Academia Stack Exchange
Academia Stack Exchange

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1500 questions
104
votes
9 answers

If I quit my PhD, would it make my advisor look bad?

I am considering quitting my PhD in computer science, because after doing a software engineering internship I realized I enjoy that kind of work much more. My advisor has been very kind to me, on both a professional and a personal level, and if I…
user45379
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104
votes
11 answers

E-mail address to use in publications

It is customary to use one's academic e-mail address as contact address in publications; I have seen once or twice an @gmail.com address being used instead, but it simply looked unprofessional. However, I already experienced personally twice that…
Federico Poloni
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104
votes
14 answers

Assistant professor vs Associate professor

What's the difference between an associate professor and an assistant professor? What can one of them do that the other can't? and which is a higher level? can any of them supervise a PhD student?
Mohamed Khamis
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104
votes
10 answers

How can I address a student systematically boosting their grades by filing frivolous complaints?

I was recently accused of unfair grading by a student. The accusation is meritless, and it didn't take long to prove that I didn't do anything wrong. No damage, but a lot of time wasted. Later, I learned through the grapevine that I was among a…
user39093
103
votes
7 answers

How should instructors react when students bring (noisy) babies to class?

I'm a student. Recently, in one of my classes, a fellow student brought their baby in a stroller. She may have asked the professor beforehand for permission to do this. The baby cried, made loud utterances, and loudly kicked the inside of its…
VKV
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103
votes
12 answers

Is MDPI a reputable Academic Publisher?

I was recently asked to review for an MDPI open access journal. Is this a reputable publishing company? Their website suggests that they are 15 years old, and only do open-access publishing. The journal has a 3-year impact factor of around 2, which…
John Doucette
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103
votes
13 answers

Techniques for good board handwriting

I'm a math TA and I find that my most consistent comment for improvement involved my board handwriting. Anybody have some tips or techniques I can use to make things a little neater on the board? There are, of course, time constraints with teaching…
walkar
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103
votes
11 answers

Is it unethical to supply a marked solution to a student who has shown intent to cheat, with the intent of identifying them for punishment?

One of the adjuncts that I work with found that one of their students had posted their assignment on a freelancer website asking for the solution. We joked that he should place a bid and fail them afterwards and had a lengthy discussion about sting…
Ray
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103
votes
15 answers

Just started a postdoc, but it went REALLY bad, REALLY fast. Stay or go?

I just started my 2-yr postdoc, but things have gone sour really fast. So, I really need some career advice as to what to do. Over several months, I did the interviews with the supervisor and the lab and things seems to be really great (although I…
FEN88
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103
votes
20 answers

Professor does not care about cheating, what should TA do?

I am a PhD student, working as a Homework marking TA in a school where cheating is extremely blatant. The university has an extremely strict policy against cheating. Hundreds of students in math courses alone are reported each year, and suspensions…
Radiant Dawn
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102
votes
17 answers

Is it possible to work full time and complete a PhD?

Is it achievable to perform a doctorate while working in a private company (not in college) full time (8 hours per day, 5 days per week)? Or is it too much work or stress?
Lobo
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102
votes
14 answers

The overwhelming silence in shy classes

I have been part of several classes where no-one wants to answer questions or actively take much part in the discussions. I am sure this must be frustrating for the lecturers, who try really hard to get us to answer and get an interesting discussion…
Yoda
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102
votes
18 answers

Why do some instructors care so much about attendance?

It seems that in higher education, some instructors either do not care at all whether students attend, and others care minimally (often resulting in a 1-5% attendance grade or tie-breaker rule). However there are also many instructors who seem to…
Superbest
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102
votes
9 answers

Is there an affordable way for non-students to subscribe to multi-journals/archives?

As a student I had free access to thousands of scholarly articles through my universities in databases/archives such as JSTOR, EBSCOhost, Google Scholar, Econlit, PubMed, etc, etc. With no subscription, glancing at the full text of any 1 article…
Hack-R
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102
votes
4 answers

A famous scholar sent me an unpublished draft of hers. Then she died. I think her work should be published. What should I do?

A famous scholar sent me an unpublished draft of hers. It was to convince me that a certain philosophical position is wrong (the paper debunks that position). Then she died. I think her work should be published. What should I do? Who should I…
Philosopher of science
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