text:
Can I post my article to an e-print archive (like arXiv) before submitting to an APS online journal?
I have read in some discussion forum that it should be safe, but I did not find any statement about this on the APS site.
If the answer is yes, does this rule apply for any e-print archive, other than arXiv?

https://www.aps.org/archives/publications/apsnews/201211/backpage.cfm found from first Google hit on ‘APS arxiv preprint’

From APS' Copyright FAQ (emphasis mine):

As the author of an APS-published article, may I post my article or a portion of my article on an e-print server?
The author has the right to post and update the article on a free-access e-print server using files prepared and formatted by the author. Any such posting made or updated after acceptance of the article for publication by APS should include a link to the online APS journal article abstract. In all cases, the appropriate bibliographic citation and notice of the APS copyright must be included.

On the Open Access and Publications Rights policy page, APS states

Green Open Access
For all subscription articles for which APS holds copyright, authors have the right to post and update the article on free-access e-print servers (repositories, including institutional and subject specific such as the arXiv) as long as the version of record prepared and/or formatted by APS or its vendors are not used for that purpose, and the APS copyright is clear. All article depositions should include a link/DOI to the published manuscript.

Your version prior to submission to the journal likely was not prepared or formatted by APS or its vendors, so you'd be in the clear as long as you'd be submitting to a free-access e-print archive. Repositories that charge a fee for providing access (do they exist?) may lead to APS imposing fees on submitting authors. If you're uncertain about whether a specific server qualifies, consider asking the journal directly. (A third scenario, which I've used personally, is posting to an internal, non-public institutional repository. The policy is unclear on such cases, but frankly APS tend to be quite author-friendly and presumably don't worry about what's not publicly available.)
APS' copyright agreement (applicable in most cases unless you publish under an open access license) includes text that effectively states the same as above. The Creative Commons Publication Agreement (for open access publications) does not include such an affirmative statement, but also barely restricts authors so I presume any "free-access e-print server" is still perfectly fine.

Actually APS allows to submit papers directly from ArXiv. This implies that you can post to ArXiv and then submit to an APS journal. The same rule should apply to e-print archives which adopt the same copyright policy as ArXiv. Your answer seems to confirm this...

@PFerro Posting to arXiv and then submitting to an APS journal is certainly allowed, no question about it. But arXiv is also special in that the site has been around since 1991 and has significant community adoption, so I think your asking whether there is a broadly applicable rule or an arXiv-specific one is sensible.

My question is also about arXiv, but mainly about other e-print archives. The problem is that arXiv has become a little stricter in accepting manuscripts. So I don't rule out the possibility that arXiv rejects my article, and that I have to post my preprint elsewhere.


text:
Contacting a professor of an ancient language I translated poems to
I am a high school sophomore and have been studying Sanskrit for 6 years. Recently I started studying Pali (similar to Sanskrit) and translated some classical English poems.
I am in India, and luckily there are many professors of Pali in universities here. Considering how there are barely any instructors available, I was wondering if I could write to the professors about these poems. I have a few questions:

If I request them to go through the poems, and advise me about the grammar, etc., how would I word the email? Would an introduction followed by the poems and request for advice be okay?

Up to what extent is it acceptable for me to ask them for help (I don't want it to be like I am taking tuitions from them or using them as translators)?

Is there anything else I should be aware of while contacting them?

Thank you.

It may not be a good idea to send the translations upfront; rather try to email them about your interest and seek their advice on how to proceed. Seek their permission to share your work; don't assume it beforehand.
There is a good chance that some of them will appreciate the interest and respond favorably. The extent of their support is entirely upto them, and it is best to let them propose it. Once they respond, you will have a better idea on how to proceed.
Good luck!

Find out if there are some societies , organizations or literary groups working in Pali. You may get to know some writers or poets. These people are very dedicated to the promotion of the language. Make someone highly capable as your Ustad as is done in music or other trades and request him to guide you. Take part in literary activities of Pali.
Professors are helpful but mostly to the students in their class. External students are not encouraged.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
What type of lawyer (criminal, civil, family, etc.) would I need to help me deal with issues of academic misconduct?
What can stop a university from doing whatever they want and screwing students over in terms of accusing them unfairly of cheating, plagiarism, or a misunderstanding of professor authorization of essay re-submission in a second class? Also trying to take a student's degree or credit away after the course is completed/graduated with little evidence and no proof of circumstantial evidence that truly happened at the time of the incident? I ask this since they are private and go by their own rules and apparently there is no standard policy for how all universities are supposed to deal with issues. There are a lot of cases where businesses "screw people over".
This is in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
Thanks.

We can't answer if you don't specify the country, what you mean by "screwing students over" and what do you mean by "type of lawyer".

Can you provide some more detail about what your "issues of academic misconduct" entail?  It's not really possible to provide any advice with this level of information.

You could try asking on Law SE.  Also, you can try emailing question@nycourts.gov.  I sent them a question once and they answered it in less than 24 hours.  What you would do, is describe the situation briefly, and ask what recourse you have.  If there's a particular law or regulation you could use (such as, in New York, Article 78), then you'd have something you could use in google or in a lawyer database search box.

Also, you are welcome to describe the particular situation here.  But if you do, I advise using a different, more anonymous, username.

I advise you to start fresh, with a different username, and post a link to your institution's policy.  The key, really, is to go by their policy to see what hoops they offer to students who have been accused of something.

My university doesn't have a policy on it. That's why I'm asking on here. I've edited the description.

@JPhills I find it inconceivable that your university does not have any policy regarding academic misconduct.

https://brocku.ca/webfm_send/28409
They have a general guideline policy, but nothing regarding my question.

I agree with @aparente001 that this seems a better question to ask in Law SE, and that you might wish to start over with your question. This is a stressful situation, but the phrasing of your question probably does not incline many of the academic faculty here to support your cause. If this were even the appropriate SE to post your question to, I think we would need more transparent details about your university and the specifics of your situation.

@NMJD - I'd like to clarify that we agree on the proposal to ask on SE Law, and to make a fresh start with your question here, but with an anonymous user name, so you can explain your situation in more detail.  We are not in agreement on the second part of your comment.  I have no reason to think anything negative based on your question.

I don't know why you're concerned about possible job loss. //  "Since they are private and go by their own rules and apparently there is no standard policy for how all universities are supposed to deal with issues" - even if they were public, they would still have to set their own rules.  I think that all colleges and universities are probably required to have a policy, in order to maintain their accreditation. // Have you spoken with the Ombudsman?

I'm concerned about job loss because I'm afraid if the degree is taken away, then my employment contract could be void by not meeting all the requirements since I now have a job in my field (this is in government, but I'm sure private companies wouldn't be pleased if they find out.  That goes as well for the risk and process of applying to new jobs. That's all if an employer were to find out between the times of losing the degree and going through another course that I would have to sign up for and complete, which could take up to four+ months depending on the next course registration date....

@aparente001 That's fine. I think the language and lack of details originally present would not incline many faculty to believe that the student did not, accidentally or not, commit plaigerism or academically dishonest conduct. That's my opinion, and it won't be everyone's.

@NMJD I'm saying I might have committed misconduct. Due to the professor's negligence and not looking into it/enforcing it/educating me on it at the time on this type of misconduct, therefore passing me, could the professor retroactively act on it even though I've entered the next year's/semester's courses? Or even if enough time has passed that I graduate? I mean, that seems unfair to the student in terms of their academic planning, graduation planning, job acquisition planning, etc. It could really "screw them over", especially if it was a matter of not knowing and/or misunderstanding.

@aparente001 I've also edited the question for your grammatical needs.

@JPhills ah I see. As jakebeal explains in his answer, there is a procedure for how academic misconduct cases are handled. At most universities, there is a variety of potential outcomes, one of which is failing the class. However, at most (not all) universities this is usually an extreme example and reserved for repeat offenses. If this is your first time with an academic misconduct report, it seems very likely that, even if you were found to be guilty of the offense, there would be a lesser repercussion (such as an F on the individual assignment).

@NMJD If a student or myself has graduated I'm also afraid of them revoking the degree from under my nose if they feel I haven't responded to their reach out in a sufficient amount of time when they failed to reach me by my current contact info since it has changed since I graduated. I just don't know how they'd proceed if the student graduated and they have no way to contact the student. Since students are contacted through their student email address, which I have no access to anymore

Have you spoken with the Ombudsman? // Also, have you taken a look at http://academia.stackexchange.com/q/81773/32436?

Calling the professor "negligent" in failing to catch and punish you is probably a bad idea.

