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First year PhD without advisor, or experience, or a clue about research
TL; DR    How can I go about either convincing this unwilling advisor or others in my department to keep me despite poor performance?
*Thank you so much for your comments. It's beyond valuable that you are taking the time to read and share opinions. *
Background: I started PhD in management in a reputable institution in US, immediately after undergrad in a small university in Europe. The system works much more differently than I was used to and now I have invested all I can to this area. However, I lack prior experience in research, and especially when changing areas like this, need to develop very specific skills that were hard for me so far. Now I'm pretty beaten up and discouraged by potential advisors to go for a PhD.
The catch is when I applied, one senior faculty jointly appointed with this program and others was my primary "advisor"-candidate- and a second one supported this. Now, the second one has left the institution without any progress with research; and no one else in my department with similar topics is willing to advise me or fund any research I want to do. Without guidance or funding, this seems like a no way out. I really love the research the primary "advisor" is doing and want to continue on the topic I am in, but the topic is not the most common to find among researchers in my field.
My primary "advisor" is already planning to work with other students and my funding is not covering more than tuition after this first year. I really need someone to support me, and help me figure academia out as my first year was really bumpy. The department liaison and chairs are encouraging me to drop out and keep their money in...

I thought you're supposed to take courses in the first year of PhD.

@scaaahu that very much depends on the place.

Also, you may need to be flexible about research area. Remember the objective at this stage is to learn to do research, not necessarily to work on a particular problem.

@Roland , I truly agree on the necessity of an upward trend to show my true colors.

@Patricia Shanahan , I believe that reminder is to the point. I have at best a vague idea of how decision research literature is situated at the moment whereas the core faculty in my area are not engaged in that type of research at all (but mostly social psychology). It is very confusing for me, but perhaps it is possible that I get past the confusion with some urgency?

Have a careful think: what makes you think that you will make a success of the PhD? I don't mean that in a harsh way, but as a genuine question. Your potential advisors seem to be recommending that you don't pursue the PhD, presumably based on their assessment of your performance over the first year. But perhaps you have abilities that they haven't really seen yet, or perhaps there were mitigating circumstances that led to poor performance, but you believe you will be able to turn it around. Once you have made this honest assessment, you can then make your case to your potential advisors to try and persuade them that you will be able to make a success of the PhD.
Of course, you also need to consider the possibility that these academics are right, and that you don't have what it takes to succeed in a PhD at this point in time. While it's not easy to face if this is something that you have set your heart on, they may have your best interests in mind. PhDs are hard, and are not for everyone. It might be the wrong thing to do to start off on a tough course, struggle through for a year or two more, and then discover that it really is not working out. Or you might stick it all the way, scrape through, but emerge exhausted and disillusioned. This may be what your potential advisors are trying to avoid, they have probably been through similar things in the past. I'm not saying they are right - they might not be. But equally, they might be. And perhaps your strengths are elsewhere, and they would be doing you a huge favour in directing you towards a more productive route.
You mention that you found it a big step up from your undergraduate studies, and that you lack research experience. Perhaps one option is to consider a research-based Masters course? This would provide you with something of an intermediate step, helping to clarify whether you are "cut out" for research, and giving you that vital experience. If successful, it would be a great way to provide clear evidence that you have some of the skills necessary for a PhD.
Again, please don't take any of this as a personal judgement. I don't know you, and I have no idea of your strengths and abilities. I just think it will be important for you to take a step back and make an honest appraisal rather than pressing forward with a single plan no matter what.

This is a very considerate way of evaluating my situation, therefore I will gladly take up on your perspective. I have this impostor feeling creeping up from the very beginning and cannot deny it. The only fact in there is that my program has accepted me to be under their supervision and funding, which I am losing faith in but should probably give more thought into. I wish I knew the way that "successful"& bright phd image emerges. (Perhaps even more so without a masters) However, my actual aim is to learn best practices in this research, hopefully staying in my current program.

What I had some trouble in the beginning was that I didn't know I was so expendable, that I'd have problems financing my research.
Would you suggest I try to focus on a narrower set of core skills such as statistical analysis of secondary data, as one way to mitigate lack of funding? Or am I way off with my current thinking?

@curiousyetinexperienced I'm getting slightly mixed messages from your different posts. Is the main problem that your advisors don't feel you have the ability to continue (as implied by the TL;DR at the top), or is it that they lack funding, but would be happy to keep you on otherwise?

I have been told that currently I need to be independent and initiative taking in terms of getting into research. From that I infer that faculty is neither fundamentally directing me outside of academia, nor taking a stance to help me with doing this project. Therefore I thought that financing was the primary reason of their neglect, but it's equally possible that they wish for me to drop out


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Does publishing greatly affect my chances of getting accepted and funded (TA/RA) in a PhD program?
Short background:
I've got BSc's in both Mathematics and Computer Science and I've just started my Master's in Computer Science after which I hope to pursue a PhD in Mathematics at a university other than the one I'm currently studying at (no PhD in Math or Comp. Sci. offered as the department/school is rather small).
For what it's worth this is all happening in the U.S.
Question:
I've talked to two professors at my current university and one has told me if I want to get some funding I had better publish while the other sort of shrugged it off, making publishing seem like it's just another thing.
Well, which is it? Should I really push to publish as much as possible while working towards my Masters or should I not worry so much about having something in a journal somewhere if my goal is to get accepted to a PhD program with tuition paid and a living stipend?

It depends a lot on the level of university you are looking at.  Lots of students get into mid-level math PhD programs with funding without having published.  At the top schools, everything is more competitive and papers could certainly be the difference between acceptance and rejection.  (You can expect that if you get into a PhD program at all, it will be with funding - typically a teaching assistantship that pays your tuition and a stipend.  An unfunded acceptance is, for most practical purposes, a rejection.)

Thanks @NateEldredge. I would certainly like to get into a top-tier university, but we'll see how things turn out. I'll keep this advice in mind.

I disagree with Nate Eldredge. Even at a top-5 math department, most admitted students don't have publications, and for all but a tiny number their publications don't affect admissions (from my experience on grad admissions). The letters of recommendation are what matters. By the way, it sounds like the advice you're getting might be from someone who knows CS rather than math (e.g. the comment about funding). If so you need to take it all with a hefty grain of salt, many things don't translate.

Another thing you should consider is: You are doing a Master's in CS, but going for a PhD in math. So you will need really good letters of recommendation, that state why you are a good candidate for a PhD in math and not simply go for one in CS. Btw. you might want to ask yourself why you are aiming for math rather than CS, even though you choose CS now over math...

Most people get into PhD programs without publications. That said,  peer reviewed publications will always be good. but BEWARE!, loads of open-access predatory journals around there that will publish your work for a small fee, without any proper scientific peer-review. Don't fall into their trap, publishing there is likely worse than not publishing.

@Bemte Like I've mentioned, I've got a background in Math and CS. I choose a CS masters because I go to a small school that only offers a CSR (Computational Sciences and Robotics) Masters, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, for interested parties. That being said, the focus of my Masters' electives is Mathematics, I'll take a comparable amount of CS and Math courses during my Masters. I would prefer a PhD in Mathematics because that's what I'm more interested in pursuing and it will likely be Applied Math. I like to walk the line between Math and CS, since they're so closely related.

@TheRealKernel Then this should be exactly what you and others emphasize in recommendation letters, interviews, etc.

It is not clear what you mean by publish. In the simplest form, with predatory publishers a check and some gibberish, and the gibberish might be optional, you can get published. Even respected publishers do not always peer review (e.g., ArXiv only moderates) meaning the quality does not need to be particularly high. To get published in a respected peer-reviewed journal, or conference proceedings, requires you, or the team you are working with, to produce novel and exciting research, write a clear description of the results, format the results to meet the journal's specifications, and address comments by reviewers.
Having been involved in the production of novel and exciting research is very helpful for admission to a PhD program. The ability to write up results is also important, but this can come across in your application and doesn't require a publication. Formatting to a journal's specification and dealing with reviewers is not something that admission committees really care about.
In general, publishing is the end product of the research process. Admission committees don't generally care if you make it to the end of the process.

