you want to share your "bibliographical and synthesis work" on your subject. Bibliographical work may be useful for Wikipedia, but any synthesis you did to add your own ideas and/or discuss them may well be considered original research and be prohibited. The fact that no article exists on the topic leads me to think that it may be a theory or idea of your own and may be considered original research if posted.
That said, as Piotr Migdal said, it's great that you are thinking of contributing to Wikipedia. Wikipedia definitely needs more academics and people who are experts in various areas to contribute their knowledge - it just has to be knowledge that's already accepted in the field, rather than original, non-yet-peer-reviewed research.

+1 for the policy about original research.  I'm disappointed that the highest upvoted answer so far doesn't mention it.

I'm really not talking about my research, but bibliographical work, where I just gather information and sum it up from good peer-reviewed journals. Concerning the fact that no article exists on that topic, you'll be surprise to learn that all subjects in science are not equally covered on Wikipedia and in general the open-access-related community seems to be have strong bias toward CS, Math, Physics and less toward Microbiology!

I'm not not surprised to hear that at all, but I did miss in my first reading that this is your literature review.  This is a much ebetter situation, in my opinion, though it may still be easier to publish your thesis first and then contribute part of it to Wikipedia than the other way around.

Then go for it! Wikipedia definitely has huge gaps that need filling and we (I'm a Wikipedia researcher) would love to have more quality academic content. From the original question, it seemed like it might be original research, but if it's not, great.

@FeralOink : Did you read what I wrote ?

@FeralOink ALL Wikipedia content is synthesis. In that matter writing Wikipedia article does not differ from writing general introduction in thesis. Collecting bibliography and summarizing it from NPOV, with no Original Research. If you can tell the difference, please enlighten me. (Wikipedia is not copy and paste, with no modifications, from another source.)

@FeralOink WP SYNTH (by no means a general definition of synthesis, which means any i.e. anything which is not verbatim quotation from a single source) says "original research by synthesis, where an editor combines reliably sourced statements in a way that makes or suggests a new statement not supported by any one of the sources" (emphasis mine). So writing a reference of already accepted, published things, from the mainstream angle, without suggesting novel conclusions is not WP SYNTH.

@FeralOink Let's not get ironic. But describe how do you edit Wikipedia. (You do contribute to Wikipedia, right?)

+1 Wikipedia is just a list of references, so you are supposed to publish your work somewhere else first before you enter it to Wikipedia. The same applies for the thesis that you don't refer to Wikipedia, but you refer to any of the sources used in Wikipedia.

I think you can do this safely, but you will want to take some precautions like Piotr mentioned.  However, from a practical standpoint, I don't recommend anything that might create problems with your dissertation work.  You haven't finished your PhD thesis, and your efforts on that project are far more important than writing a Wikipedia entry for a topic that isn't covered.  Even if you cover all your bases, you still have a risk of somebody raising the issue of plagiarism.  I suggest minimizing such distractions and side projects and focus exclusively on your thesis.  You can then devote your time to these projects after it is defended.

With respect to "your efforts on that project are far more important than writing a Wikipedia entry for a topic that isn't covered": good advice for a person, not the best - for the civilization.

Sadly, this is an easy criticism for someone in the reviewing committee that is not an expert in the topic. It is like poor labelling in figures: easy to attack if you don't have anything else to say.

@PiotrMigdal I'm not clear how it's worse for civilization;  once the thesis is presented, then if the author retains copyright, the author can release the parts that are acceptable (e.g., historical literature review, but not the original work or synthesis), and it will have the credentials of "this is a peer reviewed thesis" rather than "here's some stuff I just wrote".  It will still be a bit tricky to keep NPOV, but for parts of the content, it shouldn't be too hard.

@JoshuaTaylor Let's be honest - after finishing thesis it is unlikely that OP will have a lot of time to work on this Wikipedia article. So if someone feels like writing Wikipedia article, then saying "not now, wait after you..." is lowering chance that (s)he will write it at all. In many cases Wikipedia is a good procrastination (maybe not for the person, but for the others). Of course, everything within all of its rules; if something is original research, Wikipedia is not place for it. General introductions/references, tailored to Wikipedia style are usually anything but original research.

@PiotrMigdal I don't know… In my field we're often encouraged to prepare theses for publication as books afterward, and that usually requires plenty more time modifying the manuscript.  That seems like an ideal time to distill a bit down into something that can be put to Wikipedia, as it's basically time that you're required to go through the text and refine and update.

@JoshuaTaylor It may be personal, but all of my bigger Wikipedia edits were before an exam, thesis submission, etc. At the stage I am familiar enough, but when I am not yet done with the topic. After I am to tired or fed up that doing something extra with it is not the first thing I am thinking about. Plus, writing in the stage of learning means that I am fresh + I don't unconsciously assume to much of knowledge.

