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Writing Statement of Purpose after answering prompts in the application that already cover the material
I apologize in advance if my question wasn't very clear. It only allowed for 150 characters.
I was wondering how to approach writing a statement of purpose after answering prompts or short answer questions that pretty much cover the material I have mentioned in my essay.
The application asks for in separate spaces to write about my research interest, reason for applying to the school, and steps I have taken to prepare for graduate studies.
What would be the best material to include after covering the above material? (150-250 words ,as instructed in the application)? Should I elaborate more by providing details to the answers to the above questions or should I write about my character and work ethic?
Thanks.

I'm assuming that you're applying to enter a PhD or Masters program. I'm a STEM PhD candidate at a research-intensive US university, and I'm basing my advice off of what professors here have told me, as well as successful applications I've seen of admitted students:
Keep in mind that often a committee will read your statement of purpose before any other statement. Thus, you want the statement of purpose to present yourself in a way that makes them excited about reading the rest of your application. In some places, if they're not hooked there, they might not even keep reading your longer sections. In this vein, it's okay to (briefly!!) mention things you explain at more length elsewhere in the application.
Of course, how to craft a statement that does that depends on the particular individuals reading your application, so disclaimer that this is only one set of advice and you likely want to recruit multiple viewpoints. Common themes in similar writing that has been successful in the work I have seen:

Your motivation. Briefly: Why do you want to be in [program]? (In STEM at least, most graduate programs will care nearly-exclusively about your passion for research.)
Why this program? Why is [program] the best fit for you?
Why you? Why should [program] want you? What do you bring to the table that they want?

Those second and third points can be very hard to get a handle of if you've not been affiliated with or visited the school before. Scouring the website is helpful, but you can also email current graduate students in the program. At least in my program, we'd all be happy to answer questions in an email or talk on the phone with a potentially-applying student.
PS: I apologize for not being able to comment first to clarify some of my assumptions, I don't yet meet the 50 reputation requirement.

Thank you very much! This has provided me with a great starting point.


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Emailing a potential PI about applying to a Master's program at their school
Is it okay to email professors/PI's to show interest working in their lab when you're applying to the school's Master's program? I saw on another question that unless it is explicitly said, you shouldn't contact the professor directly and should email the admission staff instead. There is a section on PI's webpage with his contact information, but in the Positions section, there are none available currently. Should I not try contacting this person at all?
In terms of the content of the message, I wanted to discuss my interest in a specific field and how working in his lab would help in achieving my goal. Furthermore I wanted to ask for any type of advice which may help when entering graduate school in the field.

Yes, you should contact them.
In terms of the content, you have it half right. Do briefly discuss your interests and why you think you would be a good fit for this lab.  Then simply ask, are you taking graduate students for the next term?
However, I would say do not ask for advice in general.  That is a bit much and these PIs are busy and won't want to spend the time providing advice for a student they do not know. Keep your email as concise and clear as possible to ensure a response.
Finally, if a professor is a good match for your interests, you should email them even they do not have any openings currently listed on their website. Again, they are busy, they may not have updated their website recently. Or, they may have just received notice that they got a new grant. etc, and so on.  If they are a good match for your interests, it is worth emailing them.
Good luck.

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Is it possible to get an ISSN number for an online journal from an other country?
We are a group of international graduates in the process of launching an open access e-journal and we are now facing the different technical steps. Our based country has an ISSN national center, however we wonder if it is possible to get an ISSN from an other country (european or north american) even without being physically based there.
Thanks in advance for your answers

According to the Wiki page How ISBNs are issued:  ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for that country or territory. I think you'll need to talk to the agency.

Just curious: why would you want to do that?

Are you sure there aren't already enough journals covering your field? There generally are more journals that one could wish for. Also, it sounds like you are trying to westernize your journal, possibly to increase its appeal. That sounds suspicious to me. Will your journal be pay for publish?

Check the website/contact info with the specific agency, since I think this varies a lot. If I'm not mistaken, we got a Brazilian ISSN for a publication of papers resulting from the undegrad research program in my uni and it was all done by mail...
You can find the info for the agencies here http://www.issn.org/services/requesting-an-issn/

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I am currently in graduate school but need to ask my previous professors for a letter of recommendation. I am worried this will be awkward
I just started grad school this semester. But as part of my stipend contract, I am required to continue to apply to scholarships (although I don't need to win them). I have not been in grad school long enough for my advisor to know my work (in fact, we haven't even started on the research yet). So I would have to ask the two professors I previously asked for a LoR last year to write me another one. But I am afraid this will be really awkward since I haven't spoken to them in months and I feel like I'm just asking them to do me favours now. Especially since they are already aware that I am in grad school, and I will just be asking them to write me another letter. How do I phrase this email to them to prevent the awkwardness?

It would seem that they would be able to easily adjust the letter that they already wrote for you.

If you explain to them that this is part of your stipend contract that you are required to have these letters to apply to the scholarships, I am 100% sure noting that as well as a quick apology will eliminate any awkwardness.

I don’t think an apology is necessary; this is an absolutely normal request.

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What do I do if my advisor made a mistake?
I am a first year masters student and I am just beginning my research project. I had to send a protocol out to my committee and they all have to approve it before I begin the project. The protocol is basically a document that states, step by step, how I will be completing the project. It will be published once my committee reviews it.
I have went through several drafts of my protocol and my advisor has reviewed and edited each draft. So the one I sent out to my committee was the good copy. I told all my committee members that I would like it back within 2 weeks. My advisor is out of the country for 3 weeks, but she just sent me her comments on my protocol last night. However, she ended up reviewing one of my old drafts again. I double-checked the email I sent her, and I definitely sent her the good copy I wanted reviewed.
I'm not really sure where to go from here. Should I explain her mistake to her? Or just send her the good copy and say I revised it?

To avoid such confusions in the future, I suggest you do three things. First, name the file you've attached with the current date. Second, give a summary of changes your advisor has requested and how you responded in your email. Third, in case you're using MS Word or similar software, turn on the track change feature to keep track of important changes and comments.

In the gist of what @Ehsan said: You might want to use git (and something more proper than Word, by the way) for all your academic writing. This way you would be able to say "hey, Advisor Name, could you read revision da39a3ee5e6b4b0d3255?" (If the advisor catches this up.) Or, at least "I implemented your comments from 2020-07-32 in branch "revision-2-again-final-almost" from revision c621228e52f65cf from 2020-08-33 onward". (If they don't.) Basically, you'd have much better tracking of your changes, an ability to go back, and, as a bonus, a proof of the work done.

Just tell her, mistakes happen.

Dear Prof. OutOfCountry,
thank you very much for your comments and review, but it seems that you reviewed an older revision of the document. Find the latest revision attached.
As you can see, most of your points are already addressed in this revision, as well as the following major changes:
[...]
Regards, aspire94

Works for me. However, if you can highlight the important changes between the one reviewed and the current one, it will be very much appreciated. Very.

@Buffy Thanks, that´s a good point. I edited the answer.

This is good, but as a matter of interpersonal skill it may also make sense to slip in a polite apology at the beginning (even if it wasn't really your fault). Makes the fact that your advisor spent some time reviewing an outdated document a bit easier to stomach.

@xLeitix Politeness is always good, but one should make sure it's clear that the correct version was sent before due date. You don't want your prof to got to bed thinking it was your fault. ;-)

@Karl By the time you get to be a prof, you should have learned not to take admin problems to bed with you, but leave them in your office where they belong. So don't worry about disturbing your prof's sleep ;-)

@alephzero Definitely, but I always found it safer to not put too much trust in elders doing the sensible thing.  ;-)

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I realized I made a mistake after my paper was accepted for publication
I am in the field of epidemiology and my paper has recently been accepted for publication (after 2 rounds of revisions). However, I recently noticed some numerical typos affected several figures and tables. These errors do not affect the conclusions, calculations or results. I simply typed in certain values into the tables and figures incorrectly. I have contacted the journal, although in the past they have taken a long time to reply.
Does anyone have experience with this? Is there a chance this paper will be rescinded or would this be an easy fix where I can just resubmit the affected tables / figures ?
The paper has not been published yet. It was accepted for publication about 2 weeks ago.

Probably not rejected as they have invested a bit in it already. But the chance of a fix depends on them. But impossible for anyone but their editor to say.

Has the paper completed the copyediting/typesetting process?

@Bryan Krause I don't think so. I am a graduate student and this is my first first-author paper submitted for publication. All of the authors on my paper just finished singing the copyright release form. My advisor said they should be contacting me about typesetting to make sure everything is formatted correctly. I have not been contacted about this yet.

@aspire94 Then see Allure's answer. Typically you have an opportunity to fix typos and other similar errors before publication. Numerical errors are more problem, but if they don't impact the result you can likely still repair them through this process. It really depends on how substantial the mistakes are. If you are correcting a value 123.54 to 123.45 I wouldn't expect any problem.