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Am I being taken advantage of by working on a committee member's research with no payoff?
I am currently pursuing a Master's degree in Computer Science which requires me to have three members on my graduate committee.
Last August one of the committee members asked me to work on a project for him as part of my graduate work. However, the work was not enough for a thesis, I would need to switch from thesis-track to project-track, which I am not interested in doing, and the topic wasn't what I would like to work on full-time for my research.
My major professor suggested I work on the project for a shot at getting a publication under my belt for the work I will have done. Because of this I accepted the proposal and put a ton of time into the project on top of my research and course load. Recently, the research was funded and a poster was made to present the research. Lo and behold, I was not listed as an author on the poster with the professors despite my countless hours slaving away.
There have been no publications yet, so I don't know if I will be listed as an author on the actual paper but, being new to this, I would like to be sure I'm not being taken advantage of. I've got enough things to take care of outside of the project and was expecting some sort of payoff if the research had gotten this far.
Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for the opportunity. I'm still assisting with the research and would like to continue to assist the professor with hopes of at least getting a good letter of recommendation for a PhD program but, if the general opinion is I'm being taken advantage of I would like to know to perhaps confront the faculty member.

Can you give more details about what kind of work you did on the project? That's clearly relevant.

Sure. As I said in my comment below, I excluded the details due to the length of the question. The research field would be best described as Data Science, we're looking at a potential improvement to a popular algorithm. As such the algorithm needed to be re-implemented with the improvement in place. I've done all of the work creating the software implementation of the research. My most recent task is to use my software on certain datasets to help get data for a conference paper to be submitted over the summer.

Thank you for the further information, @TheRealKernel. It sounds like you definitely should be credited. Both implementation and application is a ton of work. Did anyone else work on either? And the people getting the credit did what?

It's hard to say what everyone's responsibilities have been behind the scenes. There was a prototype implemented that lacked necessary features but gave a crude demonstration of what the research's intentions were. I don't doubt the PI and other investigators have done their fair share of work but the full implementation of the algorithm was built from scratch by me. As for application, there's been only some application for the sake of prototyping and the real testing of the algorithm is just starting.

I'm surprised you don't know what other people have done, but in any case, from what you say, it really sounds like you should stand up for your right to be credited as part of this project.

Yes, you should discuss the issue of authorship. From this description, we can't tell you whether or not you are being taken advantage of. In general, whether authorship is appropriate depends on the intellectual content of your contribution.
To discuss the issue, start by saying "I'd like to discuss the issue of authorship on this project." If you'd like to be direct, you could then say, "I have committed a lot of time to this project. I am under the impression that my work is substantial enough that I might qualify as an author on papers arising out of this project. Under what circumstances would you consider including me as an author?"
If you'd like to be less direct, you could instead ask several questions about your committee members' philosophy on authorship. "What sort of contributions do you believe qualify for authorship on a project like the one we are working on together?"
If you don't like the answer (the person refuses to make you an author), then you need to set some boundaries in a professional manner. "I'd like to continue to contribute to this project. However, since there is not a possibility of authorship here, I am sure that you understand I need to prioritize my other work. Going forward, I can commit to X. If you need more help than this, I think we should revisit ways I could be compensated or qualify as an author."

Thanks for the answer @Dawn. I was going to include more detail of my contribution but the question ended up being pretty wordy. If directly discussing these things is typically acceptable, I think that's what I'll do. Thanks again for your suggestion.

+1, but before the last paragraph, I would suggest looping in the "major professor" (advisor). This will avoid conflict with him; further, he may be able to smooth things over and get you authorship (or some other remuneration).

Most academic journals will give guidelines on their websites as to how to allocate authors for publications. Typing in data, probably not an author, contributing to the research in question, then yes.

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Reviewing papers after leaving research for teaching?
I had been an active researcher until two years ago and published several papers and reviewed several papers as expected. Two years ago I took a teaching position. I teach 3 classes/semester but most classes meet 4 or 5 times a week, so it actually feels like 4 classes. I also do extensive work with undergraduates. I do some research, but it is very minimal (corresponding to the high teaching load).
Due to my previous research past I am constantly getting requests to review papers (3/month). Due to my change in work duties, I have to decline many of them (but I do review some papers).
My question is:
Should I explain that I am declining due to my change in work duties? What about if it is the same editor or journal that keeps sending me papers to review? How do I best/ethically proceed without hurting my chances to publish the few papers I plan to submit?
Additional information to clarify: I am not too worried about my chances to publish (my current position requires very minimal research). I am mostly worried that I will get known as a bad professional. By the way, my current institution is officially a top tier research university (and they advertise themselves as such), but my department is not (we barely have a masters program). It is very easy for colleagues to think that I am active in research unless I explicitly tell them about my current duties. It gets even more confusing since some papers take a long time to get published (after acceptance).

You do not need to agree to every request. In some systems you can block out times (such as the semester) where you do not have the time to review, and you won't be asked then. Reviewing and publishing are decoupled to a reasonable extent.

I get the impression that your underlying question is: will it harm me professionally if I decline too many review requests, and how can I mitigate this? If that's the case, I think you should edit the question to make this a bit clearer. The details about your teaching are not particularly relevant (if I'm right).

Also, if that is what you are worried about, this post may answer your question.

If it is the same editor, write him a polite email explaining the situation.

@user2390246,  I think there's a huge difference between never responding to a request (as in the post you reference) and saying no (as here).

@FredDouglis Yes, I agree. But given that most of the answers in the linked post are saying never replying won't do you much harm, saying "no" is presumably even less of an issue.

@user2390246 I stopped reading that post carefully,  but if they said it was fine to totally ignore review requests,  they're s%&theads. All that does is dramatically slow the review process!

@FredDouglis I won't rehash the debate here, but you can always post your own answer there if you don't agree with the existing ones.

There are (at least) three issues here:

Your time. If you're unable to spend time due to teaching, than that's a perfectly acceptable reason to decline.
Your duty. If you're no longer publishing research, then arguably you're no longer obliged to provide the service of review to those who do. So, don't feel obliged, but you may still enjoy this.
Your expertise may no longer be up to scratch. In particular, you may lack access to some relevant publications and/or may no longer follow recent research to be on top of the field. In this case, you cannot provide an adequate review (w/o an unreasonable effort) and should decline.

In any case, you don't have to feel apologetic when declining a review request, though it does not harm to briefly state a reason.

This is nice summary of issues that perhaps needs a 'what to do about it' sentence for an ending. In my field, its hard to imagine that an editor wants a particularly long or apologietic 'too-much'information' answer, and likely is more than happy if you accept for the refereeing when it makes sense to you, and decline when it doesn't - as long as you get a well-done review in on time for those you accept to review  - assuming that you still find interest in reviewing. (that is, I'm sure I get more cuss words thrown at me when I drop the ball on a review  that I promised to do).

@Carol ?? The editor should accept a yes for a yes and a no for a no. No need to give any reasons.

I guess that is what I thought I implied. (that editor doesn't want 'too-much-information')  - just that it might be nice to add information to that effect at the end of your answer. (That all the issues you outline are considered 'reasonable', and  the editor likely mostly just wants to know if the OP can do the review or not).

@Carol Yes you implied that, but this implied that my answer did not, which I find confusing.

As an associate editor of several journals and a past EIC of a magazine, I've had a lot of experience being turned down by people.  When people decline multiple times and without any separate message commenting on why they can't do it, I try to remember not to ask them in the future.  Usually, if they know me at least (and sometimes if they don't), they'll explain they're too busy, or going on vacation, or whatever.  Often they'll recommend an alternative reviewer I can contact.
So I have to disagree with @Walter's comment in response to his answer, saying "no need to give any reasons" -- you don't need to but the OP is right in thinking it can be useful!
I think the question here is different though, and one the other answer so far isn't (IMHO) especially addressing.  The OP isn't saying he is no longer publishing -- if that were true it would be easy to decline reviews and not worry about this.  He's saying he's publishing less, and has less time for reviewing, and worries that if he always declines requests it will hurt the chance to publish.
By and large, I'd say the two are decoupled, within reason.  I know someone who had published at a particular conference something like 8 times but declined my request to serve on the program committee for that conference when I chaired it.  Did this hurt his chances of publishing in the future?  Probably not.  Did I think he was being really unfair by not carrying his weight on the other end of the publication process, as a reviewer?  Absolutely!   If it's a specific journal that keeps asking OP to review, and the OP declines without comment and then submits there, I think there is a nontrivial chance that it biases the editor, at least a bit.  Probably not in the "automatic rejection" category by any means, but a finger on the scale, potentially.
That's why I think declining with a comment (separate email if the system doesn't allow it when declining) is a good idea.  So is reviewing at least occasionally, both to keep on top of the topic and to give back -- as long as OP plans to still publish sometimes as well.
Fair is fair.

within reason, a simple comment is, at least, a polite thing to do. Of course, if a ghost conference sends 3/day, then spam folder would be the best option....