@PiotrMigdal and desperately in search of procrastination, right? :)

And why not the other way around? First, obtain your PhD and finish your dissertation. Once this has been done, cite among the other bibliographical items in Wikipedia your dissertation.
In this way, there will be no problem. Since it will be the Wikipedia article based on your thesis and not the other way around.

IIRC there's some regulation on Wikipedia about citing your own sources, so this may not be "kosher", but I'm not sure.

@DavidZ As far as I read there are two exception to the rule of self-sorces: 1) It has been published by reliable third-party publications -which can be applied to an accepted thesis which is usually published by the university-; 2) it is used as a source of information which is supported in totality by other reliable references -as this case is-. At least this is what Iread in Wikipedia.

@FeralOink Could you give me an example in which is violated? For example, in a mathematics thesis the preliminaries are normally neutral. Although, I can understand that in other fields they could not be.
Nevertheless, I think that the OP should judge if the synthesis work in his/her thesis violates NPOV or not.

Yes, it's problematic. Quoting wikipedia is, to some people, always dodgy, whatever the context. Just don't do it in an academic work.
And you can't reuse your own words, having broadcast them once in wikipedia, without explicitly stating that you're quoting wikipedia - that would be self-plagiarism, just as when if you'd quoted a previous paper you'd written, without explicitly identifying that it was a quote.
So don't do it.
If you've written your best stuff for wikipedia, and left yourself with a dead end for your academic work, then count it as a lesson learnt.  But it's more likely that you've just put on wikipedia one first attempt at formulation. So now do a better one, completely rephrased, and use that in your thesis. Then you don't need to mention wikipedia in your thesis at all, except in the acknowledgements section if you wish.

@feraloink What are those rules you claim would be broken by that suggestion?

@TobiasKildetoft "quoting without explicitly denoting it as a quote, and without citing the source" is the rule being broken. It doesn't matter that the author of text you're quoting is you - if you're quoting another source, the rule is that you mark it as a quote, and cite the source.


text:
Benefit of paying for ZAB recognition of PhD in Germany?
So I've been working at a German university as a Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin for a year now, and whilst I was here I completed my UK-based PhD. I've recently just received my certificate from my old university. Since in the UK once you've submitted any corrections to your thesis OR, as in my case, passed your viva with no corrections, you're considered a Doctor and the certificate is largely just a formality, I've been considered a PhD in the UK since July 2021. I just sent my certificate to the HR department at this university, since I'm signing a new contract, but they've told me that I have to go through a process of getting my PhD recognised at the ZAB.
Looking into this, it looks like a long process and will cost me €200. My question is- what's the point? I'm on a short-term contract, and not entirely convinced that I'm going to stay in Germany long-term, so does getting this recognition make any difference to me? It's not going to have any baring on my current contract since that will go through long before any of this recognition could happen. I've become fairly desensitised to the German bureaucracy since arriving here, and I get that it's just the way of things here, but at this stage, I don't see why this is even remotely necessary, when it's from an accredited and recognised UK university and I've got all the paperwork to prove it. Am I missing something?

I am a Ph.D. The last thing I want is my co-workers to call me "Dr." -- it wouldn't help. At a University, I was regularly called "Dr" but it was not a good situation. If it's really important to you to be called "Dr" I would pay the fee, otherwise, not.

I don't particularly like being called Dr at all, it's partly that many of the students I teach here are often the same age or older than me, and I get quite a lot of questions about whether I'm qualified to be teaching them at all, and a lot of senior professors who disregard my input and opinions. It's more like a quick way of expressing that I have earned my stripes for people who don't work with me in much capacity.

As far as I can see from reading on their website, getting a (PhD) degree recognised by the ZAB can be useful/necessary especially in two cases:

A PhD is a requirement for your job: The employer may demand the recognition of your degree to make sure that it is equivalent to a PhD obtained in Germany.
As you do obviously have a contract already and assuming that the requirements for your new contract do not include a PhD, this should not be relevant for you.
If you want to use your academic title: There are restrictions on when you can use an academic title obtained outside of Germany in Germany, as stated here:

"A foreign academic title may be used in Germany provided it has been
properly awarded by a higher education institution or a public
authority entitled to do so. Additionally, the university must be
state-recognised or accredited in the country of origin."