Why is that a bad idea? If the prof educates the student at the right time then they can maintain the flow and plan for when they intend to graduate and maintain other plans instead of advancing so far and being set back

@JPhills it is not the responsibility of the professor to educate the student on what constitutes proper academic conduct. Many professors choose to do this and/or explicitly refer students to university policies on academic honesty. The responsibility ultimately lies on students to produce honest work regardless of if the professor assists in that way. As for your concern of degree revocation: I would say that would be a severe and unlikely consequence, but it's possible. I would expect that to only occur in cases where a student committed multiple, extreme, obviously-intentional offenses.

@NMJD It says in my school's academic integrity policy that it is the professor's responsibility to (as well as the student's) to be familiar with academic integrity but also says professors should make sure the guidelines for academic integrity in their class are clearly defined and understood by students and academic integrity cases are sometimes the result of a lack of understanding from the student. https://brocku.ca/webfm_send/28409 section 6.6 paragraph 5 and section 6.4

@JPhills 6.4a states students bear independent responsibility for knowing the guidelines as well.  A professor could satisfy their responsibility simply by announcing or putting on the syllabus "Your work must obey the university guidelines for academic honesty". Then the onus lies on the student to know what those guidelines require. As 6.6 says: "it is required that all students exercise due diligence toward the understanding and execution of all appropriate academic  guidelines" According to 6.6, if what you say is true you clearly have a case meriting educative action at the most.

@NMJD  https://brocku.ca/webfm_send/4713 this is the form we sometimes attach to essays and assignments. It was confusing because on this form it doesn't say anything about getting permission for duplicate submissions in writing...just permission. So you would think if a student hands in a paper citing sources from textbooks used in a different course taken last year, either a red flag should go up or we move on. The prof should have immediately looked into the possibility that the first year version of the essay exists with the TA and remedy the situation/misunderstanding....

@NMJD ...(if there is one) or not do anything, move forward and forever hold his peace. If they don't exist there's nothing they can prove anyway. I'm just saying if they do exist in their email inboxes or kept in some other location.

Now that you've supplied sufficient information, the answer to your question seems fairly clearly spelled out within the university's own policy documents:

Section 6.6 shows that the decision-making process is not just a single professor "screwing you over," but rather:

a determination of academic misconduct shall be decided
by the Department Chair/Program Director based on a discussion between the student, the
instructor, and the Department Chair/Program Director, as well as a review of the evidence

At some point, it leaves the department and ends up in the hands of a Dean, who also meets with the students. The full details of the process are spelled out in Section 7.

If the student is unhappy, they have a right to appeal to a Senate Student Appeals Board (Section 8), which seems a peer body rather than a faculty body.  The full details of that process are spelled out in another linked document.

This looks like a pretty typical set of checks and balances: the individual professor is involved, but the key decision-making is not done by that professor or even within the department, and the faculty is in turn checked by appeals to a body of students.
Now, if your professor, the department head, the involved dean, and the student board are all convinced that you are guilty, you've got a more serious problem on your hands. Getting outside legal help might be warranted, but based on what you've written here, it seems like it's also quite plausible that you've either committed an offense and don't understand why it's an offense, or else that you've done yourself a disservice in the process by alienating people who might otherwise have helped.

This is a great answer. +1 for the clearly deciphering the provided policies, and for the last sentence which I agree with but could not have put so diplomatically.

In general, legal help might be warranted if a university did not follow their own stated policy in making a determination of academic misconduct and applying penalties.

My issue is an issue of a misunderstanding of unauthorized resubmission of work where I thought I had authorization from the professor. I recently graduated and there was no policy outlining a situation like this in the event that something is discovered after the fact. I also asking, If they don't follow their own procedure, what could legally happen to the university then?

@JPhills It is pointless to ask questions about hypotheticals, when so much is situation-dependent. You are not currently the subject of a misconduct investigation; we cannot speculate about what might happen if you were.

If two trains are predicted moving towards each other on the same track, why wait until they actually crash until you do something about it?

It's good to game these things out so that one would know what to do in these situations. Because they are a big deal in terms of financial, time, and even a job loss to the student.

@ff524 it's also entirely possible that a university did follow their own policy yet ended up reaching an unreasonable decision. In which case it's conceivable that a lawsuit will force them to reverse the decision. Hypothetically speaking, of course. But you are right that them not following their policy would make the lawsuit more likely to succeed.

@JPhills: The flip side of that approach: https://xkcd.com/761/

@JPhills From what you've said so far, it seems to me that you are skipping ahead a few steps. First, see if the university actually considers it a significant issue at all. If they do care, then follows the procedure: calm yourself down, read it carefully and understand it, and begin with the assumption that they're not out to get you. Only if that all goes wrong would it be normally time to get a lawyer involved.

Reading through this, and taking a few things into account....I cannot tell if this is a serious post, or an elaborate trolling.  First is the question itself, which is formatted as if it was posted from a phone, or just not formatted at all.  Second is the lack of a clear question in and of itself.  And third is the inclusion of hypothetical questions in response to others' comments.   Those, as well as a user filing a question about using legal aid against a college, with an easily identifiable username.....

@NZKshatriya Not sure what's wrong with the question formatting...and it's a legit question for dealing with complicated matters of misconduct that the university may or may not take proper procedures to deal with effectively that protects the student, and not just the lazy interests of the university. I have better things to do than to troll on this site. This is a legit concern I have in case a prof ever mistakenly accuses me or another student of misconduct after the course may or may not be over in case of confusion/negligence on the university's part.

@NZKshatriya People can make mistakes and students have in fact sued their schools before for issues related to accusations of academic misconduct. Look it up. And I'm not sure what my choice of username has to do with anything either.

@JPhills If you have emails to/from the professor where he communicates what you had believed to be permission to resubmit your work, those would be valuable for you in your proceedings. You might not have those, but if you ever find yourself in similar circumstances in the future, it might be a good idea to ensure you ask/are granted permission over email, that way you have the permission in writing and the professor could not forget and/or dispute it.

@JPhills  Usually, when one goes about asking about what they should do in these situations, they do so using a username that doesn't easily tie back to a real individual.  Reason I am pointing this out is that who knows if said university pays attention to certain sites in order to be ready for any possibly legal issues with students/employees.

@NZKshatriya I understand. This isn't my real name lol

AH, that makes more sense.......Im likely a bit stressed due to holidays and just being picky on questions.  >.,

@JPhills - Thank you for the reassurance.  That has been bothering me since I first saw your question.

Because the dispute does not involve criminal charges, is between two parties, and does not involve criminal or family law, you want a civil lawyer. Specifically, you seem to be accusing the university of civil tort.
Universities tend to have very good (read: expensive) lawyers protecting them (and their endowments). You would need an equally good (read: expensive) lawyer to be able to have a go at them.
Whether you will find a civil lawyer willing to take you on without a hefty retainer (at least $10,000 in my neck of the woods if not much more) is an entirely different matter.

University counsel often has better things to do. And I knew a lawyer who represented students (this university allowed the retention of counsel for certain academic misconduct hearings) and they were not in the $10,000 retainer range.

Counsel for an academic hearing is cheap. Actually suing the university is an entirely different thing and is quite expensive. You do know the difference, don't you?

I do - they still weren't in that range. But I also think it's not likely that "sue the university" is actually the ops path forward

I agree, it's a fool's errand. But the OP asked what type of lawyer it would take to sue the university and I think my answer is the honest answer -- a civil lawyer -- and if OP wants to be successful, an expensive civil lawyer. At even $200 an hour, $10k is just 50 hours of time - i.e., one week of the lawyer and paralegal's time and those are cheap rates.

I'm not even sure expensive is justified in that circumstance. Not all university counsel are high-powered badasses, and "let's just make this go away so we can all get on with our jobs" isn't necessarily a 10k retainer task

Basically, I liked your answer then you overshot. Presumably to help steer the op down a more productive path

A university will settle if the soup in the cafeteria was too hot. They might settle quickly over sexual harassment. They won't easily settle over an expulsion or degree revocation if all procedures were fulfilled, which is the scenario the OP presents.

People think lawyers are cheap. They are only cheap if they agree to take you on contingency - which means they think that there are good odds of winning and they can use boilerplate briefs (ie., traffic accidents, medical malpractice).  I don't see the odds here as being good, and thus took contingency off the table.

I know a number of lawyers who will charge you a reasonable rate (for lawyer values of reasonable) to tell you this is a bad idea and you should stop. I'd suggest such a consultation is way more productive even with lawyers then heading straight to retainers and visions of courtrooms

Agreed, most lawyers will agree to consult for free -- and they'll likely convince OP to not do it. But that wasn't the question. If they did agree to take it on, it'd be very expensive.