@FábioDias absolutely, and that is the point I started to make, but I realize the whole conversation digressed.  The point isn't only "should one explain when declining" but "does repeatedly declining hurt publication".  Perhaps this is an indication that the question is overly broad and asking too many independent questions, though it's hard really to separate them.  Might be best though to simply ask "does saying no hurt publication chances" without the added question of whether it's accompanied by an explanation.

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Is the following a form of dishonesty on the part of the school?
This distance-learning school claims to be a member of a certain international academic organization . But after checking with the said organization, I found out that the school's membership have expired years ago. Just last week, the organization informed me that they have requested the school to remove the questioned information from its website. To date, however, the school has not yet acted on this request.
Can the school's action or inaction qualify as a form of dishonesty or should we give the school the benefit of the doubt?
(By the way, the school is government-recognized/accredited.)

May I ask: Why do you trust the international academic organization, not the government?

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because as you were told the last time you posted this question, it's not really answerable without more detail.

I suggest you follow the advice you were given in answer to your other question:  "I would recommend giving the university a chance to clarify by contacting them."

Does no really matter if the school is government recognized or not. Two things here.
Accreditation / Membership -  usually costs a lot of money each time you need to "refresh" it, so the school may have chosen not to do so. That does not necessarily mean, the school is not up to the standard. It may even be that school has decided not to participate as a member to this organization because of reasons unknown to you.
Next to that, these companies makes its name by doing proper evaluations. Those are always based on certain time period, and the conditions in the school at that time. Within 4 year period, a school can change half of its staff, have a new director, and a completely different set of standards, guidelines, and internal quality assessments. This is why schools must comply with the accreditation or membership standards continuously in order to keep their accreditation. And that is why these companies have a right to ask the school to remove it from their website / media.
It is not possible to determine from your writing, if we can attribute the school with dishonesty (requires knowledge of wrongdoing) or if this is part of the school policies working too slow, but in any case, if the company has contacted them, and instructed them to remove the false media materials, and they do not do so in a reasonable time, I would consider it at least a breach of trust, and most likely also contract.
Please note, that for a school that most likely advertises every start of the academic year, it will most likely make financial and moral sense to change these materials shortly before that start of the new academic year, which is a long time. If this bothers you, always feel free to write a letter to your school explaining your viewpoint. You can also write anonymously.


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Mistakes post publication
I just discovered some mistake after the online publication? There are two mistakes- instead of figure S4A (supplementary figure), it says Figure S3A at two places. It's very embarrassing, should I write to the editor about this?

You should inform your coauthors, use this opportunity to search for other misprints and finally write to the editor.

This sort of typographical error should be handled with a "Correction". You'd say something like "In the article such-and-such (citation) the text on line x, page y should read "Figure 4A" instead of "Figure 3A". The online text has been corrected."
The details of how that's done depends on the journal, so you should discuss with the editor.
It's quite common to have to issue corrections, it's not a big deal, and aside from being a minor embarrassment an occasional Correction doesn't reflect on you in any way.   I suppose if it were a regular thing it might get noticed, but this should not be a big deal.

This might be field dependent.  In my field, errors of this magnitude abound in every paper and are rarely formally corrected.  Occasionally someone puts a list on their webpage.  If a reader (who will necessarily be an expert in order even just make heads or tails of the paper) would not be able to figure out the appropriate correction after a bit of effort, then perhaps a correction is issued.

Sure, I think that's probably true in my fields as well, the author would be fine in letting it go, but since they seemed upset about it a correction is fine too


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Plagiarism in a work I'm advising
I'm a research assistant in an university.
I'm advising some students, in the capacity of co-advisor with another colleague, to write a work which is necessary for them to graduate and which will add points to the final marks they get.
They have sent the work in some time ago, but I didn't have time to read it until today.
I started reading it and was honestly quite poor: bold claims without citations, general statements over and over, the few papers that were cited were cited in too much details. Also some formal problems: inconsistency in citation style, quite a few typos, inconsistency in formatting and layout, quite elementary english (I'm not saying mine is good).
So I started to carefully review their work: commenting where citations needed to be inserted, telling them to insert them; commenting the out-of-scope parts, telling them they were out-of-scope; fixing the grammar now and then, planning in my mind a more general response where I would tell them how to improve and what was expected, for instance not to talk in details about a single paper but rather to express an overview about what the literature has said and done.
Suddenly the style changes drastically: the english is now perfect and scientific.
Since it's more than one student doing this work, I though that they had split the work among them, and the latter student was better than the former.
By continuing to read some other things don't square. The citation style is now consistent. As there are changes in the substance too: they now compare papers among one another, they tell a whole story by citing papers, the flow of the discourse is congruent with itself.
I thought that this new student was substantially better than the former, but then a new thought came into my mind, and I checked since well it can't harm to check.
They have "copied" whole paragraphs from published papers.
And by "copied" in double quotes I mean that they have changed some words, or added some useless specifications in parentheses, or changed the order of the words, so that the kindergarten teacher wouldn't realize the passage is copied.
I felt really angry and also physically ill, as I have spent quite few hours reading their thing. I also feel teased, duped and laughed at. I fell that what I'm doing has no sense anymore.
I don't know exactly what to do.
I sent an email to my colleague and to the professor. My colleague said that it's "common" for these things to happen and that we will "talk to" them at the next meeting (she used an expression which in my language means "talk to" but like in an angry and reprimanding way).
The professor has yet to answer.
I don't know if I'm still supposed to follow or advise them, and what my role would be consistent with the fact that I can't imagine seeing them again in the face, and honestly I'm not willing to help them anymore.

Have these students been taught that plagiarism is a serious offense? Your colleague's comment that such plagiarism is "common" suggests that the students still need to be taught (or perhaps re-taught). I think you, your colleague, and the professor are in a good position to teach them. Of course they will have to delete all the plagiarized material and rewrite that part of the paper ethically. What additional punishment should be imposed is something that you, your colleague, and the professor should discuss and agree on before meeting with the students.

You seem to take this very personally. Why? Your colleague's advice seems appropriate. Imperfect student work is not so rare, and your role is to teach them how to improve.

Do not take this personally. These students are not teasing, duping or laughing at you. They are trying to take the easy road to a good grade. They did it in a very obvious way. Either they do not know that this isn't allowed, or they do not care. They wasted your time, sure, but they've wasted their own time even more. And they did not do this to you specifically.
Your co-advisor said that you will talk to them. Listen to their explanation, figure out a good punishment if appropriate and if they seem uninterested of dishonest in their explanation, discuss with the professor and your co-advisor whether to stop the advising.
Finally, talk to your professor about the fact that you take this personally and how you can learn to let this go.

@DanielHatton Submitting a plagiarized draft hoping you won't be caught doesn't sound to me like "before any actual misconduct". It's fine to be more lenient with a draft if the assumption is that this is a learning moment, but I'm also not feeling very convinced that undergraduate students working on a thesis-style "final project" are so honestly clueless about what plagiarism is.

@DanielHatton Misconduct has already happened. They tried to submit this and OP spent time on this. I'm not saying that a harsh punishment is necessary, but it can be considered.

Since it seems you are a graduate student:  This is your supervisor's responsibility.  It's good you already informed your supervisor.  Ask your supervisor to address the problem.
It is also possible your supervisor or someone else in the hierarchy already provided you with instructions on how to address this situation.  Do not make up a new method if an existing one is available.  Follow the procedure your university has established.

This behavior is a serious breach of the academic code of conduct.
If the document  were submitted as a finished product the proper way to deal with the problem would be to refer it to the appropriate disciplinary body at your university. The minimum punishment should be failure for this work.
But it's just a draft, and you are just an advisor. So it's hard to decide what you should do (which is why you are asking here).
They need to understand how seriously they have erred. That what they did is "common" is no excuse. The angry "talking to" in your question in your language might be "give them a talking to" in English and may be the best you can do under the circumstances.
When you confront them, start by telling them how serious a problem they have. Document the sources from which you know they have copied. I would not give them an easy opportunity to explain why they did it. Tell them you have referred the matter to your professor. Tell them that if you were their professor you would fail them for this work. Tell them that if this were officially  submitted they might be thrown out of school. You might conclude by noting how lucky they are that this is just a draft and you are only an advisor, so they have a chance to mend their ways and never do this again.
Perhaps they can even learn something that will save them from future grief.
Here's what I ask my students to read and paraphrase in writing: https://www.cs.umb.edu/~eb/honesty/

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How to cite guide that doesn't have a year?
I have to cite this guide in one of my papers using the APA citation style.
How to cite it inline?
Zotero is inserting the citation like "(Tingley et al., n.d.)" because it doesn't have a year.
But I don't like the "n.d." part.