Further, there are restrictions on whether you can call yourself "Dr." if you have obtained the title "PhD". Each federal state has its own specific regulation here (...) but fortunately "[i]f use of an academic title is granted under a Länder regulation, it is valid in all other German Länder as well."
So, looking at the regulation of Baden-Württemberg, in 2.6 it is written that a PhD obtained in the UK can generally be used both as "PhD" or "Dr." in Germany

For doctoral degrees which were acquired in the United Kingdom with
the designa- tion “Doctor of...” plus the respective abbreviation for
the field and which are classified as third cycle degrees according to
the basic framework of higher education qualifica- tions determined in
the Bologna process, no. 4.5 of the current resolution of the Stand-
ing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of
28 May 2021 stip- ulates that the degree may be used in the
abbreviated form “Dr.” without specification of subject or mention of
the awarding higher education institution. For example: Doctoral
degree acquired in the UK: Doctor of Philosophy, abbr.: Ph.D. or Dr.
Doctor of Business Administration, abbr.: DBA or Dr.

So, if you have a "Doctor of Philosophy" awarded in the UK by a university that fulfills the criteria of the respective federal state you may use that as "Dr. XY" throughout Germany (or as "XY, PhD" of course).
Thus, in conclusion, I don't see why an official recognition should be necessary in your case (but note that my answer is written based on briefly skimming the ZAB website).

Thanks so much for this! I checked with HR and they confirmed that there was no need for the confirmation for the job, but they did add that I wouldn't be allowed to use my title (Dr or PhD) if I don't do it. I wonder if it's different policy within the university than elsewhere. I'm begrudging giving up a title I've earned and am entitled to, particularly when I teach students who are often the same age or even older than me, having a title seems like it would help when they're a little disrespectful about my right to teach them.

The university cannot make its own rules here but has to apply the regulation of the Federal state. You could ask them to show you the respective paragraph in your state's regulation. They are all listed here (in English): https://www.kmk.org/zab/central-office-for-foreign-education/general-information-about-recognition/publications-and-decisions/use-of-academic-titles.html#c5263

@TwigTheWonderKid If students doubt your competence, prove your competence through competence rather than a title. A title does not certify competence.


text:
Is it a bad sign? Search committee did not ever reach out to references, even before and after campus visit
I did a virtual campus visit interview for tenure track assistant professor positions in an R1 university in the U.S. I think that I aced a job talk and was good with one-to-one faculty interviews. My supervisor told me that they had not reached out to him for a letter of recommendation even before the campus visit (They requested only a list of three referee contact information at application). It is a bad sign?
My supervisor said that this is not any sign, but the dean emailed and said they hope to finalize the decision in two weeks, and now it is over two weeks, which worries me. This is my dream job. I will wait for one extra week and am thinking of emailing them after then. Does some university hire a junior faculty without reaching out to references?

What discipline is this in? And did they also not contact your other two references? Are you sure they didn’t ask for letters from other experts in your area?

Did the job ad (or similar) ask for references or gave any indication that they will consider references at all?

@DanRomik Thanks for the questions. I am not sure that they did. I did not ask the other two references because I do not want to bother them. Neither am I for requests to other experts. I saw threads that requesting other people not proposed by the applicant is not common for TT position. Probably it is for a tenured position.   Discipline is public health.

@Wrzlprmft Thanks for the question. I do not see any indication about that. The job ad said only a list of three names with contact information. I provided it when I applied for the position.

Ask yourself whether knowing that you didn't get the job will change what you do in the next couple of weeks? Do you have other offers? Do you have important academic work to do no matter what?

@user2705196 Thanks for the advice!

Hiring practices can vary widely by departments.  In my experience hiring in industry, generally no news is good news.  Though a bit of a tautology, the idea that "you are not rejected until they reject you" holds here.  I don't think not asking for references is therefore a bad sign.
Even the claim that they want to get things done in two weeks (and more time passing since with no news) is not necessarily a deal-breaker.  Often, people involved in hiring underestimate the red-tape and admin issues.  Delays are common.
My guess is that you are still a candidate, but you may not be the top candidate.  Since you were given some semblance of an expectation (two weeks), it's not unreasonable to write with a brief follow-up restating your interest in the position and asking if you can provide any further information.  I don't know if it'll make a difference, but it's possible you will get more information.  If you get another offer, also let them know.
Beyond this, there is little you can do besides wait.  Perhaps do some things to take your mind off the stress, too.

I would agree. In my (non-university) hiring experience, references are the last thing I check, and only on the candidate I’m making an offer to.

Thank you. I saw some threads in google search that some did not request the letters at all in some companies in industry. But to my sense (without proof), it seems unusual to not contact references  unless they do not want to hire in schools. Thank you for your advice. I should take this off my mind.