I'd argue the lawyer most closely "helping her deal with" is the one not convincing her to chase sunk costs with a lawsuit and expensive retainer. Like I said, I think the core of this answer is solid.

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


text:
Can I update my research paper before the camera ready date?
I am trying to finalize the last version of my accepted paper. I have followed the suggestions that I got from the reviewers. While I am editing, I found that a relevant research paper that could benefit my argument if I include it in the related work.
I am just asking if it is ok to extend my reference list (one of the references is self-citation) will it have any bad implications?

I would say the common-sense rule is that minor updates are ok, but major updates - roughly, something that makes it into another paper, or would have required a new peer review - are to be avoided unless explicitly authorized.
Adding a few more sentences mentioning related work is fine, but if you think your changes are significant, describe them in a few (short) sentences and ask the editor/program committee chair.
Also: consult your co-authors before making changes and before requesting authorization for the changes!

Plus 1. I  would mention and motivate the expansion of the refs list anyway in the resubmission letter.

@Alchimista: It's not a resubmission, OP is just submitting his camera-ready version.

Ok. I have not idea of the dictionary used.  For me a resubmission letter accompany the last revised version. Say I would mention that independent of the importance I would assume.

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


text:
Bibliographical treatment of ebooks
Does Google scholar pick up references to self published ebooks?

This answer seems to cover your question: https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/72204/33210

Your question omits the very critical detail of "self-published"...


text:
Adding a citation after paper is accepted
I am a junior researcher in mathematics.
I worked simultaneously on proving Theorem A and Theorem B. They both generalize Theorem X in two different directions. Theorem X was proved several years ago (not by me). The proofs of Theorem A and Theorem B use very different techniques, and so I decided ahead of time to write one paper for each.
I finished proving Theorem A before I finished proving Theorem B. Then, I submitted Paper A to a journal (and the arXiv) proving Theorem A. Paper A includes a survey of related problems in the introduction. After a short while, I managed to prove Theorem B, and two months after the submission of Paper A, I submitted Paper B (to a different journal, and also to the arXiv). Now, six months after the submission of Paper A, it is accepted with requests for minor corrections. There is no response yet regarding Paper B.

In this situation, is it a reasonable/common to add one/two sentences to the survey in introduction of Paper A, explaining and citing the arXiv prepreint of Paper B, in addition to the minor corrections the referees asked for? (and letting the editor and referees know that I did that in my answer to their reports which comes along with the corrected manuscript).

Note that I am not asking if it is ok to cite a preprint. This is something I do, and so do other people, at least in math. My question is about making a change, after acceptance, which was not asked by the referees and the editor.

If you add anything not requested by the referees it would be a good courtesy to the editor to indicate those changes were made.


text:
How do you find the contact info of a professor in a foreign country?
I'd like to read the paper "New Fragments of the Ishvarapratyabhijna-vivriti"  by Yohei Kawajiri.  I can't seem to find it online, so I thought I'd contact the author and ask him for a copy.  But I can't seem to find his contact information; he's affiliated with Chikushi Jogakuen University, but most of their website is in Japanese, and can't be usefully navigated even with Google Translate.
So my question is, how does one find the contact information of a professor in a foreign country whose websites are in a foreign language?  I assume that it is possible, since academics collaborate across countries all the time.  But I'm not sure how.

Send a paper mail.

@scaaahu Haha, that sounds even more inconvenient than paying for an international call.  I don't even remember the last time I sent someone a physical letter.

If you insist on using e-mail, I can't help you. I don't understand what's wrong with the paper mail. I receive about at least five paper mails every month. Some of them are bills, though.

@scaaahu I receive bills in the mail too, but it's probably been about two decades since I've sent a physical letter.  In any case, sending a letter would require paying international postage, so if possible I'd like to avoid that.

@KeshavSrinivasan: In that case, you may simply be out of luck if you try to communicate with people in a country where physical mail is more prevalent. Remember, there is more than one possible route of development. Some countries may completely phase out physical mail in favour of electronic communication, while others translate everything surrounding physical mail into the digital world (e.g. by having stamps that can be bought online, downloaded as PDF, and printed onto the envelope at home), at least for certain types of communication. I can't tell to which category Japan belongs, though.

@O.R.Mapper Japan's a technologically advanced country, I'm sure that this professor has an email address.  I'm just having trouble getting his email address from the website.

@KeshavSrinivasan: Germany is a technologically advanced country, as well (although, admittedly, the penchant to having all kinds of electronic gadgets in all areas of one's life is rather not as prevalent here as it seems to be in Japan ;) ). Yet, depending on what you are trying to achieve, sending a paper letter goes a long way compared to a forgettable e-mail that can be deleted with a single keypress.

In case you're still looking, the paper seems to be Chapter 4 in Utpaladeva, Philosopher of Recognition edited by Raffaele Torella and Bettina Bäumer (2016) -- see the book's description by bookseller "Vedams eBooks (P) Ltd, New Delhi, India" here for a list of chapters.

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


text:
Undergraduate supervisor leaving on a sabbatical
I recently found out one of my undergraduate supervisors/mentors has been accepted as a visiting fellow at MIT. If all goes to plan, he'll be at MIT starting next fall.
I'm a senior year student of physics, and I have already planned to take at least a year off before applying to graduate schools in theoretical/mathematical physics. If the professor isn't around, I'm pretty much left stranded. In a small department, he's the only one who does research in theoretical/fundamental/high energy physics.
After congratulating him on getting this position, how should I go about inquiring about my status from him? Also, we used to have another professor, say X, in the department (kicked out, unfortunately) with interests in mathematical physics. The professor in question, Y, is in good terms with professor X. How can I potentially ask professor Y to recommend me as a student to professor X, assuming professor Y won't be available starting next fall?

Had you already agreed to work with the professor during your year off?  In some cases, working with non-current students is a very low priority for faculty, as it wouldn't "count" as mentoring student research.  If you had, is it possible that you could keep working with him during his sabbatical (either by relocating yourself, or remotely)?

@NateEldredge Yes, that's the plan. He's the one who recommended me (and a whole host of other students in previous years) to take a year off. And I have to do that as well given my circumstances. I'm not sure how he'll respond when I have a conversation with him, but I can always refer to our "larger plans" in case I initially don't get a positive response from him.

If you are already in the U.S., you could consider relocating with Prof. Y, and registering for one credit independent study at MIT as a non-matriculated student. // For the recommendation to Prof. X, that seems quite straightforward.  I don't understand what you're finding challenging about this request.  (I do understand that you may have a mix of feelings about Prof. Y leaving, though -- happy for him, but perhaps feeling that he is leaving you high and dry.)

@aparente001 Nope, we're not in the US. Both professor Y and I are currently in Pakistan. You're right; I'm not sure about my status as of now, and I am not sure how/what to talk about with professor Y.

Do you want a suggestion for what to say when you meet, or what to say in an email? // Do you feel a mix of feelings, as I was thinking perhaps is the case? // Can you explain why this is difficult?  If I understand that I can make a targeted suggestion.

Suggestions for what to say in person. I think this topic is too delicate to be talked about over email. A mix of feelings, yes; especially knowing that professor Y was kicked out a year or so ago, and I know I would have extremely benefited from his presence on campus. If professor X also leaves for a year, where does that leave me?


text:
I want to help out my Professor, how do I ask? (Humanities)
I would really like to help out my professor and get some 'research experience', and I asked her the other day, but she said that me writing my thesis would already be 'research experience'.
Does she maybe not want me to help her? Or is there no need? How can I prove myself useful?

Have you proposed something concrete?

Well, what does she need help with? If someone approached me out of the blue saying "Let me help you!" with no concrete project, I might also refuse...

Your thesis will be your research experience in the humanities, absolutely.
Speaking quite broadly, in comparison with the sciences, most research is done individually and published individually.  Thus, as your professor has said, focusing on your thesis —which you're doing individually, though with some general oversight from your advisor— is getting you that experience.
Again speaking broadly, consider the process that you've gone through / are going through / will go through for your thesis.

Read a lot of books and articles.
Come up with a really cool idea about something in one or more of them.
Talk to your advisor to decide how you want to approach the topic, maybe getting a handful of ideas of important articles or viewpoints, etc.
Find articles/books/chapters that contribute to your arguments.
Write your thesis.
…
PROFIT! (except for that student debt...)