This kind of error won't affect acceptance. Chances are you'll simply get to fix it during copyediting/typesetting. An eagle-eyed production editor might notice you are changing nontrivial aspects of the paper and confirm with the editorial board that the change is OK, but if the error is as simple as you describe, there's nothing to worry about.
If you had noticed this after the publication process is completed, then you'll probably have to issue an erratum/corrigendum.


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Should I contact my advisor again about a meeting? If so, how?
I finished the next step of my project and sent it along to my advisor last Friday. In my email I said "When would be the best time to meet to discuss these results?". I do have access to her calendar so I know when she is free, but I wanted to ask her when would work for her as I want to give her enough time to review what I sent her. My field is quite busy at the moment since there's some major occurrences in the world right now, and she is dealing quite a bit with it so is quite busy. Also, there has been an instance in the past where her work calendar was not up to date. Plus, I didn't want to seem too forward by just sending her the project and then immediately sending out a meeting invite.
Anyways, I haven't heard back from her at all. Should I send her a follow-up email? Or should I just go ahead and send out a meeting invite?

Assuming that your advisor is free when there are no meetings in her calender is probably wrong: That is the most precious time when you can work on so many, very important things that piled up.

So what should I do? Wait until she gets back to me?

One might consider proposing a time that seems good for both of you, rather than waiting for her to do that task. Then the ball is in their court.

Sorry, it is difficult to answer your question. What is best depends very much on the established ways how you communicate with your advisor. Ideally I would recommend to ask in person or by phone. E-mails can easily be ignored/forgotten/overlooked infinitely.

If you have an "action item" that requires her okay then send an email (or other accepted communication). If you are just anxious and can proceed for now on your own then it might be better to show patience.
As comments to your question suggest, and even the question itself, the calendar may be inaccurate. Things might have come up. Perhaps she just trusts you to carry on while she is busy. While you are dealing with only one professor, she may be dealing with several students and other obligations.
But don't panic until it becomes necessary and don't be a pest. Half a week isn't a long time unless deadlines loom.
But don't get yourself blocked up for the lack of a meeting. There are plenty to things you can do speculatively to keep momentum.


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When emailing a potential supervisor, should I offer to send them my researched material?
I am currently finding a supervisor for an MSc program. It is incredibly difficult to get research experience as an undergraduate student (especially since I attend a large school with an incredible amount of competition). However, I make the best use of resources available to me. I have joined several organizations at school which are directly related to my masters program. As a member, I have researched and published several student papers (not in scientific journals). These papers are well written and researched (as they go through an extensive editing process) and demonstrate my passion. I will mention these projects in my emails / CV. However, in my emails, should I mention that these are "available upon request"?

You should post your research material for everyone to see on the arXiv, then link it from your emails and CV. The market for cats in bags just isn't there anymore.

What is the arXiv? Also, what do you mean by your last sentence?

Google up "arXiv". If you write papers, you will really want to know about it :)

Be aware that if you have not previously submitted to arXiv, you may be denied access to posting. This probably has nothing to do with the quality of your paper, just the (maybe unfair) fact, that their screening for crackpots seems to emphasize whether or not you already have a name.
Do not. I repeat, do not let yourself be tempted to upload your paper to one of the arXiv clones, eg. viXra. You should rather post it on your own blog or similar, then.

@nabla Or they could follow the directions on arXiv on how to get endorsed (I very much agree with the advice to avoid viXra though).

As stated in comments, you should make the papers available to the potential supervisor online:

Create yourself a basic webpage with a sensible address.
List the papers, with full details and references.
Link to the pages of the places they are published.
If the copyright agreement allows, link also to a copy of the paper.
Given the option, make this copy on the arXiv (get the supervisor from the paper to endorse you, assuming it's in their field).
If you cannot use the arXiv, store the copies on the same website.
Alternatively, your current institution may have an eprint system you can use.
Make sure your co-authors are happy with this.
Include the web address when you contact potential supervisors (if it is long, perhaps use a tinyurl with preview).

If you believe that these papers provide evidence of your abilities as a researcher, and you can make them available to a potential supervisor then I see no reason not to state that they are "available upon request". This way they can read them if they want to, but aren't being sent documents unsolicited.

But replace "available on request" with "available on the web at http://your.website.here/research/."


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When applying to a masters program, is your undergraduate school important?
Is the prestige / difficulty of my undergraduate school taken into consideration when I apply to graduate school? I understand that it is not an excuse my lower grades (however, my GPA is respectable). I am wondering if this has an influence.

The admission committee I serve has 11 members and there will probably be 11 unique answers to this question. Generally, it matters, but the degree it matters and how much it'd factor into the decision varies member to member, committee to committee.
There is thought such as "A grade B+ in prestigious university is better than a grade A in a so-so university." And there is thought such as "This so-called prestigious university tends to inflate grades, so a mediocre grade is going to be a bad news." The amount of subjectivity and variation can be astounding.
To complicate the problem further, what is "prestige?" Generally, people can name up to 10 prestigious universities, and then the rest are somewhat hazy. Some committees attempt to use acceptance rates as a representation and yet it's far from perfect: program by program the acceptance rates can differ, and such fine information is seldom available.
So, they do care, but it's difficult to predict how much. I'd say don't worry too much about the existing GPAs. If you can improve it, take some relevant courses and get some good grades, if not, then present the best aspects of yours through showcasing your course combination (e.g. did you take more challenging courses over the easier?) and trend (e.g. did your grades improve along time?), clear sense of a long-term plan, a convincing personal statement, and impressive open exam scores (such as TOEFL and GRE in the US) to order to leave a good impression.

Your second paragraph was exactly what I meant when I asked the question. I was wondering whether graduate programs took into account the different "meanings" in grades from school-school.
I definitely see how prestige is subjective. However, where I am from there are about 2 or 3 "prestigious" schools and the others are on the same level.
I don't have to take the GRE (or TOEFL since I speak English). My GPA is good. It is my last year and I am trying to improve it but it is hard. I don't see what more I can do. I am making use of all of the resources but it is a challenging school.

Yes, it will not be a huge factor, but if admissions are competitive for the program you are applying to, imagine another application identical to yours in every way except your institution: that might be the only way for the admissions committee to make a decision. Furthermore, graduate schools can be rated on the pedigree of their students, both before admission and after graduation. Not all is lost, however - you have many other ways to distinguish yourself, and I would never recommend someone choose an undergraduate institution solely for its prestige when applying to graduate schools.
Broadly speaking, I think the importance of your undergraduate institution is very dependent on the institution you are applying to - the most prestigious institutions are probably the ones that care the most about prestige.
Lastly, if you have already completed/are near completion of your undergraduate program, you don't have much control over this anymore - focus on what you can actually influence instead of what you cannot.


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In my letter of intent for an MSc, should I mention my commute?
I have a respectable cGPA of 3.5 and annual GPA of 3.7. I am hoping to graduate with at least a cGPA of 3.5 which would award me with "high honours". I am not trying to find an "excuse" for a low GPA (since mine is rather high), but rather emphasize that I was able to achieve those marks while volunteering / commuting. I am hoping this demonstrates my hard work. Anyways, I volunteer on research 3 hours a week (not a huge time commitment). However, I also commute 5 hours total to and from school (so about 25 hours a week simply commuting). I am wondering if this would be worthwhile to mention in my letter or if I should leave it out? I am definitely mentioning my volunteering since it relates to the program.

I would leave out the commute, you have limited opportunity to talk about yourself, so I would focus on other aspects. You might have personal reasons why choosing a 5 hour commute was right for you, but those reasons don't necessarily correlate with your future success in graduate school, and your future advisor would probably prefer you not waste 25 hours per week of your time commuting.

Commute belongs to an aspect of the organisation of your life which is - strictly spoken - not something the supervisor can become responsible for. Illness would be a different issue, that's not something which you have control over.

I'd advise against bringing up anything that might seem like an excuse, so I'd forego mentioning the commute.  That said, this is an EXCELLENT thing to have mentioned in a letter of recommendation that reinforces your dedication.  Try to get a recommender to bring it up.

I agree with @BryanKrause.
I would avoid mentioning anything related to your commute. To the outside observer this appears to be "your choice" thus you will have to deal with the consequences of that decision (i.e. 5 hour commute). Additionally, these hours spent are percived as "wasted" because the other person with the 1 hour commute has more time for thier studies & research.
Some context for my answer: My relative's commute was 3 hours each way for almost 15 years. Often, employers, colleagues & even strangers told me her she was crazy. In many cases, this cost her the job & when that was not the case she was advised to downplay the commute.


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Should I do research into the topic prior to being officially accepted as an RA?
Last week, I had spoken to a professor regarding a research project (I am hoping it will get my “foot in the door” and benefit my graduate school application). I had been in contact with this professor for a few months regarding a potential research project. The professor finally got the project approved and described it to me. She then told me to think about it (it would be fairly extensive) and to get back to her. She had mentioned some things I would need to familiarize myself with before I begin. I want to do the project. So my question is, should I begin learning all of the concepts she mentioned / doing research into the topic before getting back to her? Or will I be making too many assumptions about my place in the project by doing this?