Let's consider only academic positions within US higher ed.
The administrative requirements vary on what documents must be in place at any given time during a hiring process for an academic position. At a minimum, all paperwork requested in the job advertisement must be on file before any negotiations can begin on a formal letter of offer. This typically includes the CV, transcripts, and letters of recommendation (LoRs) as well as teaching, research, and possibly diversity statements. Colleges or departments are generally at liberty to put their own spin on what documents have to be in place in advance. With regard to LoRs, one position may require these to be on file before they even set up a virtual interview, another may only ask for them during the virtual interview, and another may ask for them by example only on the top three candidates after conducting a virtual interview with ten applicants.
Federal hiring guidelines restrict that colleges or departments are not permitted to request any additional documents that are not officially or indirectly required by the publicly posted job advertisement. What is an example of an indirect requirement for documents? Suppose a job advertisement states that a PhD in field XYZ is required, but the advertisement also does not directly ask for transcripts as part of the application file. Be assured with this language that you may (and likely will) be asked later to submit graduate transcripts to prove that you have a PhD in field XYZ before any negotiations will be initiated with you on a potential offer.
Until the position is filled, the standard reply to any request by an applicant for information on their status is the equivalent of "The position is still open and processing on applications is still on-going". In other words, you will never hear that your application has been declined, only that the position has been filled or the search has been closed. By example then, a third-ranked applicant in a list of top three from ten in a virtual interview has the distinction to be on hold until after the first applicant or the second applicant either accepts or declines an offer (or until a decision is made to close the search without filling the position).

Thank you for the answer. I have a question. Will departments require some documents that are not listed in the job ad before giving an offer? For example, in my case, they did not request transcripts when I applied for the position. This has nothing to do with LoR, but I am just curious because I am not from the U.S.

@Gratitude17 By the time you are applying for tenure track jobs transcripts are usually not relevant.

I've updated my answer accordingly.

@JeffreyJWeimer Thank you!


text:
Ph.D. advisor severely ill right before dissertation proposal... what should I do?
My dissertation advisor (committee chair) just informed me that he is severely ill and will leave the program very soon. His physical condition does not allow him to continue with any kind of advisory work, and that's happening all of a sudden.
We have been on this dissertation topic for almost 10 months, and I have drafted the proposal. The data has been collected and transcribed (not like we collected the data before the proposal but the data was already there and I transcribed them for partial sample analysis in the proposal). The original plan is to propose on April or May and do the defense by the end of summer.
Now I am still in the middle of shock and I don't know what to do next.
--
Add: My department is a relatively small one, with a limited number of faculty members and each having really their own expertise. This makes the situation even more complicated as if I am going to switch to another advisor within the department-which I ultimately will have to-their expertise will not be a match to my advisor's and mine. This worries me a lot.

Time for a meeting with the department chair or graduate advisor to discuss the path forward. Ideally this should not negatively impact you since you have no fault here.

@JonCuster, I think that is a good answer, actually. I was about to write it.

@JonCuster I have scheduled a meeting with the department chair but it'll take a few days cause the chair is on vacation (spring break) while I am seeking for external help to see if there's anything I can do. We are a small department with a limited number of faculties, so it will definitely impact me to some extent.

"but it'll take a few days" This might be a good thing. You have some time to cool down and can then seek the best solution together with the department chair. Are there other students in a similar situation? You might be able to team up and evaluate possible ways out together.

@Snijderfrey There are a number of students who are in the similar situation, but we are at different stages of finishing the degree. Some were doing qualifying projects towards candidacy with my advisor, and some are still forming up the dissertation idea. To be honest, they are more flexible than I am since I am almost at the proposal stage and on a tighter schedule than anyone else. Teaming up with people in the department will not help me out to some extent.

This is a question for your director of graduate studies (DGS) or chair.
I would not anticipate any poor outcomes for you with regard to the defense specifically. In other words, you aren't going to be asked to come up with a new proposal that aligns with your "new advisor"'s line of work.
Of course, losing your advisor is a different story, but I'm sure the department will try their best to keep you on your schedule. (Although only a few months between proposal and defense? Is that usual in your department?)

Thank you for your answer! To have a short period between proposal and defense is not usual in my department, and it's a special case with the data set I am dealing with. I have to test out the models to make sure they work and therefore I transcribed all the data already. The usual path people take is to propose and collect data, then the defense, but for my case, the data collection has been done, so anything between the proposal (preliminarily approved by my advisor) and the defense is to analyze the rest part of the data if the proposal is approved.

If you have some close collaborators, it might also be possible to have them as your advisor. I know a few students who have scientists from national labs as their advisor.

As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.

thanks for the comment, but I guess the grad school requires faculty from the department to take the committee chair so collaborators are not an option as of committee chair issue.

Compatibility with research scholar and research supervisor is important for a successful research career. As you say that you work in a small department, see the available choices of supervisors, and choose the one who best matches with your research interests. Then discuss the research proposal with the new supervisor and either keep it or polish it or change it to an altogether new proposal as suggested by the new thesis supervisor. I was blessed with a great thesis supervisor in US and he allowed me to choose my own problem in control engineering, which was an open problem.