Now, consider the process for most of us in the field when we write articles:

Read a lot of books and articles.
Come up with a really cool idea about something in one or more of them.
(Optional) Talk to colleagues (either friends, or via conferences) about how you're approaching the topic, maybe getting a handful of ideas of important articles or viewpoints, etc.
Find articles/books/chapters that contribute to your arguments.
Write your article/book/chapter.
…
PROFIT! (except this is academia, so not)

The only real difference is that you're working closely with your advisor, and later in the "real world" (academia), you're going to mainly work solo, except for occasionally consulting with others when you present preliminary work at a conference or when you bat ideas off of friend or colleague's head.  In both cases, though, the actual research work is done by you, the actual planning and development of structure/ideas is done by you, and the actual writing is done by you.
Or consider it another way, what kind of research help could someone give you that would actually be of help to you?  They can't come up with the ideas, because, well, then they get credit.  You don't want them writing it, because then it's not your thoughts and anyways you'd probably end up wanting to reformulate 90% of their arguments/word choice/etc to fit with your exact idea.  At best maybe helping you track down some obscure article that mentions some obscure factoid, but that's almost always going to be inconsequential to your overall development of the topic and hell, half the time when doing those searches is when you find the really good stuff for later articles.
There are some projects that are useful to have multiple people working simultaneously (especially nowadays under the banner of digital humanities), but if your professor needs people, they'll let you know, and as their advisee, you likely be the first student they ask.
tl;dr: Don't feel the need to be useful, just do a good thesis.  That will get you the best experience (and the best letter of recommendation).  If they need help, they'll let you know.

Like any other organization, the university has a hierarchy. People work hard to promote themselves within these hierarchies and be useful. You can't just show up to the head of department's office and tell him/her: "well I'm here to help". You see what I'm saying here? You need to finish your studies, and get the research position (e.g., PhD, Postdoc) and then you can help, because then you have the knowledge to do so.

thanks. the thing is, i always hear people talk about 'helping out in the lab' and 'getting research experience' etc. in order to apply to PhD programs. Being in the humanities, i never quite understood that. So there is nothing really I can do, being an undergrad?


text:
Is it possible for non-debating person to survive in research?
I am a computer-science PhD student. I like to work on things and I enjoy doing computer science. But here is a problem: I am not that much into debates. When I meet with my supervisor, he asks me some questions and I try to answer those. I don’t go into debates on the research questions. I like to do research independently, also in a collaboration, but only to a small extent. Many of my friends ask me to enter into debates, but I don’t like it much. I like mostly objective sorts of questions. I like subjective questions also, but to a small extent.
Question: Is it possible for non-debating person to survive in research?

"I like mostly objective sort of questions I mean subjective also but to small extent." - I would contest that there are any objective questions in Science. A theory, of any kind, forces you to commit to particular concepts. As a Computer Scientist, you are probably committed to Turing Machines as a conceptualisation of an algorithm and a computer, for example. This is where there can be differences of opinion. Which conceptualisation you take, in turn, affects those objective questions (no gene-centered evolution without the concept of genes). That aside, it is a good question.

What do you mean by debate?

I don't know about computer science, but in my field of science, being able (or wanting to) to defend your work or discuss controversial topics in the field is absolutely critical to succeeding as a researcher.

You don’t need to debate as a researcher, but you do need to be able to defend your ideas to someone who’s going to want to know the details. This will apply not only to your advisor, but attendees at conferences and seminars, and people who read your work and respond to it.

Debate: noun, a discussion on a particular topic in which opposing arguments are put forward. If you can't engage in a discussion with someone whose ideas differ from yours, you'll have a very hard time understanding a responding to scientific criticism. The ability to debate scientific theories and methodologies is absolutely at the core of science. I see no distinction at all between "debate" and "defense of ideas".

@NuclearWang You don’t need to be formally trained in debate methods or rhetoric to be able to justify your work. There’s no need to turn a question into a confrontation, which is what the OP seems to think will happen.

Hm, I didn't see anything in the question alluding to formal debate techniques or confrontation. Rather, I'm using "debate" in the colloquial sense of a discussion of differing viewpoints. Virtually all PhD-level science requires some subjective interpretation of methods, assumptions, and facts. Strictly objective questions with only one defensibly correct approach or answer are not particularly interesting avenues of doctoral research. Why would a discussion of the merits of different scientific approaches fall outside the colloquial definition of "debate"?

Overall, this sounds like a personality difference. There are lots of successful academics who want to think about things for a while rather than exploring the ideas out loud. Ideally, you'll find a way to work with your supervisor's style while also retaining the benefits of a more contemplative style. (And you're not alone. There are jokes about how many hands academics actually have, because so often they say, "On the one hand... on the other hand...")
What I'm picturing when you say "debate" is some of my friends. (A synonym here may be "BS" or "brainstorm.") They have personalities where they love saying crazy ideas out loud and then poking holes in them and figuring out which parts are wrong. There are often cultures that build up around this, where people who want to do this find each other and build off of each other. If this is what you're talking about, then I don't think it's a problem for your research that that's not your dominant mode.
If these debates are more grounded (along the lines of what you might see at a thesis defense), then you might be feeling conflict-avoidance, where you avoid disagreeing with people and feel extremely uncomfortable when others are in disagreement. Or you might be nervous and find it hard to come up with arguments when people are putting you on the spot. Or you might be answering fine, but not enjoying the process. You can definitely develop those skills and get better at them.
Finally, you may be interested in the book Quiet, about the benefits of being an introvert. It has many examples of how people can succeed in a variety of jobs even though their personality does not match the stereotypical person there.

In order to be a successful researcher you will certainly need to be able to justify your work and deal with counter-arguments and objections to what you have done.  Even highly objective research topics often involve matters of judgment where reasonable disagreement can arise, and it is good if you can anticipate potential objections to your work (or seek these out) and respond to them in a clear and coherent way.
Having said this, it is not necessary for you to be able to do this extemporaneously in conversation, and so it that is your aversion to debating then it should not be a problem.  Research work gives you plenty of time to think about your views on a topic and write them down clearly.  You will need to be able to "debate" in the broad sense of justifying your work and responding to objections, but you will not generally need to debate in the narrower sense of an extemporaneous argument.


text:
Severely overtime on my PhD
I am currently a CS PhD student in an East Asian institution, in my fifth year, one year overtime over the normative period. I have passed all my qualification and thesis proposal exams and just need to submit and defend my thesis. Unfortunately, I don't have any serious publications in top conferences or journals (tried to sumbit several times but got always rejected), only a handful of low-quality workshop and medium-low tier conference papers. For these reasons I have been constantly blamed by my supervisor, and he may not be willing even to sign the thesis defense request, leaving me in the dreadful prospective of spending several years more just to see a paper accepted, and prolong my overtime and agony.
After confrontation with other students, and even professors of other university, I strongly believe that this situation is due mostly to poor guidance from my supervisor and senior PhD students and post-docs during my early years, poor publishing strategy, a not very feasible research project to produce concrete and verifiable results, and until recently obsolete equipment. I am also very frustated because I have been working almost every day, often many hours a day, and I have been collecting much less results than other people working only a fraction of the time and graduating in less than 3 years.
I tried many times to discuss the situation with my supervisor and other people in charge in my department to solve these issues, but they all repeat the same things, that it is normal to take many years to finish a good PhD, I should concentrate not on graduation time but on quality, I will easily find the job I want afterwards, and things like this. Unfortunately I cannot agree, since in the Asia-Pacific region, where I am interested to work, there is a very strong competition from candidates finishing the PhD in the normal 3-4 years time. Also coming (and with a Bachelor) originally from a country in southern Europe where the level of primary and secondary education and the level of the IT field is very low, I am already at a disadvantage with respect to other more skilled candidates, and is already making harder for me to obtain a working visa. I have in theory already found a job in one of the company where I would like to work, willing to sponsor me a visa, but it is only a conditional offer based on graduation that may be easily withdrawn if I fail to graduate in the timeframe they believe is reasonable, losing this opportunity may lower my morale even further.
I would like to ask suggestions about the current options I have:

I can consider withdrawing from the program and look for jobs. This has the risk of leaving me almost unemployable and force me to return back to my home country with just a Bachelor degree, unable to find a serious decently-compensated job, a career black-hole. Even if I look now for jobs I would have to state I am currently enrolled in a PhD, with companies assuming automatically I am going to finish it (because in Asia is the norm).
I can stay for at least one more year trying to publish and graduate. I would waste a lot of time just waiting for reviews, unable to develop any useful skills in the process and log useful working hours. And again, 6-7-8 years in a PhD would be a black mark on my CV, and I am already teased enough for this when I participate to networking events.
I may insist to submit my thesis at the first useful occasion (in a few months, due to university regulations). But keep complaining may not be useful and may ruin all my relationships even further.

I had to keep some of the details generic as I cannot disclose too many information. Please also note that my main goals when I started my PhD were to find a job in a big corporation about Research & Development, and maximize the chances to be able to emigrate from my home country. I still hope I can figure out the best course of action to come out from this situation. Thank you in advance for your replies.