If you want to do the project then tell her you want to do the project and begin familiarising yourself with the topics. I can't see what the issue is here.

I want to look motivated, but at the same time I don't want to make any assumptions that I already am "in" and come off as entitled.

Presumably she just wants you to get back to her to say whether you'd like to accept the offer or not. Whether you've done the reading before or after doesn't seem to come into it. You may be overthinking this.

The professor got the project approved and described it to me. She told me to think about it and to get back to her. She had mentioned some things I would need to familiarize myself with before I begin.  I want to do the project. Should I begin learning all of the concepts she mentioned / doing research into the topic before getting back to her?

(1) Let her know right away that you want to do the project.  (2) Start learning some of the concepts she mentioned.  You do not need to work on this full time at this point.  Don't take time away from your other obligations, but do make a start.


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The best way to thank my research supervisor?
A few weeks ago, I finished my undergraduate research project. I had 2 supervisors for the project: One supervisor signed off on everything I did and gave me the opportunity to work on the project. He was my official supervisor. The second supervisor oversaw all of my work, assigned tasks, and graded my work. I would like to thank both of them since this was an incredible opportunity, especially when applying to graduate school. I also plan to keep in contact and use them both as references in the future. How should I go about thanking them and what should I say?

Your supervisors may show these thank-you notes to hiring or promotion committees.  Ask yourself what you would want those committees to know.

You have the options already mentioned: sending an email or visiting them in person to say thank you.
However (like me), you might be a little unsure of what to say when speaking face to face. In this case, a handwritten note or card would be a nice touch, as it's more personal and permanent than an email.
You might want to ask for a reference at a later date, nearer to when you submit your applications. As Prof. Santa Claus says, if the project went as well as you describe, I see no reason why they would refuse.

while no student has ever written to me a few years after their initial gracious thank yous before going off to jobs and grad school  - it would feel pretty amazing to get an additional followup note on the order of year or two or more later if there happened to be any lasting 'advice' or training that they felt was still useful later!

A heartfelt email would suffice or simply thank them in person.  Everyone likes to know they have done a good job.  You only need to validate that.
I wouldn't go in with the objective of securing a reference letter.  Otherwise, you would sound insincere.   If you have done good work and had the right attitude whilst working with them, they would be more than willing to write one.

Thank you for the reply. Would May 1st be too late to email them with a thank you (one month after the project finished)? I am unable to use my email over the next several days due to the server being closed.

@aspire94 It's never too late to say thank you.


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My potential advisor is suggesting a project that I don't think I have the knowledge to take on?
My potential Masters advisor seems very interested in taking me on as a student since my first email to him was 5 days ago and he is already discussing which project to do with me. He said he aims to work on a project with his grad students that will help them with their future goals. He mentioned one direction I could go with a project. However, it requires a lot of math and statistics. I actually enjoy statistics and what he's proposing sounds very interesting, however, I am worried I don't have the knowledge to take on this project. I took 2 stats courses in undergrad and he has my transcript. I will also be taking 2-3 more stats courses in my masters. These courses will be more applicable to this field. It would be much easier to find a project for me to do if I go with the way that he's proposing. How do I raise my concerns to him? What should I say?

Congratulations on finding an advisor who wants to take you on as a student! It seems to me that you're in the perfect situation for starting your academic career: Your advisor not only believes in you strongly enough to mentor you, but has every confidence that you can learn whatever you need to be successful. That is an important, strong vote of confidence.

First thing, in a master or in a PhD, you are a student and it's normal to learn new things. If your potential advisor wanted someone for this project that already knew how to do it, he/she would hire a postdoc. Actually, learning new techniques, in statistic or other, is what every scientist do, during their entire career.
Second, you are already planning on taking additional statistical courses and your potential advisor knows your background. It seems to me that you will be fine and that you can do this. This sounds a lot like impostor syndrom and you should read on that. In that case, I wouldn't talk about that to a potential advisor. Do talk about it if you need to, but preferably to professional help or people who know you. For the record, I wouldn't hesitate in talking about impostor syndrom with my advisor, but I know him, he knows me and we have an healthy mentor-mentee relationship...
If you still want to touch the subject with your potentiel advisor, do it simply:

I'm very interested in this project, but I'm worried I don't currently have to knowledge to do it. Are those courses sufficent to help me with the project? Will there be additional help available ?

This is the good moment to enquire about lab resource, which can be professional statistical help or colleagues. Good luck.

Just be honest about your worries but also show that you are motivated. For example, you could go along the lines of

The project sounds really interesting, but I am not yet an expert on topic XX. Can you suggest a textbook to work through or a course to take before starting my work with you? How long do you assume it will take to get the necessary knowledge? Is there someone from your team (e.g. another student) who knows more about it, would it be possible to put us in the same office?

Just show that you are willing to fill the gaps you still have, ask for advice on how to best do it and you should be ok. Learning new stuff and getting the knowledge needed to do a project is part of your task during a Masters after all.


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Prospective student’s first email to a potential advisor?
I am applying for an MSc program and I need to find an advisor prior to sending in my application. I have heard conflicting advise regarding what to put in my first email. I would like some opinion on this matter.
Do I include my CV in the first email?
Do I mention my GPA?
Do I straight-up ask them if they are accepting students? Or, do I first attempt to establish a relationship?


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What should I comment on when contacting a potential advisor?
I’m applying to a masters program and I need to find a potential advisor prior to applying. I’ve heard that it’s a great idea to reads some papers from the potential advisor and make thought-out comments on the papers when contacting the advisor(s) to show that you have genuine interest in their research. I am awful at thinking of questions / interesting comments. Although it would be impossible for you to suggest what I should mention about the paper without having read it, what areas of a research paper should I focus on when making insightful comments about it?


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Have I waited too long to ask for letters of recommendation and when should I send a follow up email?
I asked my 2 undergraduate research supervisors on Friday, December 22nd. This is five and a half weeks before the deadlines (they would each be filling out 2 separate recommendation forms). The deadline is January 31st. I heard back from one supervisor about 10 minutes after I sent the email. However, I still haven’t heard back from the other supervisor. I am worried I sent it at an inappropriate time (too close to Christmas). Tomorrow will be exactly one more before the deadline. Did I wait too long to ask for the LORs? When should I follow up with the second potential writer?

No. You gave enough time for them. However you can't count the holidays as work days, they are coming back to work in the next days and then they will have approximately three weeks to write the letter.
I would send an email at the end of this week politely asking the second professor to confirm whether he will be able to write the letter or not. In the negative case you still have enough time to ask to another professor.


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How to write a really short letter of intent?
My letter of intent for an MSc program is only 1000 characters (which is about 160 words). I was planning to begin with a short story about how I became interested in the field, how my academic background has prepared me, my current research interests, and my future goals. All of that is about 400-500 words (I already wrote it out). I will be evaluated on how well my interests align with the school’s and my supervisor’s. So should I only include my research interests? So there really wouldn’t be any introductry line... I would just get into it?

Carefully address the question as phrased by the institution.  Different schools may describe what they want as a letter of intent in slightly different ways that may help you understand what they're looking for.
Broadly speaking, a letter of intent is not about your past.  It should explain your intentions for the future.  (Stuff about your past is probably better in a personal statement, if you're asked for one.) A letter of intent should answer the question, what will you do if you come here?
In any sort of admissions or employment situation, whenever you're asked about the future, a good answer usually includes some specificity about your objectives, something testable, what you'd like to work on, how you think you might proceed toward your goals, etc.  Hope that's helpful.


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Can I use the exact same research proposal for different scholarships?
I wrote a research proposal (edited by my potential advisor) for an external scholarship application. This application is due at the end of the month.
I just found out that the internal scholarship also requires a research proposal. Would it be ethical to use to exact same proposal (i.e., copy and paste) for the internal scholarship application which is due at the end of next month? Or would this be considered plagiarism?
The department will have both of my scholarship applications. So they will be able to see they are the same.

No problem, often people in your situation do the same. Even professors try to improve failed grant proposals in order to submit it again in other calls.
In your case, I think you must send the same project, since you have already delineated the work you will perform with your potential supervisor and you are just applying for funding. After the results, if both get approved, you will need to choose only one of the grants.
Plagiarism is a completely different thing:

the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.

In any case, I think you should talk to your supervisor before submitting.


text:
How to decide which recommender to ask for LOR?
I have found a few similar questions on this issue, but none that have solved my dilemma.
I am currently applying to PhD programs (US, natural sciences). I need three letters of recommendation for most programs. I have already decided to ask an advisor I spent a summer doing research with, and my current research advisor (I've only completed the research proposal so far, but I've had several classes with her as well and she knows me well.)
For my final recommendation, I'm trying to decide whether to ask my academic advisor or my supervisor from my industry job.
I've had many classes with my advisor, and discussed my plans to go to grad school with him. I think he would write me a very positive letter, but would probably say things that are similar to what my current research advisor would say.
I've worked at my current job which is related to the field I'm going into for only about 5 months now (3.5 months full time, the rest part time). In that time though, I've gone above the duties expected for interns because I am a fast learner. I also worked overtime almost every week while I was working full-time, was asked to give a presentation to the whole company at a monthly meeting (usually only supervisors give these presentations), and have helped to train new employees. I feel that I would get a very positive LOR, but I worry that admissions committees will not be interested because my recommender only has a BS degree and my job is not research-based.