Thanks for the really practical suggestion!


text:
What to do when haven't heard back from potential supervisor who is moving?
I had contacted a potential supervisor and got a positive response from him. He said that he is interested but he said we should do a skype interview first. He also stated that he is moving to another university in 4 weeks and explained a few conditions and asked if I am still interested. I had no issue with the place or university since I am interested to work with him so I replied and sent my skype id for interview. Its been a week and I haven't heard back from him. I think he might be busy as he said that he will be moving to some other university.
Shall I write him again and if yes how do I start the conversation again or shall I wait for his response?.

Related: What to do when emails to a potential advisor are not replied?, What does it mean if a professor does not answer your email in time?, Is it acceptable to ignore emails in academia?

I cannot agree with Neo: one month is awful long time in any conversation, and I would take that long wait only if explicitly said to contact months later. Long time is a problem because 1) he forgets what was it about, 2) it can give the impression that OP is maybe not that enthusiastic about the opportunity, 3) in a month a lot of things can happen with an open position....
People can forget mails, or not answer even if they not forget them, especially if he is busy and not you are his first priority. Just send him a polite follow up email: remind him in the first sentence or two about your discussion and he was positive about you. Then ask about the Skype interview, how you can roll this etc.
If you are afraid that he is busy and you are too pushy, you can just state that you know he is busy so if he wants to postpone this conversation / scheduling the interview after his move, you are totally fine (are you? do you have any deadlines to care for?). If this latter happens, still ask that you will follow him up a month etc. later, if it is good for him. Busy people dont like to be pushed in a schedule, but if no one sets expectations for a schedule (any schedule that convenient for him), nothing will be done and also kind of unprofessional.
(I assume this story is about US. Different countries call for different level pushiness.)

Wait a month before asking again, maybe longer because he is moving. Generally a month is a good time to wait even if he wasn't moving.
There is still plenty of time to get your application in and have a Skype interview.
The start of the semester is one of the busiest times in the year for an academic.
He probably gets a lot of emails from prospective students, plus he has to set everything else up.


text:
Explanation needed for university program titles (MScDiplomaCertificate)
What does it mean when a university has a program which title is 'program name' MSc/Diploma (MScDiploma).
When a person graduates, does he/she get MSc or Diploma (MScDiploma). What is the difference between these two?
There are also variations like MScDiplomaCertificate
Noticed that UK universities use such titles

In my experience these are programs which can be done as a MSc or you can stop before doing the master thesis and graduate with a postgraduate diploma. Do you have a specific program you are asking about?

@earthling what is the point of stopping before doing the master thesis? I am mostly concerned about software engineering program at a UK university

I have seen some students who believe the master thesis will be too difficult for them and I have seen some who use it as an 'escape hatch.' That is, they can leave with a PG diploma and later return to finish the thesis and get their masters. As far as the point, different people have different needs / desires.

@earthling interesting. Haven't thought about that. But this still leaves the question regarding MScDiplomaCertificate

I think StrongBad's answer explains it quite well.

I am not sure it is consistent across all departments, but my UK Psychology department offers an MSc/Diploma in Psychology that can result in an MSc, a diploma, or a certificate. The course is designed to allow students who currently have a degree that does not meet the requirements for accreditation by the British Psychology Society, to get an accredited degree in one year of study. Many BSc degrees in Psychology are not accredited by the BPS since they lack, or don't require students to take or pass, a critical component (e.g., modules on statistics or biological aspects of Psychology).
Even though all students take the same modules, due to differences in the requirements between the university and BPS, the final degree a student gets depends on how well they did. The course offers both undergraduate and graduate modules. If you pass everything, you get an MSc. If you pass enough credits, you may qualify for a certificate from the university, but not meet the BPS requirements depending on which combination of modules you failed.


text:
Is it useful to list the exact name of a prize or grant in a resume?
Given that a lot of prizes or grants are specific to a particular university, is there any point in listing the exact name of a prize or grant on one's resume?
For example, if I say that I won "John Doe Scholarship" or "Mary Doe Thesis Award", it won't really mean anything to someone outside the university. Would it be easier just to say you won scholarships/grants and an award for your thesis?

Unless you won a huge amount of awards, I would be quite specific: "John Doe award from XYZ university for best master thesis in 2014".
Even when you have won many awards, it still makes sense to be specific about the most important ones, and be brief about the others.

Agree. And adding a note to say what it's an award for, if not in the title, is a very good idea.

Would it hurt to name the prizes and grants? Between "some grant" and "x y grant" I would always choose "x y grant". It doesn't matter if the reader is unfamiliar with it, as such a reader would gain the exact same amount of information as if you stated "some grant". But, by being specific you also don't leave room for ambiguity and provide additional for the informed reader.
On a personal note, I dislike such vague statements as "some grants and prizes". Somehow it immediately gets me thinking about somebody patting you on the back or giving thumbs up. If you won a competition, you should be proud of it and show it on the resume.