This is not an answer to your question, but it seems that the guide in question has also been formally published https://imai.fas.harvard.edu/research/files/mediationR2.pdf

@jnanin thanks, I think I'll cite that one, although I think it's less updated than the CRAN one

Whether you like it or not, the APA style requires you to write "n.d." instead of the missing date.
However, when you examine the file properties of the referenced document, you can see that it was compiled on 13 September 2019. I couldn't find an authoritative source on this, but it might be fair to date the reference accordingly.
How your citation manager handles missing dates is irrelevant. What matters is what the citation style requires. In this case, your citation manager did provide the correct output, in other cases it might not.


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Difference between "2-year community or junior colleges" and "4 year undergraduate program" in USA
I am confused about the USA education system.
I looked up the Wikipedia page about K-12. In particular, the figure on the right of that page.
Let's supposed I have just finished high school and I want a MSc in Computer Science.

It's pretty clear from the figure that I can apply to a MSc after a "4-year undergraduate program". My question here is: would this program award me a BSc?

It is unclear to me how the other path, the "2-year community or junior college" would work out. My questions here are:
a. What kind of title would a "2-year community or junior college" would award me? A BSc?
b. Can I apply for a MSc after a "2-year community or junior college"?
c. As I interpret the figure, I think that, after a "2-year community or junior college", I would still have to obtain a "4-year undergraduate program" before applying for a "Master's degree study". Here is my big question here: if that is the case, why I should apply to a "2-year community or junior college", and having to pursue a "4-year undergraduate program" nonetheless, instead of applying directly to a "4-year undergraduate program" after high school? Stated otherwise, why should a person enroll in a "2-year community or junior college" and then pursue a "4-year undergraduate program", instead of pursuing the "4-year undergraduate program" directly?

Two-year degrees in the US often award either an "associates degree" or some technical certification/profession-specific degree.
These degrees are not typically part of the "bachelors -> masters -> PhD" pipeline or more generic "bachelors -> professional degree".
Some students may start taking courses at a 2-year school and then transfer to a 4-year school (with or without actually completing a 2-year degree, and hoping to have as many of their 2-year credits count/transfer towards their 4-year degree), because 2-year schools are both less expensive and less selective. 2-year programs rarely have any sort of on-site housing ("dorms") and limited "student life" opportunities (clubs, social facilities, athletics).
Not all 2-year schools are appropriate for this track. Some are specifically designed as technical degrees to get students into a specific career, and do not provide the "general education" credits (basic math, science, social studies courses) that are useful for transferring to a 4-year program.

If you wanted a MSc in the US, starting from high school you would either:
A) Enroll at a 4-year program, and then
B) Apply to Masters programs*
or
A) Enroll in a 2-year program,
B) Transfer to a 4-year program (bringing with you some or all of the credits you already earned), and then
C) Apply to Masters programs*
If you plan for the "ABC" pipeline it is definitely worth exploring the requirements of the 4-year institution(s) you plan to attend so that you know which courses you take will transfer (some 4-year schools have explicit relationships with particular 2-year schools to define classes that will count for transfer credit). Most students who would follow this path instead of the "AB" path would be doing so either for financial reasons or because the student does not feel academically prepared for a 4-year school (the quality of high school education varies quite a bit in the US, and even a very good student at a disadvantaged high school might have trouble with the jump to a 4-year school).
There is no particular advantage to completing a 2-year degree program before starting a fresh 4-year degree - the only reason to start at a 2-year program if your goal is a MSc would be if you can transfer credits from the 2-year to 4-year program.
(* - it's possible, though not particularly common in the US, that you enroll directly for a combined bachelors+masters program)

Good answer, but "a very good student at a disadvantaged institution might have trouble with the jump to a 4-year school"  This is not true.  Often it is guaranteed that certain offerings of a community college are equivalent to the offerings of 4-year colleges.  This is called an "articulation agreement."  While certainly there is a difference between the weakest community colleges and the strongest 4-year colleges, in most cases if a student can succeed in community college but not in 4-year college, it is because the 4-year college is doing a bad job.

@AnonymousPhysicist Not sure I get your meaning. Maybe I was unclear, as I was referring to the student's high school. Community colleges are likely to have better opportunities for bridge courses (which might be offered at a 4-year school, but at full tuition and likely do not count towards the degree), and more generally there is more attention paid to students in the "100-level" courses than they'd likely find in a 4-year school. "Equivalent" is...well...rarely truly so.

"more generally there is more attention paid to students in the "100-level" courses than they'd likely find in a 4-year school"  Exactly.  It's not that students are not prepared for the four year college; the four year college is not prepared for the students.

@AnonymousPhysicist You can work towards making that change at the 4 year colleges from whatever position you have now. For a soon-to-be-undergraduate student, it doesn't matter who is at fault, they need to join the program that fits them, not show up to a 4 year college and complain the school isn't prepared for them when they are expected to do a lot more learning on their own and starting from a higher level expectation compared to what they saw in high school.

I agree with most of what you said, but: "For a soon-to-be-undergraduate student, it doesn't matter who is at fault"  It does matter.  The community college stigma, which is mostly myth, does real harm to students.  Most four year colleges in America are not actually selective.

@AnonymousPhysicist I don't disagree with you as far as "community college stigma" but I don't see how I am advocating for cementing the stigma. If anything I'm suggesting it's a good route for many many people. Really your comments make little sense in the context of this Q&A about differences in 2 and 4 year institutions. Please take it someplace else if you want to argue that 4-year institutions should do more to serve certain students than they are doing now.

Following @gnometorule comment (and I have seen you explained this in the other parts), when you say "There is no particular advantage to completing a 2-year degree program before starting a fresh 4-year degree.". If you do that, you start the 4-year degree program "at year 3", right?

The vagueness of "disadvantaged high school might have trouble with the jump to a 4-year school" does perpetuate that stigma.  It would be better to say a student from a disadvantaged school might find a community college is more accustomed to the challenges that student faces.  You inadvertently implied that community college courses are lower level than the equivalent courses at four year colleges.

@AnonymousPhysicist You're reading something not written here. Equivalent community college courses need not be "lower level" as you write, they only need to have expectations similar to what a student would face in an (urban/low income/majority minority) high school. That's not the same as "lower level". They also may include courses that a 4-year institution assumes people have completed in high school (a course name I have in mind is "college math" - oddly translated as "math you need before calculus"). 2-year schools have a course like this normally. 4-year schools consider it remedial.

That distinction doesn't say the 2-year school is bad. It says it is sometimes better for someone whose high school didn't prepare them.

@raffaem Yep, good point. I meant to say that there is no benefit to do (2 year degree) + (4 year degree) for later schooling. If your goal is a (4 year degree) and you start this by first transferring (2 year school credits) to your (4 year school) that's another matter. Do you think my edit helps clarify that or is there another place it is unclear? Thank you

"sometimes better for someone whose high school didn't prepare them."  Your answer should say that, instead of what it currently says.  It's a minor detail, but an improvement.

You can also finish a two year then apply for four year

@AzorAhai-him- You can, but there isn't much advantage to do so besides having the two-year to fall back on.

@BryanKrause Just for a completeness of information.

@raffaem: If you do that, you start the 4-year degree program "at year 3", right? --- It is a bit simplistic to think in terms of "year 1", "year 2", etc. because for the 4-year degree there are certain requirements (depending on subject major and the college/university) such as subject major courses (some of which are specifically required, others chosen from courses offered by the department) and required elective courses (e.g. several humanities, several social sciences, some math, maybe a foreign language, sometimes even physical education, etc.), (continued)

and additional elective courses (sometimes your subject major courses can satisfy this requirement, sometimes these have to be courses taken from other departments). Usually "3rd year" is based on how many credit hours you have obtained (i.e. courses taken), but it's not all that unusual for students even in their 4th year to take courses that they should have taken in their first year --- a university-wide mathematics requirement is often an example of this. And even if such a course was taken at the community college, a transfer student might not get the credit hours for it.

You say "There is no particular advantage to completing a 2-year degree program before starting a fresh 4-year degree." I very strongly disagree with this statement, particularly if the student is planning on continuing on at a state university (or the private equivalent).  Community colleges typically have much smaller class sizes (eg there are no 300 person precalculus lectures), and the focus of faculty is on instruction. Because of this, introductory academic courses (calculus, English composition, intro to physics, etc) tend (in my experience) to be better at community colleges. (con't)

Moreover, community college classes are much cheaper than classes at other institutions.  There are definitely students for whom the high school to university pipeline is appropriate, but my generic advice to a generic high school senior is "Go to community college for two years.  Then transfer to university."  I don't see any particular advantage in going straight to university (for most students---there are exceptions).