Go with the supervisor from your job.  The schools will have your transcript.  Unless there's something special the adviser can write, this is a no brainer from my point of view.
An example of a case where there is something special the academic adviser could offer would be if you have any warts in your transcript that you think your academic adviser can help you explain by way of the letter


text:
Writing subscripts in editorialmanager abstract window
I am trying to submit a manuscript to a journal that uses editorialmanager system. I wish to know how to insert subscripts in the abstract window . When I go to insert special characters link
I only find subscripts for the numbers from 0 to 9. How to write subscripts of letters like

Thanks.

What comes out when you select a numerical subscript?

@MassimoOrtolano It just writes the number as a subscript.

Usually the abstract field in this kind of electronic submission systems is not meant to support complex formats. Some support the html <sub> tag. You can try it, but if it doesn't work I suggest you to simply write in plain text, like "NL".

@MassimoOrtolano Actually, I tried the  tag but it did not work. I might write it as plain text. Thanks.

@MassimoOrtolano I found that you can write the capital letters in small size for example the html code for the capital letter L written in small size is "ʟ" without the quotation marks. It is not a subscript, but it is closest possible thing that I could found.


text:
Does telling students to take notes in high school really help them learn better?
I don't feel like it actually helped me. I now sense long after high school that taking notes and reading them probably did not help. Now I understand why it could work. In theory, somebody who thinks for themself could use their own method of trying to understand the parts of a lecture they are interested in understanding, using a complex method writing down the results of what they figured out about their method of thinking and slowly improving their own method of thinking and writing. However, when I was in high school, I didn't understand why I was told to takes notes so I used linear thinking and just copied down what ever the teacher was writing on the board and then read my notes and I'm not sure it really helped.

The lecture is a very inefficient method of training.  Passive, linear, etc.  Working problems, reading texts, doing examinations is much more active and time-efficient.
If you really want to get max value out of a lecture, read the text ahead and work the exercises ahead.  The lecture then is refresher and an alternate viewpoint.  Your notes will only be of something unexpected (as the text is available and familiar for expected things).
P.s.  Of course, this as on oft written on topic and a Google search and review of the results would be a more active way to analyze it.  Rather than asking here or some other answer site.  Sort of analogous to the student in lecture, no?

I have no teaching or research experience. This answer is all guesswork. There's more than one way to take notes. One way is the proper way where a student happens to get their own natural desire to use their own method of writing things down based on what the teacher says and choosing which parts they're interested in picking out and remembering and with more experience improves their own method of writing down and interpreting what they wrote. The other way is the way I did as a result of my lack of understanding of why to take notes where I just copied down what the teacher wrote on the board and read it later. Maybe some other students did it the same way as me. I think the proper way actually can help as long as the person has the natural ability to do it. The way I did it on the other hand might not help.
I once heard somebody say that when he writes down what he reads, he remembers it better. That's probably because when he writes it down, he ends up reading it slower so it ends up easier to remember it. That doesn't necessarily mean that's the case for taking notes. There's a reason the first way of taking notes I described is better as I will describe later but not everybody has the natural talent for it when they're in high school so some high school students might adopt the method I used. When they take notes and don't have that natural talent, writing down what the teacher writes on the board doesn't slow down the lecture. The teacher is still talking just as fast and it's still just as hard to remember it. The teacher's writing on the other hand is slower so it should already be easier to remember so I'm not sure there's any use in copying it down.
I was also taught point form notes in elementry school and only way later did I figure out the real purpose of them with an understanding. I much later long after I was finished high school had my own natural desire to figure out how to explain things in an organized way that I probably would have figured out even if school had never tried to teach me how to write an essay in an organized way. It's basically planning ahead how to organize a message except my natural desire that just came was to do it in my head. Sometimes I write a bit then plan then continue writing more. Maybe a few times in high school, I had my own idea of how to organize a message for a specific assignment but I didn't get the marks for it. I think that schools are cramming too much material on their students and when they're taught too much, they learn less. That's because sometimes students cannot figure out why the teacher is saying what they're saying when trying to teach them skills and then struggle and then the teacher moves on before they're ready.
In addition, being made to struggle instead of using a student centered approach causes them to adopt a linear thinking approach and actually makes them less good at thinking their own thoughts and coming up with the idea of organizing a message and writing a plan for one on their own with an understanding. That could be another reason telling students to take notes in high school could be detrimental for those who don't have the natural talent to do it properly easily. I read on the internet that Finland uses a student centered approach and I also read on the internet that Finland has a really good education system.
Finally, another reason it could be detrimental to tell students to take notes in high school who weren't going to choose to. Maybe they already have more experience doing the creative thinking with their brain alone and it ends up better in the long run when they just continue their habits of finding it normal that they can only use their brain and have no written copies to get aided by in remembering the lecture.
There are totally different types of notes which can be useful. In my high school Environmental Management course, the teacher put up an overhead with text to write down in class. Maybe some people by writing it down are forced to read it slower so they end up remembering it better. Also in university, I had a statistics course whose textbook was very confusing but the teacher made his own power point notes to read online at home and I read them and learned a lot from them.


text:
Is it possible to read the article from the this ResearchGate page as a nonresearcher? If so, how?
I found the page https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301502255_Can_we_believe_it_Evidence_for_Christianity that I Google searched for. It's just the abstract. I couldn't figure out how to read the article under the abstract. I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop from 2011. I read the review that appears just before posting this question and I don't know enough to tell by reading the title of the questions and skimming the small bit of text under them that appears in the review.

The author of this book has not uploaded any full text of the book to ResearchGate, so no one can read it there. You can ask the authors for a full text by clicking on "Request full text", but there is no guarantee that they will honor that request (especially for a book which is being sold on the market).
If a full text is available on ResearchGate, then the button "Request full text" is not present, and there is a "Download" button. See this paper for example.

I didn't pay attention carefully when I accepted this answer. When I clicked download citation, I accessed only the abstract which should men the full text is not available and so a link saying "Request full text" should be there but it's not. Maybe It's because I'm not a researcher. An answer that actually explains how it works in a way I can understand will probably suffice.

@Timothy strange. When I open your link in a private window (not logged in to ResearchGate (RG)), I get a popup with the button "Request full text". The help center of RG also says that the "request full text" button is available to everyone, even logged out users. Try to access your link on a private window and see if the popup comes. You can also create an account on RG as "not a researcher" and see if the button appears when using that account.


text:
Electrical Engineering Master of Science: Taking Letters of Recommendations from different departments or fields
I would like to apply for Master of Science about electrical engineering, in USA. Most universities require 3 letters of recommendation and I am a little confused about from whom to get them.
I scored a very high GPA but I did not participate in any kind of research activities. However, there are many professors that know me very well, particularly my enthusiasm, my potential, my passion to learn new things and my ability to critical think and judge the information without taking it for granted.
I want to apply to the schools with the "electronics, semi-conductors" branch.
However, the professors who know me well are from : 1) electrical engineering, power electronics area 2) electrical engineering, computer branch and 3) mathematics department, I took differential equations and calculus from this professor.
I want to ask the followings:
1) Are old professors regarded more important or less important compared to younger professors ?
2) Is it OK to take letter of recommendation from a professor in another discipline or even different faculty, knowing that he will write a very good letter ?
3) Is a letter of recommendation from a famous faculty member that does not know me very well is better than a letter of recommendation from a less well-known professor that knows me very well ?
4) Is a professor that did his/her Masters or doctorate in USA regarded as more important compared to ones who did not ?

1) Are old professors regarded more important or less important compared to younger professors ?

I cannot speak to this, but in general, a well known researcher in the
  field you are applying to is more valuable than a not as well known
  researcher. For example, Terence Tao is only 41
  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Tao), and Manjul Bhragava is only 42, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manjul_Bhargava). Their age is considered decades younger
  than many profs in math, but I would wager any mathematician would do
  anything to get a recommendation letter from the profs I have mentioned above.

2) Is it OK to take letter of recommendation from a professor in another discipline or even different faculty, knowing that he will write a very good letter ?

I can speak to this. I am an electrical engineer who has done a MASc. and two of my
  recommendation letter were from mathematicians, one pure and one
  applied. But then again I applied for a very mathy branch of EE.
I would not consider semiconductor research to be an extremely mathy branch of EE, (compared to research in signal processing, or control theory)
  and this is coming from another EE. In semiconductor research they
  need people with good simulation skills and will be able to write
  softwares of which the theories are grounded in PDE. You can find an
  applied mathematician who works in PDE (preferably computational PDE)
  or a physicist who will provide you a letter.