Are you not allowed to list "under review" papers on your accomplishments at the defense?

@ASimpleAlgorithm In theory I am not required to list anything special, there are no regulations that require publications for PhD, and I know some people who got the degree with nothing at all. But my supervisor and other professors in my department keep threatening me every other day about it.

That's good. But I meant can you list papers that aren't accepted yet as if they were real published papers, just with "under review by journal-name" instead of the publication details? (because that's very common here) If so there's no need to wait for them to be accepted. Just resubmit them somewhere and proceed to defend as if you expect them to be published. Put them on arxiv perhaps and cite them in your thesis and CV.

@ASimpleAlgorithm Maybe it depends on the field but I really don't recommend specifying the journal name... "submitted" is fine but at least in math, people who see e.g. "under review by Annals of Mathematics" will usually think you're some sort of bozo. Just my two cents. I agree that there's no problem in general about mentioning work in progress though.

@user399601 I'm not talking generally, but for specifically convincing the committee at this person's thesis defense they have been productive. And using unpublished work as evidence. I'd presume this depends on the school/adviser. If allowed, I'd say giving more details can only help; it's that much more convincing the submissions really exist. And the committee can evaluate that the journals would rate as acceptable to them (presuming of course one doesn't take the opportunity to be a bozo).

Is it possible for you to state which country you are in?

Too short for an answer: get your PhD and run.

they all repeat the same things, that it is normal to take many years to finish a good PhD, ..., I will easily find the job I want afterwards - I don't know if they're correct or not, but you should try to evaluate this with data points.  Have your advisor's former students and postdocs taken several years and found good jobs afterwards?

@Kimball Hard to say, because all the PhD students, regardless of the time spent (some finished early, some very late), came back to their home country (China), sometimes even in good companies. On the other hands the master students (not only chinese) who finished in 2 years got good to excellent jobs outside their home country, while the couple who drop out from PhD with a master did not get good jobs.

I suppose there is a difference in fields, but your research should be evaluated by a committee, and the level of research you have done is independent of where it was published. Even unpublished work can be part of the theses, so your argument of waiting for reviews is strange.
The committee should not really care where it was published or presented. They should evaluate your work - not the conferences/journals.

Can you not pick up a Master's degree at least? That would make your resume look stronger and account for at least some of the time you've spent in the program. Most European and US programs will give you a Master's after a certain amount of work (I don't know options in Asia though).

I think in much of Asia you need a master's to start the PhD, so the OP may have gotten a master's years ago.

I see your point. Nonetheless, the OP noted: "This has the risk of leaving me almost unemployable and force me to return back to my home country with just a Bachelor degree." .. so I figured there was no Master's yet.

@Kimball No, I was accepted into PhD without a master.

they all repeat the same things, that it is normal to take many years to finish a good PhD, I should concentrate not on graduation time but on quality, I will easily find the job I want afterwards, and things like this.

I don't think you should let strangers on the internet override advice from people who know the details of your situation and are familiar with this region of academia.
Rather, I would try to understand what they mean by "quality." If you're doing the right thing and just need to leave it in the oven a bit longer, then I don't see an issue. If you're just spinning your wheels and don't know how to achieve the quality they want, that's the real question you need to address.

keep complaining may not be useful and may ruin all my relationships even further

It's reasonable to make sure you and your advisor are on the same page with respect to your technical and career goals. But I agree that if he understands your situation and is still telling you that it's too soon to graduate, then you would be unwise to keep pushing the issue.

I can consider withdrawing from the program and look for jobs...[otherwise]  I would waste a lot of time just waiting for reviews, unable to develop any useful skills in the process

No! Get your PhD at any cost. You should only withdraw if you think you will not achieve your PhD and are just wasting time (which does not seem to be the case here). Further, I don't think "waiting for journal decisions" and "doing useful, interesting work" are mutually exclusive.


text:
Does Mathematics research in proven problems have any importance?
This is my first post in this community, please excuse me if this kind of post is inappropriate.
I completed my second year of my Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics (where I study, all Bachelor's Degrees are a 3 year course, unlike in USA).
I have asked one of my Professors to organize a Mathematics Research Internship for which I wouldn't get paid, as I just wanted to get into the world of research and improve my level of math, and hopefully get some experience in research.
As I am working towards the end of it, I am starting to wonder if this Internship will have any credibility or a positive effect on my CV once I apply to a Master's Degree program (I don't think anyone will look at what I am doing now when I apply to a PhD program). What provokes such doubts in me is the fact that I am doing "pseudo-research", basically I am trying to prove some properties that have been proved long ago. Most of the stuff that I proved can be most likely found in graduate Mathematics text books. I think that whoever will be studying my CV will have doubts about my credibility.
So my question, how will my internship's "scientific report" look (basically a presentation of what I have done, all the proofs and all the application I have done)?

This is a necessary stage for you to go through. It is unavoidable.

In Finland, many bachelors' theses in pure mathematics are summaries of what is already known. Bachelor's thesis is required to get bachelor's degree. Master's thesis (pro gradu) might or might not contain original research.
From this perspective, it sounds like you are completing your thesis as an unpaid intern. You can presumably add this as work experience in your CV and it should be a positive at the beginning of your career.
If you are proving something with a new method, or writing down a folklore proof (something widely known, which is not in the literature), then your report might also have scientific merit. You should ask if this is the case from your advisor.

It is not going look bad at all. It sounds like the Professor has given you a project that is achievable in the time frame, and satisfies your goals of improving your math and getting some experience in research. It should have a positive effect both on your CV and on your understanding of the research process.
In my PhD experience, much of the beginning was is exploring the topic, reading the literature, and trying to figure out a new direction. This can take many months, and can even change as your understanding improves or new information comes to light.
I don't think people will expect to see original research on new problems until the latter stages of your PhD.


text:
Failing students: Avoidable or not?
One college lecturer often does not care about failing his students, another does. Say we are talking about a Calculus I class.
A. One fails students because they simply do not achieve the minimum grade set by him and/or the university.
B. One fails students because they cheat or break rules or something.
However, for point A, there are reasons that can be talked about.

He might not be a good teacher. For this, either he improves his teaching, which more often than not means he needs more experience as he has minimum capability of teaching (he is not a school teacher any way), or the faculty just need to find replacement as this lecturer cannot deliver.
The materials are just too much for some students. How do we handle this?

a. Should the materials be reduced, which then it will not make this class a Calculus class, since some materials are omitted?
b. Should the faculty accept the fact that these students fail? What if for ALL students, this Calculus class is too hard?
c. These students passed the admission tests for the university entry, and they came to learn. Should they blame or change the admission process to get a better group of students? This can be done in the future, but what if this fail of students is happening now?
d. Should the lecturer raise the average grade of the class so that some, if not all, students pass the course? Or, just by lowering the minimum grade at the end of the semester? Won't this affect them in future subjects?
e. Should he just let them learn as much as they can without setting any expectation or minimum requirements and grade them based on how much they have improved?
f. In conclusion, in which part does he adjust? The materials (future), teaching method (future), grading system (future), the minimum grade, or just let them fail as there is nothing he can do without changing the grades, even after giving them second chance exam and still fail, even after also giving them more tutorial classes?
EDIT: To add more consideration, let's say the class attendance is really good. Practice quizzes are given more than once. In my department however, almost all lecturers agree that our students are just weak compared to other universities, since the good ones are usually going to those universities. I wish not to agree with this, since I believe there is something a lecturer can do to help improving his students. However, students rarely come to a given tutorial class. Also, based on the admission data, accepted students were based on ranked list, not passing grade. I have tried making more detailed syllabus. Some students (very few) succeed, but others pass courses with very low grades, and this happens to every lecturer including me. I'm relatively new to this department and it looks like other lecturers just raise grades eventually (it would be bad for the department otherwise) and mind their own business later, such as doing research etc, without even giving tutorial classes. I am refusing to follow it but it looks like it'll be easier for me to follow this culture..but nah!

In a class like Calc I, there should be well-established course aims (e.g., fluency with limits, derivatives, and basic integrals) and grades should reflect the students' mastery of those concepts. How this applies in practice is probably too opinion-based and/or broad for this forum. I don't think arbitrarily raising and lowering grades is fair, but (especially in less prestigious schools) there is a constant tension between ensuring rigor and giving a reasonable amount of high grades.