@XanderHenderson That's why I specifically wrote before starting a fresh 4 year degree. There is no reason to take 6 years to do an associate's + bachelor's. The rest of the answer clearly describes why a 2 year program can be a way to start towards a 4 year program with transfer credits. The second half of the sentence you quote, in fact.

One advantage to completing the two-year degree is you'd lock in those credits/classes. If you take a multi-year break in schooling, the classes won't age out.

A community college or junior college in the US offers a program that is roughly equivalent to the first two year of a bachelor's program. The degree awarded on successful completion is normally called an Associates Degree. In most cases it omits the more specialized "upper division" courses that bachelor's degree students take in the last two years.
An associates degree would normally not be sufficient to gain access to a masters program. The student would need to complete a bachelors first.
The advantage, for many, of an associates degree is that the college might be closer to home and it might have a much lower tuition cost than a bachelors degree program. As implied in the name "community college", many of them are partially funded by community taxes. Some of these colleges are very good, actually. I know people at a few of them and have high respect for what they do. But they aren't involved in any kind of serious research for the most part.
Some community colleges also offer non-academic training in various trades such as plumbing and carpentry.
I should also note, that since times are difficult in academia at the moment, some quite highly skilled "academics" wind up teaching in community colleges. One can build a career there if you are willing to focus almost everything on teaching.

"they aren't involved in any kind of serious research for the most part."  To be clear, they do not do research because their mission is teaching.  For a community college, research is just not part of the goal.

@AnonymousPhysicist, that is correct, but some are incorrigible and do research on their own time and dime. But the mission is teaching and service.

@AnonymousPhysicist (and Buffy) That being said, there are some community colleges where faculty are still involved in research, and even a few CC -run research seminars.  Fullerton College in California, for example, has a mathematics seminar (or did a few years ago, at any rate).  This is the exception, but there are a few places out there. :)

The other answers are largely correct. For those with higher-academia goals, community colleges provide Associates Degrees, and opportunities to apply those credits directly to a later 4-year degree. The primary reasons students attend these institutions are (a) lower annual cost than 4-year schools, and/or (b) students who cannot satisfy 4-year college admissions requirements, and hope to establish a track record that allows them to do so later.
That said, there are variations in institutions that the other answers don't cover. For example, I work at a community college in the CUNY (City University of New York) system, one of 25 campuses, including both 2-year and 4-year colleges, around the city. The three things I'd highlight at our schools are:

While the 4-year schools have significant admissions requirements, the 2-year schools are open admissions; any student with a high-school diploma or the equivalent is guaranteed placement.

A student who earns an appropriate Associate's Degree at a 2-year school is then guaranteed placement at a 4-year school within the system, with all earned credits transferring over. So the 2-year degree serves as successful completion of the first 2 years of a 4-year degree. (Even if the student could not initially meet the admissions requirement of the 4-year school.)

Faculty throughout the university system (2-year and 4-year) are all held to the same tenure requirements, including the need for published research. Admittedly, this is quite different from most other community colleges, where research is not a requirement.

In short, the 2-year school has historically provided an opportunity (maybe a "last chance") for a student to on-ramp to an academic path which will later take them to a Bachelor's, Master's, and perhaps Doctorate degree, and at a reduced cost for the first two years. That said: there are some rumors, in the current economic crisis, and based on perennially low success rates, that this on-ramp opportunity to higher education should be refocused to immediate workforce placement after the 2-year degree.

As something that fits with your answer, you might consider adding that in recent times another way a 2-year school has become an "on-ramp" is for foreign students who cannot demonstrate preparation for a 4 year school.  Some, if not many, 2-year schools have started sponsoring student visas for foreign students who (have money and) are committed to entering a 4-year school in the US but don't yet qualify because of language scores or other barriers.


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Are there any "non-research" jobs in Asian HiEd available to foreigners?
it is me again.
If anyone has experience working in SE Asia, I would love to hear from you.
I am wondering if there are any "non-research" jobs in Asian universities and colleges. I have a Ph.D. in "life sciences", currently live and work in Canada. Unfortunately, the job market for people with such qualification is really bad in Canada (I would say, almost non-existing). In general, there are very few jobs in Canada, where pay is actually commensurate with the cost of living (which is getting higher and higher), but I digress. Sometimes, I try to contemplate some backup/exit strategies. Idea of working in Asia is one of them. To be clear, I have no other motives, except monetary. It appears to me that job market is better overseas and it might  be not as difficult to find a job in SE Asia. What I am wondering about is this: are there any jobs in Asian Higher Ed. that are between a "postdoc" and a "professor", something like a "lecturer". I do not have any energy left in me to go for a "postdoc" (it would be a torture for me) and I do not have good research record to even apply for prof. position. It would be great to know that there is something "above" the proverbial "English teacher" (I do not like children, in general).
Last, but not least: how is it financially? I understand that these type of jobs do not offer good salaries, but again, in big cities in Canada post.doc salary is extremely restrictive. But if compensation for these jobs is as bad as "adjuncting" in the USA, then it not worth it, obviously.

You could try Fulbright University and the various branch campuses of Western universities in SE Asia.

Can you delete all the superfluous stuff from your question?

In China, there are some lecturer positions in universities that do not require to do research. The salary is lower than that of an assistant professor (that does research) and also the teaching load is higher. For example, at some university, lecturers are required to teach over 350-400 hours a year. The salary as well as living expenses can vary quite a lot depending on the city and university. There is a great need for English teachers but other topics can be possible. For the work permit, as I remember it requires a bachelor degree and 2 years experience, and as a Canadian, you are in the list of countries considered as native speaker eligible for teaching English.  Other possibilities for teaching English is to teach in a training center for professionals rather than teaching for kids.  For English teaching jobs, there are several agents looking for teachers that you may contact or you may talk with universities directly.  By the way, I think you also need to check the requirements for entering the country. During the pandemic, some countries have stricter rules for giving work permits (e.g China). It may not be the best moment to look for a job.

To the OP, the last two sentences are very critical at least for this year. I would wait until 2022 if I were you.

Phil, thank you for this detailed answer! I appreciate it.  Definitely, right now is not a good time to travel, but I want to do my research on this topic while it is not pressing. Could you recommend some places where such agents place their ads? Thank you.

@user136555 You are welcome. I would suggest to join some Facebook groups related to foreigners in China and then to ask there (there are many such groups). I often see the posts from agents who are recruiting in various cities. I heard also there are some websites for searching for English teaching jobs.  For Universities, you may try to contact with them directly or look for advertisements.


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How to care less about teaching?
Fifth year math grad student as of this Fall. ABD, currently on target for six years in total.
I have very strong feelings about the way courses should be taught, graded, and organized. I have thought extensively about this issue and experiment with my teaching every chance that I get.
I teach my own course, and spend lots of time on teaching it the right way (according to me). This includes designing my own course plans from scratch, planning engaging lectures, writing my own problem sets, projects, and homework assignments. I also tend to give too much individual attention to students, like holding extra office hours when students have schedule conflicts.
My teaching philosophy is fundamentally at odds with the majority of the lecturers in the department. It makes me feel like a pariah, and privately makes me feel incensed when I see others teaching in a way that I consider unethical. Though I'm not vocal about my disagreements, I have been consistently passed over for teaching awards, despite constant effort, innovation, and shining student evaluations. I wish I didn't care about this.
I know I'm being paid the same as other apathetic TAs who give every lecture off the cuff, assign whichever book problems are easiest to grade, and contribute as little to the education of their students as their contracts will allow. I'm not being paid to be a lecturer, but I'm giving at least a lecturer's effort to this job.
Most importantly, I know that putting this much time, effort, and emotional energy into teaching is taking away from my research. Sometimes I feel terribly guilty after a big exam or project because I realize I haven't even looked at my research in a couple of weeks. My advisor hasn't said anything negative about my progress, but I know I could be doing better.
Every time I try to pull back and adopt a more traditional model, I get depressed and frustrated, because my students aren't learning anything, I'm as bored as they are, and I wonder what the point of my existence even is if I'm just going to give up and be another trash teacher who goes through the motions all day. Especially when I have the ability to be the change I wish to see in academia. (Which maybe isn't my place, but then again, everybody passes the buck, that's why we have this problem.)
How do I get myself to step back and refocus my efforts onto research?