3) Is a letter of recommendation from a famous faculty member that does not know me very well is better than a letter of recommendation from a less well-known professor that knows me very well ?

The best case scenario is that you receive a letter from someone who
  knows you very well and who have written a good letter. Otherwise, you
  need someone who knows you a little but will write a good letter. The
  last you want is someone who knows you very little and will probably
  write an average letter.

4) Is a professor that did his/her Masters or doctorate in USA regarded as more important compared to ones who did not ?

This is an important question and I think it is highly dependent on
  the tier of school you are applying to. I can't imagine the top 5
  engineering universities will ever perceive a letter from a reputable
  researcher from overseas (outside of US or even Canada) to be less
  valuable.

Can you please explain the last one a little bit more ?

I can only speak to # 2, but maybe I can tide you over until someone can give a better answer.
I currently study computer science, and was talking with one of the administrators about letters of rec and grad school, and I was told that they wan't letters from CS faculty, but beyond that they didn't care who. I would imagine letters from people in your field will generally carry more weight.
It's a bit anecdotal, but since we're both in the U.S in related fields, hopefully it will help

Did you mail to the graduate admissions office to learn thay they want letters from people in Cs?

No, I spoke directly with a member of the office at an information event

Today, I talked with one of my professors in department and the professor from the Maths department who knows me well. Their ideas were in agreement and they stated the following order of importance, when it comes to taking letters of recommendation
1) A professor from my own field (electronics, semi-conductors, photonics) that knows me well.
2) A renown professor in my department (electrical engineering), but from another field (such as power, computers) that knows me very well.
3) A renown professor in my own field that does not necessarily know me very well, who may write a monotone letter.
4) A professor from another department (maths, physics) that knows me very well.


text:
How to work with an overly positive advisor?
I'm in my second year of my PhD and my advisor is very, very positive. She never gives me negative feedback, even when I objectively have made a mistake.
For instance, two months ago, I noticed that I had made a mistake in my code that invalidated about 6 months of work. She wasn't even mad, saying things like "everyone makes mistakes" and "we can fix this." I was able to redo the analysis and still find interesting results, so it did more or less work out. But this is just one example of how positive she is.
Last year she encouraged me to apply to an university internal poster session and strongly suggested that it was highly probable that I would win one of the prizes offered. I did not win, nor do I feel like I was that close to winning. I was a first year student competing against fourth and fifth years.
Additionally, she is always happy with whatever I present to her. I'll admit, some weeks I do not produce much work, sometimes I'm slow to give her abstracts to review for conferences, etc, but she is always happy with whatever I give her.
She praises me excessively for every little thing, no matter how good or bad. She says "excellent work, great job, you're making fantastic progress." I get the same exact level of praise on the weeks I do a lot of work and weeks I do little work.
I'm used to working with PIs were much more blunt. Not necessarily negative, but told me how I was doing. If I didn't do much work, they would say "that's all you've done?" However, if I actually did a good job, I would get a "good job" or something.
It's very hard for me to manage my expectations with my advisor. I don't know if I am actually doing a good job or not. I don't know what my approximate actual chances are for awards and acceptances to conferences.
I'm afraid to ask her to be more blunt, because I'm afraid she would completely switch and criticize me too much.
How can I manage my expectations and work better with my perpetually positive professor?

Does she tell all her PhD students they're doing exceptionally well? Maybe you really are making good progress. Also, it sounds like you are really hard on yourself (e.g. expecting her to get upset when you make a mistake), maybe she is reacting to that by trying to be reassuring.

She's a new PI and I'm her first graduate student. So I don't have anyone to compare myself with.

Have you tried to seek out other mentors (in addition to your advisor), e.g. other faculty in your department or more senior graduate students, who might have the communication style you're more used to? It's good to have multiple mentors; you get different things from each of them.

Do you have publications? Especially such with peer review? Trust me, you are lucky with your supervisor if they are encouraging - if you do not know whether the work is good or not, you can find other sources of direction. But a "put-down" supervisor is hard to compensate for.

I have to say I have the same problem, also with a new PI.. I never thought having a PI that's too "nice" could be a problem, but it sometimes is. There's praise for a lot of little things it it almost makes me feel like I'm in kindergarten sometimes, and being given a good star for tying my shoelaces. Yet at the same time, there is no teaching that occurs, which I see as the main problem because I've not learned anything from her besides necessary experimental techniques. Let me know if you find a solution ;)

Also, I do think in some cases you might be too hard on yourself. For instance when 6 months of work was invalidated, chances are you are already beating yourself up over that. There was no point of her criticizing you. How she acted was how I, and I think a lot of PIs would have acted. Plus, she might have been impressed that you was able to find the mistake yourself. In my case as well, my PI does give quite a bit of constructive criticism to lab members at times, but thinks I do much better work so doesn't for me. Doesn't mean I'm great (the problem), but better than the few she's got

@ConfusedStudent007, I'm glad that you can sympathize with my plight! I never thought a positive PI would be a bad thing. I definitely relate to the gold star for tying your shoes statement. If/when I figure out something, I'll tell you :/

First - try to control what you can control. You said you are afraid to ask for more criticism, so here's my criticism for you: your fear is standing in the way of you asking for what you need. Perhaps try to frame the request in a positive way: ask for suggestions on how to make your work "even better" instead of saying "could you be more blunt?" Second - I have no idea if this suggestion will work, but it might: it seems like your advisor has a preference for praise. If you ever do get good criticism, say: "wow your feedback was so helpful, thank you!"

@BryanKrause - Yes, this last part is very good.  It's what I was trying to get across in my answer.

I recommend to just take the attitude that it is your program.  You do the work.  You figure out what journals you like to submit to.  You get the skinny on different awards or conferences.  Don't look so much for +/- ideas from this lady.  If you need insights try to push her with "better A or B".  But even then I would make it more about you deciding and she is just an "advisor".  Finally, having a pleasant PI and just driving your own sled is a reasonably pleasant problem.  (If you are flailing, this is different.)

I sympathize with this because I had an overly positive advisor for approximately 3.5 years, until I was getting ready to go on the job market and then suddenly he had tons of problems with my work. Others have told you to go elsewhere for criticism. This is probably a good idea, but you should also be able to have a good, balanced discussion with your main advisor who knows your work best.
Two things might be helpful:
1) Ask her what criticisms a reviewer might have of your approach to X
2) Ask her what needs to be done to improve Y
The first may help because she may be able to get in a different mindset about criticism if she is asked to think about the paper like a reviewer (a reviewer's "job" is to be critical, but she may feel that an advisor's "job" is to be encouraging). The second may help because it invites her to frame problems in an encouraging, positive way (which seems to be her comfort zone).

Thanks for your input. I have a similar problem as you and the OP, and was wondering if you've ever had negative feelings (resentment is probably too strong a word) for this situation. I've experienced it as well where during my experiments and work, it's all praise even as I struggled for weeks and months with experiments alone. Hardly any help or suggestions. Then after the work is done, sometimes comments will be made about things I could have done.. I know it's immature, but bitter feelings still builds up over time. Do you have a good (or any) relationship with you old mentor?

All your feelings are valid! I definitely sought out my other committee members to provide what was lacking in the main relationship. Try to target a few other faculty with whom you get along well (even if they are in slightly different areas) to provide some kind of support for you. At the same time, I like to keep in mind this is like a parent-child relationship. Part of leaving the "nest" is you start to resent your parent - and then when you graduate you start to realize there were some good things you just couldn't see until it was in the rearview mirror. Good luck!

It seems to me that the problem isn't her being positive, it is that you:

get the same exact level of praise on the weeks I do a lot of work and weeks I do little work.

If she calls your work 'great' on good weeks and 'pretty good' on bad weeks, you can work with that. However if she says 'good job' in both instances, there is no way differentiate between good weeks and bad weeks.
One way to deal with that is to explicitly ask her to compare your work with previous work. "How does this paper compare with my previous papers in your eyes"? "How does my work this week compare to my work in previous weeks"? "Would you say these results are a more significant contribution to the field than my earlier results X, Y and Z"? Emphasize that you want to know when you did better then other times to help you learn and what to emphasize in publications/posters. Hopefully she will respond along the lines of: X, Y and Z are all great results, but Z really stands out. Still very positive, but differentiating between the good and the great.
Another option would be when considering major results/things you want to publish is to ask other senior academics for their opinion. In this case, remember to keep your supervisor in the loop. A way to approach it could be: "I am really proud of this part of my work and you agree that it is great. Do you mind if I show it to person X and discuss it with her/him"?

What you highlighted is my main problem with her. I feel like I don't know how I'm actually progressing. I feel like some of the results of tests I run are ambiguous, or only partly encouraging for my research. I want to find a way to find out how good my results actually are. I haven't published anything yet (though I have presented at a conference) and I do think I'll get some feedback from our collaborators at that point.

@beth You could always calmly ask for more in-depth and possibly more critical feedback.  Keep in mind, though, that "good research" involves just as much (and possibly much more) failure and ambiguity than "not so good research".  Possibly your advisor is trying to maintain this perspective, and saying what you've done is great because she knows that failures and mediocre advancements are an integral part of the process and she identifies your particular "failures" and "mediocrity" as the good kind, and doesn't want you discouraged by them.

