Questions tagged [communication]

Questions about how to communicate with others appropriately and professionally; communication etiquette.

Communication can be with professors, students, potential employers, or others. Questions of when to communicate or not are covered as well as how to raise issues.

However, the site is not appropriate for asking people to approve or judge your specific communications.

473 questions
51
votes
7 answers

How to react to some students who book an appointment and do not show up?

I wonder what is the best strategy to follow to respond to students who book an appointment with you and do not show up. It is just so un-nice when this happens. I do not want the student to be upset but at the same time to honour his/her bookings.
Anonymous
  • 2,548
  • 5
  • 17
  • 18
43
votes
3 answers

Hiring an academic researcher to implement an algorithm in a paper they wrote

I recently joined a technology startup company where a key business value-proposition depends on solving certain various problems that no current business competitor solves. There is one particular sub-problem we're looking to offer a commercial…
Dai
  • 461
  • 4
  • 9
40
votes
4 answers

Is it appropriate for random students to approach professors they admire?

I am a freshman, and over the summer I found out about a professor at my university who has recently published a book. Curious, I bought a copy and ended up falling in LOVE with this man's writing. As an aspiring author myself, I would be honored to…
Jenny
  • 381
  • 3
  • 4
26
votes
2 answers

How should academics handle communication with the media?

I'm not famous enough of a scientist to be frequently solicited by the media* (plus my field has little political/social controversy around it), but I had a few encounters with local newspapers and one with a public national television. The results…
Cape Code
  • 27,102
  • 8
  • 98
  • 151
25
votes
4 answers

Dealing with irresponsiveness from far-away scientists

When meeting some scientists in person, I've had good conversations with decisions upon interesting plans for research cooperation and personal visits. But then, subsequent contact by e-mail is difficult, where the other party either doesn't reply…
gerrit
  • 42,782
  • 14
  • 131
  • 215
5
votes
4 answers

What is a diplomatic way to tell a professor that progress hasn't been made because of their lack of communication?

Here is the scenario: in a collaborative effort, our group was to work with another group/professor to write a paper on some work we had previously done. I, a grad student, am to be the main author/architect of the paper. But, and this was said…
YungHummmma
  • 1,372
  • 1
  • 11
  • 17
5
votes
2 answers

What is the proper protocol for addressing one's title and position in an email signature?

I am creating an email signature and I am not sure what the protocol should be. Should it say Dr. Locc Department of Social and Consumer Sciences. or should my position within the dept. be referenced?? Dr. Locc Social and Consumers Science…
Dr.Locc
  • 51
  • 3
3
votes
1 answer

How do I politely remind a professor to respond to my request for feedback

I have just started my MSc studies. My professor asked me to do a literature survey and I sent some papers to him 2 weeks ago. He wanted some time to check them, but I have not yet got any email. I think two weeks is quite enough to check…
nikki
  • 2,183
  • 4
  • 25
  • 49
1
vote
1 answer

How do you find the contact info of a professor in a foreign country?

I'd like to read the paper "New Fragments of the Ishvarapratyabhijna-vivriti" by Yohei Kawajiri. I can't seem to find it online, so I thought I'd contact the author and ask him for a copy. But I can't seem to find his contact information; he's…
1
vote
3 answers

How to go about contacting an author regarding questions on their research?

There is a scientist I am interested in contacting with expertise in peptidomics. I would like to email them to ask if they had ever explored findings from a related area of research. How do I politely contact them for their input?
user479
1
vote
2 answers

Authors are not responding to my request for additional research reports that were announced as 'available upon request' - should I try to once more?

Some authors have published a very long complex research paper (on ArXiv, theoretical computer science, math, category theory) and it contains references to three additional research-technical reports, the references of two of them included the note…
TomR
  • 497
  • 3
  • 9
0
votes
2 answers

I hope to contact a professor in the grad school i want to work under him. What are some tips and things I should pay attention to in my email?

I will go to a grad school this summer. I don't want to make mistakes in that email as I really work to work under him. I wrote an email before I applied and he said we can talk. What should I write now?
Ka Wa Yip
  • 251
  • 2
  • 6
0
votes
3 answers

How should you deal with a teacher who is difficult to understand?

Related but not a dupe. One of my Japanese teachers often explains things in a difficult to understand way, or because she uses a lot of Japanese quite quickly, sometimes with constructions we haven't quite covered. I often don't understand the…
Lou
  • 1,244
  • 2
  • 12
  • 23
0
votes
1 answer

How can I begin to gain credibility within the scientific community without a degree?

I'm working on a fairly extensive multidisciplinary research project - something a bit outside the purview of what would even be difficult for a respected field researcher to publish. That being said, I am quite aware of my own biases, and I am…
-2
votes
1 answer

Can I ask for promised feedback on my assignment?

I am a CS graduate student in Germany. One course I took required students to submit a program that solves a certain problem to pass. This problem requires a clever approach to solve efficiently, and a certain threshold of performance needed to be…
mafu
  • 1,472
  • 13
  • 25