@cag51 Agree with your first statement. If we narrow the scope of the question to an occurrence in a less prestigious school tho, which one is more convenient: Give high grades (either by raising the average or lowering the minimum) or just be strict to avoid false expectation of the students' mastery? I just don't think giving high grades is good since that would give much expectation, but hey I might be wrong, for no matter how high the grades they get, they won't be expected to be that good any way, hence relative grades are to be given and average is to be raised.. :/

The student’s attitude should be included - some don’t do any work, some have poor attendance. I have just done a quiz with 220 students and a practice quiz was available. One student did the pratice quiz 38 times - got a very good grade, others did not do the practice quiz at all and got some of the lowest grades.

I am the lecturer (and soon to be a student once more).

Why separate class attendance and tutorial attendance? Both are relevant to student attitude or effort towards the course / work / material...

Here in this faculty, tutorial class is not something that is supported. Hence, if a lecturer wants to hold a tutorial class, he has to arrange it himself. Most of lecturers here don't do that. I do hold it..only for some courses I find hard for most students, since my department is new so we have next to no tutor. Hence, I know which students often skip the tutorial class.

My thesis is: "A course that no one fails is, ultimately, a worthless course." As an example of what happens when standards are endlessly lowered, consider the trend of law schools closing because graduates cannot pass the bar.

This is a very philosophical question involving the overall education system, the area you are living in, the selection process of your students, the culture in your university, and, and, and. Therefore I assume the question will be closed, soon, even though this is a common problem which needs to be discussed.
Sometimes I feel we are in a similar situation at our university since we are accepting candidates with lower grades as incoming students. Some of them are not really qualified for studying at all, and it is just helpful for them to reflect this as early as possible, e.g. by early tests etc. Last year I had two students which quit after three weeks "because they did not expect they have to invest so much time in studying".
The only thing you can do is to decide to work with the students you have. Changing the selection process is difficult, the application behaviour can not be influenced too much, and sometimes the students with bad grades in school can show a great performance in their studies! So don't invest too much time in improving the incoming student's quality.
The next important step is: You are having a curriculum (and later on job profile) whcih requires certain pre-requisites in later courses. As a faculty, you should discuss which is the minimum level the students should have after your course - and this should set the level for passing the exam. It could lead to a reduction of the material, or you can classify some material as "advanced" and other material as "must have". Do not go below this level - the students will like it in the beginning, but they will have trouble in their later studies and in their working place. It's better to force them to do the course again. Be clear about this from the beginning, and if possible tell everyone in advance your expectations and - more importantly - whatfor the material is needed afterwards.
Regarding material and teaching methods I would like to reference to the field of didactics - many universities are having courses for improving the teaching style - take as many of them as you need! It helps a lot, and you are meeting local peers which are in a similar situation.

There are two basic intake profiles for accepting students: 1) set very high entry limits and have few fails or 2) have low entry requirements and set continuation requirements high... I was at a Uni that had the second profile : everyone gets a chance, but this means there was a 25% failure rate at the end of the first year, and a 25% fail at the end of the second year, But if you got to the final year then you should pass (although not guaranteed...)....

@SolarMike Yes. For other universities tho, such as mine, we have set low entry requirements (since it was only based on ranking, no passing grade), and not set continuation requirements high enough, because for some reason the faculty "expect" the students not being able to compete with students from other leading universities. Those who don't create problems and responsive students are expected (and pushed/helped) to pass everything, even if their topic mastery is so low. I understand this when applied in high school, but this is a university. I think this is a quite reasonable answer.

I can only add a bit to the excellent answer of OBu. While the question is largely philosophical there are a few things that can be done.
First, it must be possible for a student to fail. Otherwise they have little incentive to engage with the material. They are busy and have a lot of requirements to balance, so it isn't good, even (especially) for them, to make it too easy.
Second, it must be possible for every accepted student to excel. If that isn't true at your university, you need to try to find a way to change the system. You can change it by adjusting admission requirements or by changing the educational system itself. As a professor, you probably have more influence over the latter and you have complete authority in your own courses. If you don't, then you have a deeper problem. For example, if your Dean requires you to fail a certain number of students then there are ethical issues around your participation.
However, not every student can be expected to succeed with the same amount of effort. Some things are hard and and they are harder for some than for others. You may need to find a way to support and require that harder effort from some who would otherwise fall behind. Mentoring helps, but so does something as simple as making additional work possible.
However, in the modern world, you may have to do more than teach your subject effectively. I learned that students come to university unprepared to learn. No one taught them how to learn and so they were very ineffective at it. So my job became, for a subset of students, not only to teach them CS, but to teach them how to learn CS.
For example, they were initially ineffective note takers, if they bothered at all. So I wound up teaching them how to take notes (by hand) and to summarize them. It doesn't need to take up a lot of time in class, but a couple of minutes at the end, asking individuals to tell me the most important lesson of the day can work wonders.
Also, it turns out that group/team work is a big win, both for the strugglers and for the superstars. But you need to organize it in a way that the superstars don't do all the work while the others watch, or even avoid participation. This may require using a flipped classroom in which you can participate in the interactions. If lecture isn't reaching every student, then you can de-emphasize lecture for more effective teaching (and learning) strategies.
If you are given an impossible situation, say 200 students, then your job becomes managing your (hopefully large) set of TAs, so that students can get the individual help that you can give. If your research load is so big that you can't do that, then don't take on such courses, as hard as that can be to arrange. But don't participate in a situation that you know guarantees failure. Every student should be able to succeed through their own efforts. But you can't ignore the realities of the students you have in front of you.
I once had a pair of students who, I think, had never had a positive educational experience. The faculty thought them pretty dull. The course was advanced and both had previously failed it. But they decided that they would pass this time and worked as a team to do so, studying a lot on their own and formulating a ridiculous number of questions for me. Most of my office hours that term were with these two. Neither of them was a quick learner so I got the same questions over and over. However, one incident toward the end of the course stands out. The three of us were in my office and one of them asked a question. I had just opened my mouth to start explaining, when one of them said, "No, let us try to explain it to you." They did and did so correctly. They wound up with the two highest grades in the course that term though the competition was pretty much loaded with superstars. I was accused by a couple of the superstars of bringing in a ringer to make them look bad. But hard work and desire on their part and patience on mine made the difference.
Let me give, also, a grading technique that can work effectively, though in some environments it would be forbidden, as it permits everyone to get the highest marks if they are willing to do the work. It is called Cumulative Grading. The idea is to have a total number of points for a course, say 1000. There are a lot of tasks required in the course and each is pre-assigned a point total for contribution to their personal goal. Each task is graded in the usual way and a point total is assigned to it. If the points available for a task is, say, 20, then they might get 17, for example. When their total reaches a certain level, they get a certain grade, say 900 points is an A level. The other feature of this is that exams counted for relatively little (around 300 total of 1000) and projects counted for more, including team projects. Finally, I let students resubmit work for regrading and the student could make up part, but not all, of the deficit they had on the first round, provided that the first round was submitted in a timely fashion. Sloppy first versions were discouraged from the fact that you could only earn back a certain percentage of the points lost in the first version. Each version submitted was returned with a point total as well as comments for improvement.
The scheme above gives the struggling student the opportunity to improve by doing additional work (on the original assignment), improving it at my direction. The superstars didn't participate in this as they did fine originally, but if they had a oopsie on an assignment, they could still fix it.
A caveat, of course, is that I taught small classes (30 or less), though I had a wide range of "abilities" among the students. Note also, that for a student who found the course fairly easy and who had other commitments, he or she could simply stop trying hard once they had achieved their desired number of points for the grade they wanted. Usually those students are going to learn no matter what you do, so I never thought of that as a problem. But for some students, simply passing is their goal, and it allowed them to know when they had done so in a fairly risk free manner.
You can balance this out. For what it is worth, even though using a "permissive" grading structure, my reputation among the students was that I was "very demanding".

And this is only adding “a bit” to Obu’s answer....

Grades are a teaching tool yes, but they are also a statement to the world,  by the school, evaluating the student's performance. You certainly wouldn't want surgery from a "doctor" who's professor reduced the material as needed such that the worst students could pass.
As for the question of what level of effort/ability the class should target, this is also a practical matter. Cut every syllabus in half (or whatever) such that 90 percent of the students can retain 90 percent of the material, and you have to teach twice as many courses to cover the material, and will waste productive years of the lives of students well above this cutoff. Somewhere in between catering to the star pupils and slowing everything down for the stragglers, there is an optimal that most decent teachers and programs are shooting for already.


text:
Avoiding use of a red pen in providing handwritten comments on student work
As is common practice, I usually have used a red pen to grade student work and provide edits and comments on papers I collaborate on. However, I was speaking recently with an elementary school teacher who told me that they are instructed to avoid using red pen when grading student work. This led me to ask if using red pen to provide feedback on student work is a practice I should avoid.
Based on the study discussed in the link below, wherein red pen is found to have a negative effect on student response to feedback, it seems that using red pen may actually cause students to receive feedback less favorably.
https://phys.org/news/2013-01-red-pen-instructors-negative-response.html
I also have been told by a Korean colleague that red pen is only used to write the names of the dead, and writing a living person's name in red is akin to wishing the person dead.
In light of these thoughts, should red pen be avoided in academic settings? It seems that use of red pen can have negative psychological and cultural implications.