Please note that this differs from this question in that I am not asking whether or not it is possible to balance teaching and research, but specifically on how, emotionally, to scale back a focus on teaching for one who has begun to let it eclipse his research. I know I am making a mental error due to idealism, and I'm trying to figure out how to break out of it.

I wish I could answer 'don't!' We need more people who care about teaching. But sadly that could well harm your career. I was going to say I believe the mathematical community undervalues teaching, but I think the bigger issue is that it undervalues people. Things may be turning though.

Make sure that you don't use your enthusiasm for teaching to hide from problems you encounter in your research.

I just want to let you know - I strongly identify and sympathize with your situation.

@Toby 100 times this. It very much seems like OP is not "caring too much", but is obsessed with things happening her/his way or not at all. This is not a trait that leads to a happy life.

Consider: Edward H. Haertel estimates that the variance in student outcomes attributable to the teacher is only around 10%. http://www.madmath.com/2015/07/the-difference-teacher-makes.html

I know the type of teacher that you are, assuming that you described yourself accurately. I found people like you to be an invaluable resource for personal growth and inspiration during my university years. People like you make the world a better place, even if not everyone can see it. To that end, efficiency is a core problem for new teachers and experienced one. It is especially difficult when it's not your only job responsibility. I wrote an answer with some guidance on efficiency. Just don't let yourself burn out, and keep up the enthusiasm!

I'm concerned that your perspective on this situation may be a bit biased. Have you genuinely sought the perspective of other individuals?

If you're looking to "revolutionize" or "disrupt" the way teaching is done in universities, you're in the wrong place.

I have been consistently passed over for teaching awards  How long have you been teaching and how often are these awards given out?  Also how non-vocal about your disagreements are you?  I ask because being at all critical of established teaching methods can be a politically risky move.

See Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

If you're consistently passed over for teaching awards, is it possible that ... you're actually not as great at teaching as you think you are? I.e. that you're doing everything according to Your One Right Way but it's actually not working for some reason (e.g. not a good fit for these students), or what other people are doing works better for some reason?

This is no different from any other obsession, I don't see how this is actually relevant to this site.  It's a question for a psychologist or therapist.

While reading this I was reminded of my time as a teacher at the university. I also had the feeling that I could improve everything by investing more and more in preparation. In the end I noticed that it was merely up to the students to learn, not about me to teach. Be there, answer questions, motivate, and produce an environment in which learning can take place, not teaching. Now I'm only teaching martial arts and I feel I do a lot a little differently, more relaxed, let them more do their own thing. And be there to watch and answer questions and give hints.  Not prepare the perfect exercise.

Possible duplicate of Can academic teaching and quality research go hand-in-hand?

@Myles Not very non-vocal. What I mean is that I have not been impolite or made trouble for the lecturers. However, I've expressed some dissenting opinions when asked to in open discussions, and it is safe to say that the lecturers are aware of the radically different way I run my course now that I am teaching on my own. (I'm assigned my own autonomous course, now, rather than TAing for recitations.) So, I am pretty sure the reason is political, since the ones selecting for the teaching awards happen to be those whose teaching stances are furthest from mine.

@dedekindpoetssociety Given the open disdain that comes through in your post for the teaching philosophy of your fellows, I would consider the possibility that some of that disdain has inadvertently leaked out in these open discussions.  If decision makers for awards were part of these discussions you may very well have insulted people who had the power to help/hinder your career.

Superficial solution: Control your behavior with a time budget
Sit down and set priorities for your current life. Your research is probably more important in the long run than the joy you get out of teaching. If you agree with this, set a time budget for each area. E.g. assign 70% of your time for your research and 30% for teaching. Plan your teaching preparation accordingly. If according to this budget you can only spare 2 hours a day for the teaching but making custom exercises takes more, use prepared exercises. Also do not offer additional hours if your daily budget does not allow that. You can use a time tracker software. You may also try to do x hours of research related activities first before you "allow" yourself to spend time on teaching.
In-depth solution: You are not responsible for everyone and nobody will pay you back
It is admirable that you sacrifice yourself for other students. I also had mixed experiences with other tutors and when I became a tutor myself I wanted to do it better and often stayed one or two hours longer to make sure everyone understood the material. It felt like I had an effect on the world and could show them that there are people who care about them. It is a great feeling, BUT...
...will these students help you with your research? Will they give part of their earnings to you when they start working as a thank you for what you have gave them? Probably not. There will be no additional compensation for your excessive commitment. Nobody takes care of you, but you. This is sad, I know, but this is the hard cold reality. Few people care about you, unless they get something out of you.
Additionally the apathy of the tutors is the shared responsibility of the faculty, not yours alone. Don't let your ideals guilt you into feeling responsible for it.
You are not a trash teacher if you do less
The other teachers might have realized the previous point. Sure some just don't care and are trash teachers but maybe some of them, in their hearts, are just as idealistic as you but realized that spending time on their research or with their families is more important for their life and happiness. They are not ascetic monks that devoted their whole life to the "holy cause of teaching". If you realize that they are not bad teachers but just have created boundaries and a healthy work-life balance you will not be afraid to become one of them because you will not be afraid to be seen as someone who does not care about students but just someone who also has limited his working hours to a healthy pensum.
Make small steps to improve your universities teaching standards
Identify the most hindering problem with the easiest solution. Try to focus on one at a time. I don't know how your department works, but maybe you can mention this in a weekly meeting or talk to the head. Unless you are the head of department you most likely can't change the department on your own, small steps is all you can do.
Think about a teaching career
Not sure if this already crossed your mind but would you consider a career in teaching? It may suit your passion, although it might be depressing if this becomes your profession and you are stuck in a apathetic institution that does not value your dedication.

I agree with the last part.  I think the right solution is to finish your PhD and get a job at an institution where everyone cares about teaching and learning.

"There will be no additional compensation for your excessive commitment." Highly disagree. Sure, there's no monetary compensation, nor (necessarily) collaboration on research. Some people value the fact that they helped other people learn/mature/progress in their own lives; OP is clearly this type of person (as they describe themself). However, I do agree wholeheartedly with a teaching career advice.

I think this is an important question, in particular because there are many other math grad students in the situation of valuing their teaching more than their research and experiencing dissonance because of that.  Let's try to take things in some kind of logical sequence.
1) It sounds like your goal is to be a faculty member at a college or university devoted more to teaching than research.  If so, you should do what you need to do to achieve that goal.
As I said above, a lot of math grad students are in this position.  It does not appear to be that confluent with the structure of a math PhD program, which emphasizes research more than teaching, but times have changed and are continuing to change: the amount that teaching is valued is on the rise.  You certainly don't need to hide your intentions; on the contrary, you should express them to your mentors and professional associates.
One of the things you probably need to reach that goal is a PhD in mathematics: in the current job market, the number of "teaching jobs" you can get without a PhD is declining rapidly.  So what impedes you from getting your PhD is not a path towards your goal.  You need to remember that.

Most importantly, I know that putting this much time, effort, and emotional energy into teaching is taking away from my research. Sometimes I feel terribly guilty after a big exam or project because I realize I haven't even looked at my research in a couple of weeks.

The guilt is only productive insofar as it alerts you to something that you want to change.  Indeed it does not seem likely that you can make sufficient progress on your thesis research if you drop it completely for two weeks at a time...but it is possible.  More to the point, you need to have a concrete, realistic plan for division of labor between teaching and research.  It is totally fine for you to devote significantly more time towards teaching than the average student as long as you still have a workable plan for your research.  In my opinion (as a math professor who has supervised several PhD students) a student could get away with devoting, say, 15 hours per week to their thesis research...provided they used that time very productively and intelligently.
Another answer begins

Superficial solution: Control your behavior with a time budget

I wholeheartedly agree.  It goes on to suggest 70% research, 30% teaching, which sounds about right on average, but for you might be way too little time on your teaching to make you satisfied.  Better to do 30% research, 70% teaching and come up with a corresponding plan.  (In case you don't know: there are many, many potential academic workplaces that will not care at all about what you proved in your thesis but will care very much that you wrote one.)
2) An important part of good teaching and good collegial behavior about teaching is flexibility.  There are many, many ways to be an effective teacher.  You write

I have very strong feelings about the way courses should be taught, graded, and organized.

This is a little worrisome to me: in fact you do not have as much teaching experience as most of your future tenure track colleagues, and it may be too soon to have such strong feelings.  Much to learn, you still have.

I have thought extensively about this issue and experiment with my teaching every chance that I get.