Even an unfamiliar reader gets a lot more data from "x y grant" if the reader knows how to use Internet search engines.

"some grants and prizes" also might look like they're being deliberately vague because the grants & prizes are trivial, or in order to make it difficult for people to check. It's a bit of a red flag.


text:
Is it possible to download magazines as single PDF in IEEE Xplore with an institutional subscription?
In the past, as a subscriber of IEEE Security & Privacy, I was able to download the entire magazine as a single PDF.
Since I started using IEEE Xplore from the university, however, I can only download an article at a time which is quite annoying. Is there a way to download a full magazine as a single PDF using an institutional subscription?

No, this is not possible, at least not with IEEE Xplore.
In fact, they explicitly disallow this. See http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/termsOfUse.jsp (Point 4 of the "Do Not"s for Institutional Subscribers). So it is not surprising that there is no technical support for doing that.
As an individual former subscriber of "IEEE Security & Privacy", they may have granted you that right. Interestingly, under the "Do Not"s for IEEE Member access to IEEE Xplore, the point about downloading whole issues is missing. So that may be part of the reason.

Perhaps you could quote that particular bullet point in your answer for completeness?

The page states "Institutional subscribers are NOT permitted to do the following: [...] - Download or attempt to download an entire issue or issues of a publication contained in IEEE Xplore. [...]"


text:
In-text reference (APA style) for website
How do I make an in-text citation for an information acquired from a website (If the writer and publication date is known)? Is it necessary to write out the full URL? I found APAstyle.org's explanation ambiguous.

We would probably be able to help you more easily if you could edit your question to explain in more detail what exactly about the explanation at APAstyle.org is ambiguous. (Incidentally, the link throws my browser into an endless loop, but I assume you don't mean that by "ambiguous".)

From Penn State University Libraries

APA in-text citation style uses the author's last name and the year of
  publication, for example: (Field, 2005). For direct quotations,
  include the page number as well, for example: (Field, 2005, p. 14).
  For sources such as websites and e-books that have no page numbers,
  use a paragraph number.

So in your case you could cite (Author name, Year, Paragraph Number).
Here is some more information when you do not have page numbers from Prudue University OWL

Sources Without Page Numbers
When an electronic source lacks page numbers, you should try to
  include information that will help readers find the passage being
  cited. When an electronic document has numbered paragraphs, use the
  abbreviation "para." followed by the paragraph number (Hall, 2001,
  para. 5). If the paragraphs are not numbered and the document includes
  headings, provide the appropriate heading and specify the paragraph
  under that heading. Note that in some electronic sources, like Web
  pages, people can use the Find function in their browser to locate any
  passages you cite.

How one can distinguish a web source from a printed document then?

@Pınar In your Bibliography/reference list you would list a website in the following format:  Author, A.A.. (Year, Month Date of Publication). Article title. Retrieved from URL. See this page from Prudue for more info.


text:
Is a Double Degree equivalent to 2 single degrees?
I want to study Bachelor of Mathematics at university in Australia. While I was surfing the various courses, I came across something interesting. It was Bachelor of Mathematics and Bachelor of Computer Science at University pf Wollongong (which takes 4.5 years to complete). I was like wow how does this work, Same qualification, and two degrees for 4.5 years. A single degree alone takes 4 years. But then I started to think, wait a minute this seems too good to be true.
(Note that my intention is to study Mathematics and do a PhD in Mathematics, I don't want to get some limited mathematics knowledge if double degree has half of both. At the same time I would love if this is full of both, so in that case I will apply to this.
Please help me on how this works , what are the limitations, will I get the same recognition and knowledge as students studying Math alone?

The best way to understand how this can work is to look at a degree plan. Most schools publish plans outlining approximately which courses you will need to take each year.
Many degrees are not simply comprised of just the departmental courses within your major. I cannot answer for Australian schools, but in the US at least, many students require students generally take approximately 40 courses to graduate, but quite a number of those courses might fall outside of the students' majors:

A significant fraction of courses a student takes might be general education requirements, such as world history and English. Some schools require students to choose electrics that expose them to a wide range of topics outside of their major and help them to develop skills that the planners hope all college educated students can learn.
Additionally, within the university, specific schools will require students to take  courses that may not fall within a students major.

For some majors, this structure might mean that a student will take ~15 courses in their major, and another 25 courses outside of their major. So, it should not be difficult to see how one might be able to fit in an extra major, as one would have no need to repeat all of these electives.
Some schools permit students with a bachelors to transfer in, waiving a significant portion of the degree requirements, to quickly earn a second degree.