I don't see the point of your question. You've found people and papers that give you information about red pens. Now you, yourself, can decide what to do.

Are you in Korea?

@AzorAhai I am currently in the U.S., but Korea is the second largest 'foreign point-of-origin' for students at my school (next to Canada).

Well, I have no problem being culturally sensitive, but do you feel like this superstition is important to making your Korean students feel comfortable? I've never heard of it.

A quick note, some individuals are color blind and have difficulty distinguishing between red pen ink and blank pen ink.

It's an interesting question whether this is due to some inherent feature of the color red and its perception, or whether just because red ink is traditionally associated with corrections.  If people switch to purple, will purple eventually develop the same negative associations?

Some years ago I tried "critique-ing" students' papers in blue... but they complained that my comments were easy to overlook, and they preferred red, for visibility.

I use a green pen for corrections and notes on student work. To me this looks more friendly especially if you have a lot of notes and minor improvements.if the color does not matter in practice, this won't hurt. If color matters, then this might indeed be a good idea.

I switched to brown ink some years ago.  It stands out nearly as well as red, and it's a sort-of pun in my case.

In the past I have also received suggestions about marking in red, and had various discussions on the topic. My only reason for continuing to mark using red is that it contrasts strongly with the typical blue or black of the submissions.
It is often cited/claimed that red is an "angry" colour, or students find it demoralising, and so it should be avoided. But that doesn't really follow when the markings are "ticks" or other constructive affirmations.
Using blue pen when the work is blue or black does not provide a good contrast and corrections are more easily overlooked. (I have used blue pen for marking when, after having had students ask if it matters what colour they use to write, I have received work written in shades of pink. In that case, blue gave a better contrast than red.)
Green has been suggested as an alternative, but then there are studies to indicate that information written in green is not easily remembered, and if the reason for writing corrections is to help the student learn, green would then be counterproductive.
Other colours such as purple and black also do not give a good contrast. And you may well find that the students who complain now that they don't like red will later complain that you didn't show them the correct answer/method/result because the new colour used didn't stand out from the rest of the work.
There is also the issue of marking individual items or questions and then totalling the marks across multiple pages. The individual marks need to be easily seen by you so that you don't inadvertently miscount and record a lower mark or grade for the student work.

Or, to summarise, "there's a reason red became traditional for marking, it stands out far more than anything else!"

The reason that the "mainstream" color for correcting is red is because it attracts your attention easily and is well contrasted to the blue/black or pencil that will commonly be used.
My guess is that because red has been used for corrections for so long, it can be thus associated with errors, and hence elicit the potential negative feedback reception. Be that as it may, you're not dealing with preschoolers. Your students are adults. It's up to you to pick the (imo, a rather trivial detail) color you wish to use to grade assignments.

It seems that use of red pen can have negative psychological and cultural implications.

Psychological? No. It's not like you'll ruin someone's day because a correction was made in red ink. You may or may not make that person less receptive to your feedback as per the paper you linked, but to say that it will have negative psychological repercussions is an overstatement.
Cultural? Depends where you are. I wouldn't use a red pen in Korea, but here in America, red pens are most well-known for adding comments and annotations on documents.

It's already a long time since I had a significant teaching load; even then we already had routine second-marking of some assessments, including coursework. So we already needed two defined colours that wouldn't get confused with the students' usual blue or black... totally excluding red would have been really, really awkward!

What you could do, is mark the wrong answers in red. When I get a test that is all mark up in red ink, I believe that I got everything wrong. So, you could chose another color, say blue, and use that for corrections, and then use red for the really "bad" ones.

One of my professors in college used green, and I liked that, so I also use green. No issues so far, except for the rare case when a student writes with a green pen!

I suppose if ALL of your comments in red ink are negative and there's red ink everywhere, sure, that would be demoralizing.  But is that really how you mark up your students' work?  When I'm grading a paper, I'm underlining passages I liked, I'm making comments in the margins like "Yes! Agree!", questions that came to mind, and stuff like that. And all of that is in red.  No matter how bad the submission, I can always find something I like, so when they read my comments, I hope they experience them less as an avalanche of criticism and negativity and more as a conversation about their work.
Fwiw, I'm not changing.  I like red, maybe because it's traditional but also because it makes the comments so easy to pick out against the text.  And if you're considerate in your comments, I'm unconvinced there's a genuine problem that needs fixing.

I believe that, as a student, it can be a little bit demoralizing to use red pen, and I have had past teachers avoid this. The color red is commonly associated with anger, and this may contribute to feelings of "wrongness".


text:
Transferring Universities in Germany Between Intakes (Summer to Winter)
I am an international student from India planning to pursue higher education in Germany. I have a question regarding transferring universities within Germany.
If I enroll in a university during the summer intake, can I apply to another university for the winter intake and transfer there while staying in Germany? Additionally, since I haven't applied for an education loan yet, how would this affect the loan process if I take one in India by showing the name of the university I initially enroll in?
I’d appreciate insights from anyone who has faced a similar situation or has knowledge about the visa, loan, or university transfer process in Germany.
Thank you in advance!

Is this for undergraduate or graduate?

Im looking for graduate Msc

What will transferring do that waiting to start at the other university will not?


text:
Will posting my preprint that was accepted Cambridge university press cause issues with peer review?
I recently published a literature review manuscript on Cambridge University press's open engage journal, it was accepted and is now available on its public website. It has yet to pass peer review in a reputable journal. I wanted to share my accomplishment (first publication, early career/Jr researcher) with friends and close peers via Facebook, and LinkedIn to share with mentors/peers, and family as well as attract future collaborations from people in my field. I need to revise the manuscript and design some diagrams/ images and supplementary material to help the reader who is less familiar with the topic visualize the information coherently before I feel comfortable submitting for peer review.
The pre-print is available on my ORCID profile and doesn't seem to be available via google scholar just yet.
I'm worried that it may cause issues with peer review, I'm uncertain whether or not it violates the "work must be novel, original, and not published prior to submission" policy in most reputable journals. The open engage author FAQs states that its acceptable to share your publication via social media and on public websites if it is accepted for publication, so no issue there it seems. I know I should check individually with each publisher to see if it's acceptable to share my pre-print on my personal accounts without it being detrimental to the chances for it to be published, but I'm wondering if it's largely acceptable in most journals.

This question is similar to: Does publishing a paper on arXiv prevent me from submitting it to a non-open access journal?. If you believe it’s different, please [edit] the question, make it clear how it’s different and/or how the answers on that question are not helpful for your problem. Yes, Open Engage isn't arXiv, but ultimately the answer is the same: it depends on the specific journal or publisher. This site may be useful: https://openpolicyfinder.jisc.ac.uk/

As you note, this depends on the publisher and on the field. Some are very strict, though the trend is against that older practice. Ask the publishers or read their web site author information.

@Anyon, while it technically probably is a duplicate, note that the linked question is very old and things have changed since the question and its most recent answer.

@Buffy The most recent (and downvoted) answer to that question seems mistaken, but I see no issue with the accepted answer. In fact, it might actually be more valid now than when it was posted since more fields are accepting of preprints these days...

@Anyon, I fear the accepted answer is too generous. It was posted by a mathematician, and in that field it is generally accepted. But it may be quite different for the OP, whose profile doesn't give good guidance. I think it is still field, and certainly publisher, dependent. Beware of facile answers. I still think this should be closed, but for different reasons (individual factors). Also, the OP there was in Physics, where it may also be generally accepted, but I have no knowledge of that.

@Buffy Physics is the only field in which posting preprints is even more standard than math.


text:
How to deal with a lazy class?
Imagine that you want to conduct your undergraduate classroom in a more creative way and introduce practical projects as a part of the final grade. However, students are lazy to embrace extra activities, and all of them decide not to deliver any report.
The department does not like the trouble of failing all students in a course because of an extra project.
What would you do to implement change when students are widely resisting?
Or as @JeffE suggested, How to deal with a department that does not give its instructors autonomy in assigning grades?
Additional Description: In fact, I want to change the grading system to reduce the weight of final exam, and add to small projects (e.e.g writing a one-page about the topic under consideration). The lazy class prefer to deal with one final exam instead of continuing homework. The school does not support this method, but they do not stop me as long as there is no trouble.

How about not giving anyone an A - making the top grade to be something like B+?