I wish I had your problem.  My advisor was contradictory at best and purposefully confusing at worst.  The problem is that you may very well have an excellent grasp of the topic area and are doing an amazing job.  Some people can not accept praise and only respond to negativity.
Also what happens a lot is that many PhD scholars become discouraged and give up because their advisors are not supportive.  I think she wants to not be that kind of advisor.  If you know that there are errors in your work that needs to be fixed maybe she wants you to fix it without being told to fix it.  Could that be a tactic?
Also, there are those PhD candidates who are afraid of success.  Are you one of those people?  At the end of the day, when you complain about her to her superiors and colleagues all you can say is that she was too supportive, too encouragine, she liked your project too much.  For her that is a win-win because you are the kind of person who just likes to complain and she can prove her point.

(1) Learn to let all the effusing she does wash over you like water off a duck's back.
Look elsewhere for ego stroking.  Hers is clearly not working for you.  But ego stroking is not the main thing one needs from an advisor.
(2) Train her to give you substantive guidance.  Email can be helpful for this.
If she is incapable of giving you substantive guidance, look for a different advisor.

How would you suggest 'training her to give me more guidance?'

With effusive positive feedback when she manages to give you substantive guidance.  (And email where you send her your reports and ask for comments.)


text:
Submitted Assignment Late - Wrong to ask for in-depth analysis?
So I've just submitted my first late assignment, and another one on the books. I feel absolutely terrible about it, but my time-management has been less than poor lately.
I really enjoy learning though, and if there is one thing that drives me, it's to aim for the highest result possible. As such, when I submit my assignments, I usually prod for further analysis as to where I was lacking, what I can improve, etc.
However, typing an email to my lecturer currently feels 'wrong'. I feel, because the assignment was late, that I put in a half-assed effort, and feel like asking for a more in-depth analysis is like asking for 'more' than I deserve. Should I surmise this 'idea' in my head to my lecturer when asking for the analysis of my assignment? Or should I just go about it the way I did before, just asking for ways to improve, etc.?

@Ian_Fin Is there anything about the question that could not apply to a graduate student?

@PatriciaShanahan Probably not. I've deleted the comment. It may be worth the OP's while if a little more context was provided though, e.g., are there extenuating circumstances, how late was the assignment, etc.

You submitted late and did half-baked job. It does happen. However, why would you expect the lecturer to invest on a piece of work that you yourself consider subpar? Any information that they could give you would probably concentrate on the things you anyway know are problematic in this submission. If you did your best job, detailed feedback from the lecturer is valuable. But if you didn't, and you know it anyway, you are just wasting their time (or rather take their time/attention from students who did - in this particular instance - a better attempt).

@Ian_Fin The only circumstances that led to this late submission were poor time management on my half; I don't actively seek 'excuses' so to speak as to why I couldn't submit on time. The lateness wasn't anything horrendous - simply 2 business days after due date. The penalty is 10% of the overall mark. I hope that answers your queries, Ian.

@CaptainEmacs Well put, exactly what I was trying to determine - and get input from someone with a better perspective to see this from a 3rd party perspective of those who may know better than myself. I would mark this as an answer, if you would kindly post it as such.

@DeeKayy90 As per request, converted into response, with some minor edits.

You submitted late and did half-baked job. It does happen to the best of us.
It does not, however, make sense to expect the lecturer to invest on a piece of work that you yourself consider subpar. Any information that they could give you would probably concentrate on the things you anyway know are problematic in this submission. If you did your best job, detailed feedback from the lecturer is valuable in refining your work.
But if you didn't, and you know it anyway, you would just utilize their time/attention to little effect and would take it away from students who did - in this particular instance - a better attempt.


text:
Is there such a thing in the academic world as "common knowledge"?
This is a question about plagiarism and about when citations are necessary.
If one works in a particular academic field there may be statements that everybody in that field accepts, that have been around for a long time, and that it would be a matter of tedious historical research to track back to a published source that can cited: for example, "the number of prime numbers is not finite".
In that specific case I happen to know that I could cite Euclid as a source for that statement, but he did not publish in a peer-reviewed journal, and if I am not focussing on the history of proofs of that proposition, surely it is not plagiarism for me to state that fact without attribution.
That is but one example of a well-known fact.
My question is how does an academic writer decide whether something is so well known that a citation would be ridiculous or whether it would be plagiarism to state it without citing somebody?

Type "infinite primes" in Google and at the top right will appear a box stating: "Euclid's theorem is a fundamental statement in number theory that asserts that there are infinitely many prime numbers. It was first proved by Euclid in his work Elements. There are several proofs of the theorem.".  I would think that if Google presents the answer itself (not simply as part of the list of matches), it should be considered "common knowledge".

Some people will agree with, and some will oppose, the idea that some things are so obvious they don't need to be cited. Here're two essays on Wikipedia about whether one should cite that the sky is blue.
Wikipedia:You don't need to cite that the sky is blue

It's pedantic.
There is no need to verify statements that are patently obvious.
It leads to over-referencing where sentence flow is interrupted by excessive citations.
"The purpose of a citation is to guide the reader to external sources where the reader can verify the idea presented, not to prove to other editors the strength of the idea."

Opposing argument: Wikipedia:You do need to cite that the sky is blue

Apparently simple facts may be disputed, e.g. the sky isn't always blue, it's black at night.
It's reassuring to readers, even if it's obvious.
Not everyone has the same "common knowledge". For example it may be common knowledge to Americans how many states there are in the US, but not to the rest of the world.

Suffice to say, there's no consensus on this. General guidelines then would be:

If the material is likely to be challenged, cite it.
If in doubt, cite it.

+1 for "If the material is likely to be challenged, cite it". "If in doubt, cite it."

Note that there was this paper (in the 90s I think) which reinvented integration. Clearly common knowledge is not always common, it depends on the community.

Different institutions may have different expectations, but I think this example from Davidson College Library website is fairly typical:

Information qualifies as common knowledge when it can be found in a
  significant number of sources and is not considered to be
  controversial. General descriptions of social customs, traditions, and
  observable world phenomena qualify as common knowledge, as well as
  popular expressions and sayings such as “the early bird gets the
  worm.” Common knowledge can vary between subject fields, so think
  about your audience. If you have doubts about whether something is
  common knowledge, ask your professor or another expert in the
  discipline.
Example
Common Knowledge:  Davidson College was established in 1837 by
  Presbyterians.
Needs a Citation: Davidson College was established in 1837 by
  Presbyterians who bought the land primarily for its rural location,
  far from the immoral enticements of cities.
For more information about when you don't need to cite, see:
Ballenger, Bruce P. "Appendix A: Guide to MLA Style." The Curious Researcher: A Guide to Writing Research Papers. New York: Longman,
  2009. 257-318. Print.
  Contains information about the circumstances in which to cite and some examples of common knowledge.
Fowler, H. Ramsey, and Jane E. Aaron. "Avoiding Plagiarism and Documenting Sources." The Little, Brown Handbook. New York: Pearson
  Longman, 2010. 626-634. Print.
  Contains a section on what qualifies as common knowledge.
Neville, Colin. “What, When and How to Reference.” The Complete Guide to Referencing and Avoiding Plagiarism. 2nd ed. Maidenhead, GBR:
  McGraw-Hill Education, 2010, 14-27. Ebrary. Web. 06 Jan 2015.
  Contains numerous examples of when to cite and when a citation is not needed.

In most cases, Euclid's theorem wouldn't need to be cited; anybody with a tertiary education in a maths-adjacent field has probably encountered it. But if you were working in a different context where it might be unfamiliar to many of your readers, then it might be appropriate to cite it.
In the case where you do need to cite it, pretty much any Number Theory 101 textbook ought to be an adequate reference. For statements not likely to be contentious, citations don't always have to be to peer-reviewed sources, and they don't necessarily have to be to the first published appearance of a result.
(Caveat: it is a good idea to avoid chain citations, where you're reporting A's report of B's report of C's publication, but a number theory textbook that includes a proof of Euclid's theorem isn't a chain citation.)

I live your Caveat.  Good point.

(downvoter, care to comment?)

This is a false dilemma. You can introduce something without citing it and without passing it for your own work, and so avoid plagiarism. Examples:

It is a standard fact that the sky is blue.

In Section 2, we recall a few well-known facts on prime numbers.

The following results date back to at least Euler.

We recall a few basic facts on prime numbers; these can be found, for instance, on the textbook [1].