Thank you alot....so this means a double degree gets rid of those extra courses and crashes everything within the two majors to make it possible to finish in 4.5 years?

What you suggest may be the case for the school you are looking at. My meaning is, at least in the US, each degree requires many electives, and those elective credits can be shared by the two degrees without a need to repeat a large portion of the degree. The situation in Australia might be different though.

Looking at the course requirements for the program, it seems they have something called a "General Schedule". Some sample general schedule courses are listed here.

I really appreciate your help

do you think I will be able to pursue a phD in mathematics or computer science after doing this?

Perhaps you can post that question as a new question on this site.

Ok sure ;))))))))

I took a double degree in Electronic Engineering and IT (Computer Science) from QUT. It required more time than either of the single degrees, and the course load was considerably higher per semester. At graduation, I received two separate degree certificates from QUT — I have two Bachelor degrees. There were some restrictions in the number of elective subjects we could take, since the core course load was higher.
Of course you need to check the course content and course load (and duration — a Bachelors degree without honours in Australia is usually three years, not four), to be certain it's right for you.

authors: ลูกชิ้นเด้ง เตี๋ยวหนับน้ำตกตับ


text:
What affiliation do I choose if my scientific work is unrelated to my job?
I left academia, but occasionally I am coauthor of a paper. These papers are in the area of research I did at university, but now I am working in a different industry.
Asked for affiliation, I am not sure whether I should state my company's name (although the company does not take part in the research and it is not done during work time) or if I should say "affiliation: none", which also seems strange.
My company has no policy (at least: as far as I know) that forbids to mention its name, nevertheless working there is not related to my research.

I edited to show that this is not a duplicate of the mentioned question.

Well the answers in the proposed duplicate still answer a major part of your question by offering alternatives to “affiliation: none”. If you wish to decide between whatever of these alternatives you like best and your industry affiliation, then wouldn’t see the question as a duplicate.

I agree with @Wrzlprmft . It is a duplicate.

Also related: Is it acceptable to publish a paper using an affiliation with a former employer

@Wrzlprmft I think it is closely related, but sufficiently different in answer that I would not judge this a duplicate.

Ask your company about this.  Some may be glad to have their name mentioned; others may actually forbid it.

I don't see this as an answer since it doesn't apply to the general question but since you do this "occasionally", I would suggest creating a simple 'sole proprietorship' company and using it as your research affiliation.

There are two main paths here:

You can list yourself as an independent researcher, which is appropriate if you are not doing this "on the clock" at your current position and use no company resources.
You can list yourself under your current employer, which is appropriate if you are doing this using work time and/or company resources, even if the work is not related to your position's responsibilities.

If you are working at a company that participates in research (even if in another field), they probably have policies that apply (possibly including pre-submission review), and you should have a discussion with your supervisor and/or other folks who are engaged in research there. A clause in your employment agreement might even mean that you cannot be an independent researcher.
If, on the other hand, you are working for a completely non-research organization (e.g., a paper company), then you probably should be doing this as an independent researcher and keeping everything off the clock.
Finally, there is a somewhat more complex third possibility to also consider: if these collaborations are part of a long-term relationship with a university, your collaborators might be able to get you some sort of "visiting researcher" or "associated researcher" affiliation. These "positions" have no money associated with them and are really just there to simplify the logistics of collaboration, so they are often pretty simple to arrange, and could actually be the most appropriate description of your position with regards to your research.

The visiting position may, however, include library access (including e-journals).  It's well worth looking into

As someone who developed a publication policy and approval process for the company I work for, I suggest that you first make sure that you really have no publication policy by asking your manager, the marketing/communications dept, or legal (in this order for ease of life).

A few points to consider

Your biggest (potential) problem is actually breach of contract with regard to intellectual property. You first need to make sure that you're not barred from publishing by your employment agreement. Not that you should avoid publishing if that's the case, but then I would definitely not talk to your company about it nor mention them in any way.
Making your current company an affiliation means claiming that the contents is the company's position and/or claims. Even if the association with the company is not of full strength - it's definitely there, i.e. you're committing them to something. So do ask them before putting their name on.
I agree with @jakebeal's criterion: If you used company resources to get this research done / published, you should offer the company affiliation. If you didn't, you should probably be listed as independent.
If the research started before you left academia, you could list the academic institute still, and add a footnote saying "Research conducted/conducted in part while XYZ at ABC institute" or something to that effect.

Ask a university affiliated co-author to make you an unpaid adjunct at their institution. This solves all the problems, and gets you an extra title.