And that sounds really great to me.  In your interactions with others, I would emphasize your thoughtfulness, your experimentation and your willingness to change practices based on what you learned.

My teaching philosophy is fundamentally at odds with the majority of the lecturers in the department. It makes me feel like a pariah, and privately makes me feel incensed when I see others teaching in a way that I consider unethical.

This really concerns me.  I find it unlikely that you are really surrounded by people who are ignorant or uncaring about teaching.  I find it extremely unlikely that others in your department are teaching in a way that is unethical: that is a very strong accusation.  You seem to yourself feel that you are putting too much time and energy into your teaching, perhaps almost to the point of burning yourself out a bit.  That cannot be the ideal state.
3) You portray yourself as an unusually excellent teacher.  That's great...if you have corroborating evidence.

Though I'm not vocal about my disagreements, I have been consistently passed over for teaching awards, despite constant effort, innovation, and shining student evaluations. I wish I didn't care about this.

Well, I think you should care.  Why haven't you won any teaching awards?  This is a tough question, but a key one for someone in your position to ask.  I would bring it up with your teaching mentor -- I hope you have a teaching mentor -- or with some other trusted faculty mentor.  Are there faculty members in the department who think that you are the best, or one of the best, graduate student
teachers?  You really need to find out.  (That your evaluations are "shining" is evidence in that direction, but not definitive.)
Let me say that I have known students who throw themselves into their teaching to the point of getting a bit lost in it and neglecting their research.  I had one colleague in grad school for whom I always saw students at her office.  I asked her what her office hours were, and she told me that they were M-F 9-5.  And she was certainly a good teacher rather than a bad one, but so far as I know she was not one of the top teachers in the department, and she may not have won any teaching awards.  This brings me to my last point.
4) Just because you are devoting more time to your students does not guarantee you'll be a better teacher in any sense.  Part of being an effective university teacher is dealing successfully with students in the relatively limited interaction time you have with them.

Every time I try to pull back and adopt a more traditional model, I get depressed and frustrated, because my students aren't learning anything, I'm as bored as they are, and I wonder what the point of my existence even is if I'm just going to give up and be another trash teacher who goes through the motions all day.

This really concerns me.  "Traditional" teaching is certainly effective if done well.  When I teach freshman calculus I do so in a quite traditional way, and the time I spend with students is rather limited.  Still they are learning something, and in general neither they or I are bored.  I know very few teachers who are "trash" or just "go through the motions."
I strongly suspect that there is some middle path between burnout and trash.  I suggest that you search for it (with help from others) and try to walk it.  Good luck.

I've come across people who consider chalk-and-talk to be unethical, since research shows that active learning produces better outcomes.

@Jessica: Even granting that to be true (I think there are many variables in play here), I think that's quite a sloppy use of "unethical."

@JessicaB You'd consider anything that isn't optimal unethical? (Or those people would?)

@sgf I presume not. I'm not them. But I think the point is knowingly taking actions that potentially have long term negative implications for someone else when you could do otherwise.

Some parts of your "caring too much" might be harmful -like getting incensed by the way others teach- but most of it is great, although you need to solve the practical problems it poses to you.
For the "bad" part: Don't worry for issues you can't solve. If you thought you could do something to improve your colleague's teaching, you would be faced with the decision of deciding if it is worth trying, but from your question I guess you think you can't do anything about it. Then worrying about it is not going to do any good to anybody, so you can just stop worrying about what others do and focus on the useful things you can do.
The remaining of your "caring too much" about teaching is great. That is what should be expected from any teacher, although your institution doesn't seem to be encouraging it.
Your problem here is not how to stop caring. Your problem is how to be more efficient to get the good work done in less time. My advice would be to reuse more. It's tempting to start from scratch when preparing a course, but it's a lot more time consuming than reusing some material. Of course, there is still a lot of work in selecting different materials, adapting them, binding them together in a meaningful way, and supplement them where needed. As a comparison with industry, to start making the best possible cars, factories don't need to reinvent the wheel from scratch; they just need to select and improve the technology they use.
In addition, if you are going to teach the same course another year all that work will get reduced to just updating your material, that will be a very smaller work, even if done very properly.

"Students complained they couldn't find the solutions to my problems anywhere" You say this like it's a bad thing...

@Mangara Yes, lazy students will just copy solutions to speed through homework, but the students who actually care will use solutions to double-check their work, find mistakes, and actually learn. When no solutions are available, then you're relying on your TA's... and my experience is that TA's are 50-50 at best for explaining things. My mentality here is that homework isn't the place to check learning - it's the place to learn.

@Jeutnarg: It depends on what exactly the homework is used for. If it is used for grading, then in my opinion it is indeed a bad thing that some students cheat while others submit only honest own work, and the students have no reason to complain about not finding the solutions anywhere. However, if the homework is ungraded, then I agree that it should be a place to learn, and not just check learning, but I don't see why you say this relies on TAs! Just put out solutions!

@user21820 Why should students, with many other demands on their time, ever be asked to submit ungraded homework?

@Chill2Macht: Did I ever say that students should be asked to submit ungraded homework? I believe the best purpose of homework is for students' optional practice, that they can choose whether to submit or not to get feedback. In my time I have had a few good teachers who did just that.

@Chill2Macht, it is very reasonable to have students submit homework that will be critiqued and returned (in a timely fashion), in preparation for exams and other assessments. In particular, to practice suitable write-ups and writing style.

As a student who has had really terrible professors and amazing TAs, I personally benefitted much more from the TAs. They were enthusiastic and very caring about students' learning and understanding; I was inspired to be a teacher and became passionate about academia as a result.
The way that I think about it is that one really good teacher can inspire a generation of innovators and people who will do good for the world. So for me, that reward is worth the additional effort to do a good job. It sounds like it's worth it for you as well.
So my advice is don't stop caring! Your actual problem is efficiency. Motivational stuff aside, here's some practical information to help make you a more efficient teacher.

Use existing course/lecture materials and adapt them to your needs
I can't emphasize this enough, because this will save you the most time. People have likely been designing course materials around what subject(s) you're teaching for years, and have learned what works and what doesn't. Designing course materials from scratch is admirable and fun (I personally love making unit plans). However, it's a huge waste of time in most cases, as you're reinventing the wheel (something that you should try to avoid in life in general). Instead, take a solid, existing set of materials, and adapt them to be more interesting, engaging for lectures, etc. Bend the materials to your teaching style, and you will save yourself quite a bit of time.
Moreover, writing your own problem sets is also generally a huge waste of time. What's worse, it's actually error-prone! You wouldn't believe how many hours I've wasted answering homework problems, hand-written by my professors, that actually ended up having some small error that made the problem unsolvable or have a non-trivial solution. Please, unless students are asking for additional practice, use existing problem sets!
Some of your colleagues have probably also taught the same course or a similar one, and may have existing materials you could adapt to your course. They may also have very sound advice on what worked and what didn't when they taught the course. Even if they aren't great teachers, you can use their experience to your advantage. Ask around!
Lastly, you'd be surprised how many good Youtube tutorials/lectures there are on all sorts of topics (especially in mathematics). You could link to a few after giving the lecture yourself. A lot of students are too busy taking notes to really let the content sink in and learn it, so providing additional tutorial videos is something that I found very useful. I had one professor make a few Youtube videos on particularly complex aspects of Japanese grammar. It was incredibly helpful because I could rewatch it as many times as I needed to. And, if you're feeling up to having an online presence, you could even make the videos yourself!
Allow students to be self-sufficient - don't baby them
As much as you want to hand-hold students through their learning, you need to allow students to struggle, to make mistakes, and to find solutions on their own. I know it sounds sort of silly, but students are still growing up. When you spoon-feed them what they need to learn, you make it harder for them to be self-sufficient, not only in academia, but in their life in general.
For this reason, interacting with individual students can really be a time-killer, especially for larger classes. Having extra time for office hours can be great, but if you have large classes you will most likely cause more inconvenience to yourself than convenience for the students. So have a little extra time, but don't be the ultra-flexible TA that I get the impression you are, or else you will constantly be swamped with student visits.
Poll students about what they're struggling with, if you sense they need help
I always loved when my professors asked the class what general topics they were struggling with. For example, at the end of each unit, you can ask the class (via email, Google Form, SurveyMonkey, whatever is most convenient) what two things they had a hard time with. Then, based on popular vote, you can revisit the top two topics quickly or give supplemental material (you can make this from scratch if you want).
When professors did this, it was so helpful. In this fashion, you don't hand-hold the students that understand the concepts, while simultaneously providing additional support for those that don't. You also save time preparing materials that half the students won't use.
Use an online forum to allow students to ask questions - to you and their classmates
In a computer science course I took at university, our professor used Piazza. It's gaining quite a bit of popularity, and it's incredibly useful.
Basically, students who are enrolled in the course will have access to a private Q/A; they can ask questions, and other students and you can answer them. You can wait for other students to respond to questions before you do - that will allow students to strengthen their knowledge of the topic by explaining it to someone else, as well as save you time answering every single student question.
While it may take away from the Personal Touch™, you will have far fewer students visiting your office hours, enabling you to work on your research.