When you say "decide not to", does that mean they are actively resisting your policy by complaining or non cooperation? It seems to me that if you are teaching the course (or solely in charge of it), you decide the parameters of a good grade, no?

@Shion I mean non-cooperation. Yes, I can decide about the grading system, but when they are non-cooperative, the system must fail all of them, but it is officially impossible.

I think the real question here is "How to deal with a department that does not give its instructors autonomy in assigning grades?"

@JeffE yes it can be. Actually, I am looking for a way not to give up! It can be dealing with students or the department officials.

Can you give / does it have any effect if you give a barely pass grade, something like a D?

It's a very difficult position you are in. The school does not want you to fail all the students and it seems the students might know that and are cooperating to overrule you. This is the like the two prisoners (in the Prisoner's Dilemma) finding a way to coordinate their actions. In this case, as I said, you have a very difficult situation.
It seems to me that three major issues in this case:

The school says they give you power but they really don't. If this is the case, then you must deal with your boss (or higher) to find out what you can do and what you cannot. One way to test that power is to tell your boss that you will fail all the students because they are actively resisting course requirements. If your boss says that you must find a way to get the students to do the work, then you know you do not have any power and you must decide if this is acceptable to you or not. If not, go somewhere else (if you can). Otherwise, you have to live with it.
You may be out of touch with what the students are capable of doing. This is quite common for new teachers. For myself (when I was starting to teach undergraduate students), I thought the students would all be hard-working and dedicated to their studies but later found that they were just like most undergraduates trying to get around the work and they didn't understand the importance of studying or the importance of their university degree. I was comparing them to my graduate-level classmates (since those were my most recent memories) but that was clearly wrong of me and I was far too expecting and too strict. If you are putting on them more than they can do, then perhaps you need to reflect on the requirements you've created. Are they really reasonable for the students you are teaching?
The students might simply not understand how to do what you are asking them (this is related to point 2). Some students (especially 'unprepared students') need more attention and more explanations in order to do the work required in higher education. You might need to spend more time on general study skills (inside and outside of class) and less time on course content. That is, teach them how to research, how to write a lengthy report, etc. as opposed to simply teaching them about Theory A, B, and C.

There is a fourth issue which I raised in the initial paragraph and that is the students might be working together to overpower your authority. If this is the case, you must balance between finding out why they feel the need to do that - see points 2 and 3 above - (and solving the underlying problem) and maintaining your own power of authority (which requires you to challenge them back but then you're back to dealing with point 1 above).

"You may be out of touch with what the students are capable of doing." One other thing to realize is that undergraduates are taking your class for a wide variety of reasons. You care deeply about your subject, obviously, but you should understand why your students are taking it.

First things first: what did your syllabus say, and what did you say when you assigned the project?  If the assignment was a part of the final grade, and getting a zero on the project means that all the students will fail, and they knew this when the class began and when the project was assigned, and the project was assigned with enough time for them to produce an adequate result, then no one should complain when you fail them (or at least no one should have a legitimate reason to complain).  I have a feeling that if this is not a hypothetical case, there is more to the story.
I have been guilty of deviating from the syllabus in various ways over the years, but the students knew the ramifications of that deviation, and I was always fair in my grading because of it.  I find it hard to believe that an entire class skipped an assignment that guaranteed they will fail, unless of course it guaranteed they all receive an A.
I think you need to provide more information for a better answer, but the bottom line is that if the students failed the class legitimately, then fail them.  Just make sure you've got the means to back up your reasoning for those failures if it is indeed the entire class.

It is not matter of syllabus, but mainly the grading system. For example, some teachers wish to use quizzes as a part of the final grade, and some merely use the final exam. I want to use tiny projects (e.g. writing a one-page report) during the course, but what when no student delivers a report?

I don't understand what you mean -- one of the purposes of a syllabus is to set out the grading scheme for the course.  If you put on the syllabus the requirement for projects, then the students know they have to do projects to pass.  If what you mean is that you don't have control over the syllabus (e.g., it is a course with multiple sections and teachers), then this is something you need to work out with the other teachers.  If the course has a combined syllabus, then all teachers should be assessing the same, with tests, quizzes, or projects.

Sorry, my bad! I considered syllabus as a part of the official curriculum instead of educational material of a course for students. In any case, as described in additional description of the question, the school does not approve such grading scheme, but they do not care if I use it without trouble.

I see; thanks for the clarification.  If you don't have support from the administration to use your own grading scheme such that it forces the students to do the work for the grade, you're left with fewer options.  One would be to build a relationship with the students such that they want to do the projects--possibly a difficult endeavor if they aren't self-motivated.  You might also consider the carrot approach instead of the stick approach: provide extra credit to those who do the projects.

Good point about extra credit. I know that it is quite difficult, but I hope to receive some ideas to continue with a tricky methods, before giving up :)

Grades are best used as a formative tool to highlight areas in which students need to improve and not as a proverbial stick to punish students. You should be commended for introducing a project that you thought would be a proverbial carrot, but the problem is the students didn't see it that way. It now sounds like you want to beat the students with the stick for not liking the carrot. Instead of punishing this years students, I would suggest you talk to them so you can figure out what they did not like about the projects and work together to make the project work in the future.

I'll point out that the advice in the first sentence here is the reverse of mainstream educational theory, which claims that formative feedback should be without grades, and summative feedback at the end the time for grades. https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/basics/formative-summative.html

@DanielR.Collins you are correct. I will have to think about the wording. I will really focusing on the carrot/stick idea and not the formative/summative distinction. Re-reading the question and my answer, I am not sure sure if formative really needs to be in there.

One direct way to solve this problem it would be to put in the final exam questions related to the projects that you have assigned. Of course, you should tell this before hand so your students know about it.
The problem of changing the weight of the final exam would be that if you have not say that clearly, at the beginning of the course; some students will take it that is not a fair measure, because maybe other lecturers are assigning a great weight to the final examination and that is also a policy of the department.
Other advice would be to write reports informing to your Faculty coordinator or Dean about what is the current situation, but also proposing solutions. In some institutions when the number of falling students is very big they blame directly to the lecturer, and that can bring problems to your academic development in that place.

It sounds to me as if you are fighting not only the administration, here, but somehow going against the established school culture with your change to small assignments.  If all other teachers are requiring only a midterm and final and you switch to weekly graded assignments, students are likely to rebel, feeling that you are requiring them to do more work than students in other classes.
This is not to say that your idea is wrong; it may be a very good one, but clearly you haven't sold it to either the administration or the students.  Do they understand the benefit of learning/mastering something in small bites, rather than trying absorb everything for a final?  Why do you think that these smaller assignments will increase their learning, in the end?
I was a teacher educator at the high school and college levels for many years.  I always told my teachers-in-training that if all or most students fail an assignment, the problem is yours, not theirs.  And I include myself in this -- it took me a number of semesters to enable students to be successful at a large, semester-end project; what it required was for me to break it down into smaller parts and have due dates for each of those.
But as others have said, whatever you do needs to be built into the syllabus, so students know about it from Day One.  If you do change your mind about your curriculum midstream, you must present it to students as an addendum to your syllabus, in writing, but . . . that might lead to an impression that you're changing things on the fly.  Give it thought ahead of time, get it into your syllabus, or wait until next semester to make what appears, in your school culture, to be a fairly big change.

I know this was posted years ago, but I'd like to throw in my two cents, as I can relate to this question. I'm usually in a similar situation: administration not too keen on changes or failing too many students, and sometimes even the other teachers (as I don't work alone) not wanting any extra work in order to grade projects in addition to exams.
I don't think there's a magic solution here, as every group of students is different. But usually they are mostly interested in passing tests by studying as little as possible (and blame this on education systems, that focus on grades and exams instead of students learning at their own pace).
However, you can turn this into something you can use: when you give them a project, you can tell them that it will affect the kind of exam they will be doing. You can even tell them the grade will not only depend on how good or bad they did on those extra activities but will also take into account other stuff, like turning in assignments or completing a phase of a project, presenting to the class (even when it's just showing and explaining the work they did), peer reviewing could also earn them some credit. The better grade they get on the extra activities, the more benefits they will earn. So when it comes to exam time, those that worked the hardest will get the most rewards.
For instance, students that got less than a C in extra activities will have an extra question on their exam (and maybe this question will have a great impact on the overall score, or maybe they will just fail if this question is not correctly answered even if their answers to other questions are correct). Those who got a B will be granted the ability to have a helping sheet (with some information that could help them in the exam -not giving away answers but providng some hints). And finally, those that got an A would have extra points added to their exam.
As I said, every group is different and you might find out this strategy works great one year and not so much the next.