I would also consider how much a particular statement is crucial to building your argument.
Research papers build upon prior knowledge. For new results to hold, prior knowledge needs to be trustworthy. That is, for a conclusion to hold, the premises need to hold as well. Critical premises are better to back up with multiple strong sources.
However, research papers are narratives and some statements may be used to increase the readability of the paper. Even if such statements are falsified, the key argument still holds. I would not stress too much if such statements go without strong references.
For example, on a paper comparing atmosphere gasses of different planets you could write:

Earth's atmosphere consists mainly of nitrogen, oxygen, and a mixture
of other gasses in small amounts [ref]. To an observer on the surface
of Earth, the sky appears blue [no ref]. However, on Mars, the
atmosphere is primarily carbon dioxide [ref]. From the surface, the
sky appears orange due to dust particles [no ref].

It can be argued whether academic writing can be decorated with statements that do not directly contribute to the main point. The answer varies between fields, venues, and target audiences.


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Concurrent commitment to 2 Masters degrees, One of them is online
I am more likely to get admitted to 2 programs in 2 different universities. Both are great but in 2 different interests for me. The first is a non-thesis based program and mostly online while the second is a thesis-based research master degree.
My question: Assuming I can do well with both, are there any legal issues or concerns?
Given that I don't have to take the classes in person in one program, should I tell any of them?
what is your feedback if this scenario is in Canada and/or the USA?

Are either of the programs funded?

Both can be funded through the same governmental scholarship which is a part of the application but, for sure, I have to choose one of them to have this fund.
The research master program, however, is guaranteed to be funded through the school of graduate studies although they encourage applicants to apply for external scholarships.
Let's say that the main program is the thesis-based research program which is eligible for being funded through the university and governmental scholarships. If I can pay the ruin fees for the other non-thesis online Master degree, is there any issue?

Depending on the intricate details of how you are provided funding, you might be prohibited from taking the second Masters program. They usually have a good reason for that: suppose you are funded to work full-time in your research thesis-based Masters program. If you will be working on a second degree at the same time, it will inevitably drain your energy, so you'll likely be less productive to do what you are paid for.
Consult with the coordinators of your research Masters program to learn their stance on taking external education / work.
For a personal example, my university asks me to inform if I am receiving a funding from other sources and generally cuts the base funding depending on how much work time I spend on working for those other sources.
As a final note, you could take two Masters program covertly, without informing the two universities. They are unlikely to discover this, but it doesn't mean it's a good practice.

Thank you for your thorough explanation. You have highlighted all the main points that I want to know.


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Asking for Honorarium for Invited Talk
Is there an etiquette followed for asking about a possible (even if small) honorarium for invited talks? These are not talks at conferences but a stand-alone event on campus, open to the public, and rather stressful. As an early career academic I know this is quite important to have on a CV, and would accept the talk regardless, but would like to ask whether they would be able to pay me for this labor. Is there a way to do this kindly and courteously?

If you ask for it, then by definition it's a fee, not an honorarium. Whether you can ask for it kindly and courteously is a separate question (to which I expect the answer is not really - at least for an early career academic - but I'm not sure enough to post this as an answer).

If it's your own university, you won't get money for your own pocket, but make the organisers (or anybody else who passes down such tasks to you) understand that they owe you for it. I assume these are PR shows, rather "unscientific"? Don't put more than a few of those on your academic CV. ;-) For any event organised by a third party, I'd flat-out refuse if they don't pay up.

It may depend on the field, but most academics generally speak for free or if invited speaker, the organizers provide transportation, per diem etc.Off course, if you are a really big shot, you may command some financial reward, but other ose you better talk gluten free diets or something similar if money what you want.

[All of the following written from the perspective of mathematics, sciences, or geosciences where departments generally are not sitting on piles of corporate donations and industry funds.]
If you are talking about seminar talks at other universities, then the answer is that "no, there is no procedure for asking". As a general rule, giving seminar or colloquium talks at other places is part of your job duties and not a side business. It is generally expected by your department that you do it. If you do it only because someone pays you money for it, then it becomes a side business. If you consistently think that giving seminar talks is high-stress, then you need to either reconsider whether you're in the right line of business, or just not accept any invitations.
Now, some universities or departments will voluntarily give you a honorarium. If they offer that, you can accept it with gratitude. But most departments will not offer one, and asking for one is sure to make for a very awkward situation; it is also sure to make you look bad in the community.
All of this is of course separate from reimbursement of actual travel costs. You can expect that these are paid for, i.e., that you do not make a loss by giving a talk.

This sounds to me less like a seminar talk and more like a popular lecture, intended for the benefit of the community at large rather than researchers only. My institution organizes something similar.  As one data point, we contacted a potential speaker, and he said something like "let me know the details of dates, audience, reimbursements, honorarium, etc", clearly hinting that he expected to receive an honorarium.  On our end it wasn't so much awkward as "oh yeah, we really ought to have one, let's line up the funding".

@NateEldredge -- maybe. If you're a well funded department at a well funded university, this may be feasible. If you're Smalltown State University and the English Language department, it may not. I would hope that academics do not automatically assume that they can expect a honorarium, or that department will never get any speakers any more.


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Best way to correct my name in the paper
I found mistake of my name in my submitted paper. My paper status now is "our proof corrections have been returned to Elsevier". How can I change the last letter of my name.
My best regards

Directly contact the editor.

Yes, don't waste time asking on the internet, but contact the editor as soon as possible. I don't know what the line "our proof corrections have been returned to Elsevier" mean exactly, but if you had dealt with production staff already (so, the article has been handed over from the editor to the publishing staff) you may also contact the production staff. More practical: Use the most recent communication channel that the journal used to contact you (could be the submission system, an email from the editor or an email from somebody at the production staff).


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Should I send a 60 percentile Math GRE score to Applied Math PhD Program?
I didn't do well on math GRE(700, 60 percentile) and I have no time to retake the test. I am applying for applied math phd programs(some examples include Rice CAAM, Upenn ACMS, JHU's Department of Applied Mathematics & Statistics or my dream school Stanford ICME), and almost all of these programs do not require GRE subject but they recommend me to send.
I know that this score will definitely hurt me a lot if I am applying for pure math programs, but someone said that applied math is different. So I wonder if my score will have seriously negative effect? Should I send the score to those programms?
Thank you, I appreciate any advice!

Take this with a pinch of salt but I'm now in my 4th year in an Ivy grad school with a pretty lame GRE subject score (I did not prepare for it and turns out that's not a great idea). I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one... IMHO GREs are used to weed out candidates they know nothing about (e.g., CV is not very informative, no past experience in research, undergrads done in unknown school, that kind of stuff). In my experience having had the opportunity to discuss with people from the group you'd like to join is maybe the most important factor of all...

I am in a similar situation. Although I am not able to provide you with a definitive answer but I think it's important who your competitors are. For example, I remember once read on Ohio State University's website, saying that the average GRE Math Subject of domestic students are around 65% or 67%, but the average for international students are around 95%. So I think your educational background plays a role here.

Thanks! I have seen that too. I think that's for pure math program,and onething that I am particularly unclear is that would department of applied math view GRE subject differently from math dept...

@XavierXiao Realize that sometimes there's no big difference between pure math and applied math. For some universities, they do not even have separate applications. Besides, you could take a look here: https://math.osu.edu/grad/future/application/faq. It doesn't differentiate between applied and pure, and OSU is not even tier-1 school in terms of math


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Accepted for Masters, Is It Rude To Ask About Scholarships?
First things first: I'm not a native American, and I was accepted for my masters at an American college. So far, I still need to send some documentation before the official offer is made.
On their website, it is stated that accepted students are eligible for a scholarship. So, is it rude, while I'm still sending and solving the documents, to ask how can I obtain the scholarship mentioned?

It's not rude, you could try. The university will make a decision.

It's not rude, and the only way you'll find out more is by asking; learning to ask good questions is an important part of graduate study.  Just ask for instructions and requirements for applying for the scholarship.  Good luck with the scholarship!

@aparente001 thank! I will reply informing the documents are on the way (since it takes a while shipping from different countries) and asking how can I proceed to obtain the scholarship. For some reason I cant tag Student T

@StudentT - Myrium is trying to tag you, not sure what for....

More precisely, ask you you can apply for the scholarship, not how you can obtain it.

Just so you know, the term "native American" usually refers to the indigenous people of the land which is now the United States, and sometimes more broadly the Americas.

It's definitely not rude to ask about scholarships! Some are easy to get, while others have stringent requirements, so it might be more appropriate to ask "what scholarships am I eligible for" or "what scholarships can I apply for" instead of "what scholarships can I get."

A tip about word usage: If you're doing a masters degree than you're almost definitely attending a "university" rather than a "college." In the US, a college refers to an administrative unit that awards undergraduate degrees. The term "school" is also used to refer to degree-granting units that award any kinds of degrees. A university is a collection of schools. For example, Harvard University contains a college and several other schools as can be seen here. Some universities (especially larger ones) have multiple colleges, generally separating Engineering from Arts and Sciences. If you tell someone in the US that you're attending college, they will almost certainly assume that you're an undergraduate. "Attending university" or "attending graduate school" are the common things to say.

Thank you very much for the enlightenment! At first, I considered it like it were synonyms.