I would not give credit where none is due.  Leave the company out of it.
For Affiliation write Independent Consultant or choose "None" if that is a pull down choice in an application that is poorly written with no way to enter your own information.


text:
Current Masters student, need advisor for PhD (no public announcements in the department)?
I am a masters student at a top-rated US university in electrical engineering. I have been working under a professor who joined the department last semester. He is quite happy with my progress, but can't offer me a PhD as he doesn't have enough money. He has agreed, though, to help me get a PhD by recommending me to other professors.
The task of finding a professor, however, is on me. The issue arises here, as in my department professors don't actively search for students. It works mostly like a referral system, where the professors take up recommended students. Thus most of the openings get filled up before they make a public announcement. One way to solve this is to write mails to several professors to ask for openings. What I am looking for is this: is there a better strategy?

Go talk to folks you would like to work with?

Yes. This is what I thought. I mail them first and then get an appointment to talk to them. Is there anything else I can do?

Is the culture in your department such that you can't just walk into people's offices during their office hours. Do you really need a formal appointment? Surely you must know several of these folks from your courses as well such that you could approach them without having to make an appointment.

During Summer time, I don't think, any of the professors hold office hours. Since, the field I am interested in is across 3-4 departments, I may have to go to the professors I haven't had classes with.

Rather than emailing lots of faculty asking for openings, I would recommend emailing a few faculty who seem most interesting to you asking for a discussion about the possibilities of joining their department.  The reason is that rather than just polling for openings, you want to get connected to the referral network (which your current professor appears unwilling or unable to do for you).  I would thus recommend approaching the discussion not as:

Hi, can you hire me?

but instead as:

Hi, I'd like to figure out whether my research interests and personality are a good match with you or others in the department.  If they are, can you hire me or else can you point me to somebody else who is likely to be interested in doing so?

This way, instead of asking a simple yes/no question, you are engaging the person in a way that may also lead you to good connections that you wouldn't have even thought of asking about.  By following the leads from such conversations, I think you are significantly more likely to find a good match than just by sending out polling emails.

This sounds like an interesting approach. I am going to give it a shot. What should be subject of such an email?

@GKS When possible, I prefer an introduction to a cold contact.  If your current professor is highly supportive of you, they are likely to be willing to at least help you out in that manner.


text:
Animated Presentation Navigation
Some days ago, I saw an animated presentation, that was very awesome. I am trying to google but not able to find the way to how to create it in Microsoft Office or Libre Office.
There have a lot of image sliders presentation like that are available on internet, but I want presentation with slides. I have attached an example of slider HERE.
Requirement: 1. First slides have links as thumbnails to another slides, 2. when I clicked on any slide, it open that slides. 3. when I click next button or click on slide then next slide will displayed and previous slide will fade out 4. at end of the slide first slide will open again.

Gimmicks!! What was the content like? Maybe try Prezi.

Might be Vue.

@DaveClarke Gimmicks are good - for a certain type of audience! I think Prezi is not the right tool for what the OP is asking. I remember listening to one presentation made with Prezi. It looked like one big canvas and I got dizzy from the animations.

Far more often than not, animations distract from the presentation. I'm much more likely to remember a well put together beamer presentation than a shoddy Prezi job replete with distracting and annoyingly slow transitions.

http://lab.hakim.se/reveal-js/#/ is also a nifty-looking one.

There is a wide variety of presentation tools with all kinds of features. However, for an academic presentation (I assume that this is what the question implies, otherwise it is off-topic on this site), animated transitions between slides and, for the most part, on a slide are highly recommended against. The main reason is that they significantly distract an audience from the essence of the presentation, thus, negatively impacting both the audience and the presenter.
When referring to the on-slide transitions above, I said "for the most part", because there are cases, when on-slide animated transitions are actually appropriate and helpful. For example, when a particular slide describes dynamic elements or nature of a system, it is helpful to illustrate the dynamics of changing state of the system's elements or features with animated or otherwise dynamic transitions.
Speaking about presentation tools, most software offerings (standalone and online services) offer the rather basic features that you mention in your requirements. For example, besides Microsoft Office and Libre Office, you can take a look at academically-focused Beamer (very flexible and highly recommended) and knitr software, as well as online services Bunkr, Speaker Deck, already mentioned RevealJS, Prezi (don't like it and don't recommend - similarly to @Nox, I get dizzy from their standard transitions), Keynote (AFAIK, it's Mac-only), SlideRocket and many more. If your subject matter allows story telling (which is what should be the core of ANY presentation, regardless of the domain), but in a more visual way, check Amazon StoryTeller and PowToon.

To complete that answer, please note that Beamer (the best tool, IMHO) is actually a Latex package, so a bit of Latex-knowledge is required to get started.

@kebs: Thank you for the comment. I'm well aware of Beamer's relation to LaTeX :-), but agree with you on both other points on Beamer (being the best - at least, for producing academic presentations - and requiring some LaTeX knowledge - the needed level IMHO is proportional to desired aesthetics and complexity of a presentation).