I hope that you find this advice useful. This comes from my experience as a student for what helped me the most, as well as some experience teaching students and designing curricula.

Careful with the existing problem sets. Some students like them too much ;)

I empathize with you,
because when I was a TA,
I also put in a significant amount of extra time and work
into being a good TA.
For example:

I wrote down extra notes
to give clear and step by step explanations
to the solutions to homework or assignment problems.
I even made a few videos on YouTube
explaining problem solutions.

I agree with Toby's
comment that the root of the problem is that you are a perfectionist
with regards to your expectations of yourself as a teacher.
In my opinion,
it is a big problem if your "teaching fantasy"
leads to conflict with other lecturers and TAs.
From what you have written in the question,
it is clear that you feel angry towards other teachers in your department.
You will need to find a healthy way to handle your emotions,
so that you can be a warm and friendly colleague,
even to teachers who are lazy and "unethical".
To address your question:

How do I get myself to step back and refocus my efforts onto research?

As a first step, I recommend that you think over the words of the
Serenity Prayer:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

I'm assuming that as a TA,
you are responsible to assist a lecturer in teaching a class,
but you are NOT responsible for running the class,
that is the lecturer's responsibility.
If what I assume is correct,
then you are taking upon yourself a responsibility that is not your own.
Naturally, this leads to conflict,
and is a lot of work on your part.
If you recognize what is your responsibility,
to be a helper and not to be the person in charge,
and just strive to do a reasonable job,
I think that you will not find yourself to be too busy.
As a second step,
I encourage you to make it your goal to be
"good enough",
rather than trying to be the "best" teacher you could be.
No matter how many hours you put into preparing a lesson/tutorial,
it will never be perfect.
However, it doesn't need to be perfect.
The meals that I cook for myself are not
the best tasting or most organic meals they could be,
but as long as they provide me enough calories
so that I don't starve to death,
that's good enough.
As long as you cover the material that
helps students to be adequately prepared for the exams/homework/projects,
you've done enough.
Third,
I recommend that you direct your motivation for improving your teaching
into making small changes each year to what has be done before,
rather than trying to make huge changes
like reworking the class from scratch.
If you can change one or two things from each year to year,
your teaching will be getting incrementally better over time.
Finally, spend a lot of time and emotional energy on your research.
You really do need to do that in order to do your research well,
so that you will be teaching at university for the long haul.
I wish you all the best!

Wanting students to actually learn something is not being a perfectionist.

@JessicaB If the class is not really poorly designed, I think that say 2 hours of preparation time is enough to give a "good enough" 1-hour tutorial, such that students will learn something. I get the impression that the OP wants to help students to learn as much as is possible within their class time, rather than just "learning something".

Get a Hobby
To add a somewhat different answer and opinion. If you want to care less about your students and teaching, or even simply be able to step back a little, I found that the best way is to care about something else.
It's perfectly acceptable for anybody and everybody to spend time and effort on something else than your job. At the end of the day, no matter how passionate you are about it, being a teacher is just your job.
You should try to find something other than math that you can care, be it a sport, a game or even spending more time with your family and friends and caring more about their lives.
You will probably stay very passionate about maths and teaching because that just seems to be the kind of person you are. However every time you start feeling "depressed and frustrated", don't hesitate to take a break from it all and do something totally unrelated.
On a side note I would like to mention that you may teach and get closer to some students or teachers through hobbies. I've had great interactions with some teachers through our mutual passion in chess.

I agree with your issues with academia.  Hate the US college system with all emphasis on fluff and prestige and research rather than on TRAINING students.  I think things are much better in the military, sports, or business.  When you are teaching someone carrier landings, it matters that they learn.
But all that said, you are NOT a teacher.  You are a student.  You need to accomplish the primary mission.  Your research.
And in addition to caring about the students too much, you are not caring about your research enough.  With teaching you get immediate rewards and have immediate tasks.  With research it is much easier to spin your wheels for weeks and do nothing and no one can tell immediately.  But you need to take control and get it done.  Remember the Ph.D. is a pass/fail grade!  Just get the sucker done.  You are at five years.  Write up your results and graduate.

If you have a class to teach, you are a teacher. If you don't want to be a teacher or don't have the time to teach properly, you should stop teaching.


text:
Peer review - discussing paper with the author
I am currently attending a week-long conference. A few weeks ago, a quite respected professor in my field posted a paper on an online preprint server, making a series of claims, which are quite linked to my own research. In the beginning of the conference I approached him, asking if we could discuss his latest paper. He said yes, but asked if we could maybe wait a couple of days, since he was swamped with tasks during the beginning of the conference.
In the evening, I am discussing this paper with a couple of colleagues over beer. I am quite critical about some of the claims, and I voice my criticism. After the discussion, one of my colleagues pulls me aside. He says that he is currently reviewing the paper for a journal, and since I obviously have strong criticisms, he would like to suggest to the editor that I join the review panel, if I have no objections. I agree, he contacts the editor, and I am now reviewing the paper.
My question is now: Can I still discuss the claims of the paper with the author as we initially agreed upon?
(By the way: I know that my colleague overstepped the line by revealing himself as a reviewer. This is not part of my question.)

Which part is more important to you, reviewing or discussing the paper in person with the author?

Mark: What is most important to me is to not breach any spoken or unspoken ethical standard among academics - which is why I ask here.

if you would have to choose (you might), which activity would you prefer? You can always cancel a meeting, and you can always pull out from reviewing.

Sorry Mark, while I normally appreciate being pushed to just make a choice, choosing between two activities is not what my question is about. It is about the ethical (and possibly other) implications of discussing a paper, which I am reviewing, with the author. If I can somehow clear up this apparent misunderstanding by editing my question, I am very open to suggestions.

If I may attempt to paraphrase for Mark, your ethical options may be 1. Have an open and productive conversation outside of the formal review system, or 2. Provide blinded feedback on the manuscript. Engaging in either option could introduce ethical restrictions against the other that were not a problem until the choice was made. Either option is fine by itself; both options may be problematic, hence the question about your preference.

The benefits of peer review are first to detect and prevent fraud and ridiculous claims, and second to improve the clarity of the published record. So, in general terms, if your conversation furthers these objectives, it's a beautiful thing.
On the other hand, if formally reviewing the paper comes with a commitment to maintain confidentiality, you will want to reconsider, and think carefully about how you back out of either the conversation or the formal review.
Confidentiality has benefits, like allowing reviewers to be critically honest without fear of retribution. It also has problems, like the inability to have an efficient conversation about honest disagreements and misunderstandings. This handicap is why some journals (along with the preprint system) are starting to allow for conversation without the blinds of confidentiality. If your journal-specific reviewer expectations do not prevent an open conversation, it may be the best approach.


text:
Soliciting citations
I have now several times experienced recieving mails after publishing a preprint, from authors asking me to cite their work before I submit it to a journal. In some cases it is probably fair, but in other cases a bit of a stretch. It is of course often people I know, and who could possibly be future colleagues, so I don't want to be too snarky.
I have never done it myself. I have, however, approaced authors to refer them to my own work, after a related article had been published in a journal.
Do you have a standard reply for such solicitations?
Do you engage in this practice yourself? I imagine that it could do wonders to your citation count.

I never saw anything like that. I would apply the following : Require citation => Ignored. Draw attention on similarities with their line of work, mentioning papers => Great, let's have a look. I wonder how you "approaced authors to refer them to my own work", as you present it, they just apply the same methods as you. I also was lucky enough to work with people that overlook arbitrary criteria like citation count, and actually mock them. Cf. the pous index, or, even better, the ha-index.

I imagine that it could do wonders to your citation count

I honestly can't imagine that an unsolicited request to cite a paper actually generates enough citations to matter much.
I don't engage in this practice myself, and my response would be a cursory glance at the paper to see if it was essential (though the email should have articulated this) followed by either thanking the person for bringing it to my attention, or far more likely, simply deleting the email.