@Myrium The words (or their cognates) tend to have wildly varying usages in different countries from what I've gathered. A further point of clarification: some larger universities contain multiple colleges (often dividing "the college of engineering" from "the college of arts and sciences.") Some institutions are named with those words in the name, e.g., "Boston University" and "Boston College," which I think used to correspond to who had grad depts and who only did undergraduate work, but now everyone has graduate programs. So Boston College is a university and contains a college


text:
Polite way to ask professor's graduate research topics and if any matches an specific area
currently I'm applying for a specific university I had an exchange program couple years ago, and I asked one specific professor about a recommendation letter, also stated I had the desire to work alongside her as her assistant (being a TA or RA). I'm still waiting for the results (fall 2017), but I would like to ask her which researches she is conducting right now (her focus is software engendering), and if any is with web/mobile development (areas where I have work experience.
Thanks, guys!

If you only want to find out what research she is doing, checking out her publications (e.g. in google scholar or scopus) is definitely the first stop (although she might have new projects that are not visible yet). You can also check the lab's website (although often they are not so well updated).
But if you want to ask for a job, then a clear, simple e-mail reminding her of who you are and that you would be interested in working with her if she has any position in your area of expertise, would do the trick.

Researching a professor's recent publications is a great way to understand their focus, expertise and experience. How many publications have they produced, in the last 5-10 years? Additionally after performing this type of research it is possible to email them directly asking any additional questions you may have about their research focus.


text:
Is it advisable to report a 56 percentile in GRE maths subject test if i am applying for Phd in neuroscience?
I am an undergrad from biology background. I want to pursue a Phd in neuroscience and would be applying by the end of 2017. I read in FAQs of many graduate programs that they recommend taking a subject test but it's not compulsory. I prepared for two months and took the GRE maths subject test. I was able to solve all the calculus problems but couldn't do other topics like group theory and abstract algebra. I ended up with a score of 680 and 56 percentile. I have a good research background in this field and i am hopeful of a publication by next year. I don't want my 'non-math' background to hinder my application from getting selected for computational labs. Should I report this score?

I think this is a duplicate to [this post] (http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32171/should-i-report-a-48th-percentile-math-gre-subject-exam-score-for-programs-where?rq=1)

The problem is similar but the context is different. I am asking specifically for neuroscience

Well, the 56th percentile means you did better than half the people who took the exam.  IMO, that's nothing to sneeze at since you are not applying for a math program as such; I would think this could strengthen your application.  (If I were on a neuroscience admissions committee, I would simply set aside application components that don't help your case.  BUT I don't know if this is what is actually done.)

I am in your field, and I think the answer Peter L. Clark gave in the linked post is a good answer. My sense is that most Neuroscience programs don't take the subject exams too seriously. If you have a great score, then send it. But, if not,

A missing subject GRE score just means that we don't take this part of the application into account.

Personally, I would not send it.  That said, with a publication forthcoming and a strong research background, you will still be a competitive applicant, even if you do not send in subject scores. For reference, I had a strong research background and did not even take the subject matter exams. I do not think this hindered me in the application process at all. I applied to 10 schools and got interviews (and subsequent offers) from 5. I'm a second year Ph.D. student now.
Hope this helps.


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How to properly cite when using most of the text verbatim
I'm currently teaching a calculus course and I want to create a project in which we analyse different population growth models using the tools we've learned so far. With this in mind I found a great article where both the history and technical aspects of the subject are very well explained. I want to create a PDF where I can write down verbatim most of this text and even some figures (which are part of other papers), just adding exercises and remarks as we move forward.
The question then is, how can I do this without incurring into plagiarism? Two ideas come to mind:
1) Clarify at the beginning of the text that everything, except the exercises, is written down exactly as in the reference.
2) In addition to the above clarification, use a box or quotes whenever a part of the paper is cited. I think this probably is the best course of action, but it's certainly impractical.
Does anyone have a better idea?

It isn't plagiarism if you don't represent it as your own work. If it is cited, it isn't plagiarism. However, copying complete articles is fraught and comes up against copyright restrictions which can result in either legal action or lawsuit. You should talk to someone locally about what is allowed and what is not. Librarians are good at that as is the legal department, if available, at your institution. As to how to cite, either of your options seems fine. They both indicate that you are quoting, not just paraphrasing.
Just be sure you are covered or willing to take the risk of possible censure.
Contacting the article's author may give you additional guidance and possibly permission.

Thanks, Buffy. I hear you. I guess it would be important to clarify that my source is freely available online, so presumably all of my students could've accessed it by themselves. Do you think this solves the issues you mention?

If they access it themselves then you don't need to copy it. Much cleaner that way. You can just reference relevant sections of it as needed.

Duh! The reasoning is so simple that it's great. Thanks for the help!


text:
How to talk with my advisor about PhD project?
I'm currently in the stage of my PhD (in math) where I need to start discussing with my advisor about my PhD project and I'm wondering what kind of things am I allowed to say and which ones should I avoid. I want to know how should I manage my communications with them.
More concretely, to which extent can I decline or object about certain projects they may suggest? Is it appropriate for me to say that a project doesn't appeal me, or that I'd rather do something more [concrete, abstract, with more applications, etc.]? Is it reasonable to bring up the projects of my peers?
I've heard about people having their advisers proposing multiple projects from which they may decide, however, up until this point that doesn't seem to be my case. Otherwise I wouldn't be looking for advise. In any case, I understand they're experts in their area and their suggestions are very well thought (relative to me and the research area) and on-point.

You're going to be stuck with your adviser and the chosen topic for several years -- so you better be honest in your conversation and say what you really think. I don't think there are any off-limit topics. The worst that may happen is that the areas you are interested in have no overlap with those your adviser has knowledge of/is interested in, and which he might decline to advise -- but that would be good to know as well.
When I have these conversations with my students, I actually do not offer any topics. I ask my students to come up with areas they are interested in, and to think about what they want to do before we make decisions about PhD topics. There is nothing worse -- for both sides -- if a student is stuck with a topic they are not interested in, and so I let my students choose what they want to do, and only steer things a bit to the left or right given my knowledge of what the relevant topics today are.

I agree with Wolfgang's answer, be open and honest about what you want. But I want to add some practical advice...
Coming up with a concrete project will take multiple meetings with your advisor and one hurdle is getting your PI on the same page as you each time you meet.  What I mean is that they are very busy with classes, projects, and collaborations that span a variety of specific topics.  So often, it takes a minute for both ppl to wrap their heads around a particular topic.
I like to prepare a few powerpoint slides before meeting with my PI. Usually one methods slide that pictorially describes the procedure for the relevant project, and then either predicted results or actual data if I have it. I don't know exactly how that translates into your field, but sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words!
The other thing that can be frustrating is that it's hard to remember all the discussion later and so I asked my PI if I could record our meetings. Might seem a little weird but I only record certain parts like when we're really getting into the theory. I want to be engaged in the discussion not rapidly taking notes that end up being insufficient later. My PI was a little awkward the first time I did this (obviously I asked and PI said OK) but now my PI has come to appreciate it because I'm taking more away from our meetings.
In short, prepare a few powerpoint slides on proposed projects and record conversations when discussing complex ideas.

Your advice is mostly on-target.  One thing: math (at least, pure math) is a highly non-powerpoint culture.  I've never seen a mathematician prepare power point slides for anything less formal than a seminar talk.  If a student wanted to present me with a powerpoint presentation, the first thing I'd have to do is figure out where to go to project them, since I don't have a projector in my office.  (I should say that a few of my colleagues do -- this is quite recent.)  Like almost all of my colleagues, I have a blackboard in my office, and I would expect a student to use it.

Indeed, I got the sense it may not be applicable to math, but still good for the SE archive. Because I run experiments, describing the design of the project is the best way to remind my PI what we're up to--I don't know what would be the equivalent in math.  But, its worth noting, I don't project these slides in a meeting with my PI, we just look at them on my laptop or monitor :)


text:
Changing study fields
After reading countless posts about this topic, I still can't find my answer. I'm a little lost on the future study plan...
I am currently studying Advertising and PR but do not have an amazing interest in it. I will finish my undergrad next year and looking for postgrad opportunities. However, I was wondering how realistic it is to be looking at postgrad courses in animal science, biology, marine biology and so on...
I know it is 'easy' to switch from science to social but is it possible to do the switch the other way around?
Thanks!

What coursework or experience do you have in the fields that you want to go to grad school for?

As I have said on many questions of this type: look carefully at the target program of studies, analyze the course sequence, prerequisites, course descriptions.  See what additional courses you would need.  What you're proposing can be done but requires careful preparation. // If you have any specific questions about a particular degree program, please provide a link to the program description and articulate your question clearly.

What country are you in, and what have you studied outside of your main subject during your undergrad?  The answer can be quite different in different educational systems.

I am currently studying in Spain, I have been here for most of my academic life but really would like a change of pace and study elsewhere... My main courses here are marketing, advertising and public relations but it doesn't seem to be something I am passionate about. I don't plan to go full on scientist and study chemistry or physics alone. More like and enviromental study, animal science or related to marine biology. Thanks for the answers!!!