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1500 questions
81
votes
9 answers

How can I determine whether a student has written an excellent paper themselves, or hired someone else to do it?

In class, over the course of a semester, I tend to build up a mental model of individual students' communication abilities. For example, one student might seem more or less eloquent than another when they speak. One might make more cogent points…
John Doucette
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81
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4 answers

How were scientific plots made in the 1960s?

I've been going over a few papers from the '60s, broadly in physics sub-disciplines. The image below from 1963 shows a very typical style of plot which I've come across frequently. I'm guessing this was made by hand with some sort of template, as…
RTbecard
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81
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11 answers

Should I answer this question about diversity?

There is an optional prompt on my PhD application: censoredSchoolName University regards the diversity of its graduate student body as an important factor in serving the educational mission of the university. We encourage you to share unique,…
user84325
80
votes
7 answers

Can't prepare lesson material. Should I cancel class?

I'm a grad student teaching assistant for a freshmen undergrad non major multivariable calculus class. What they didn't tell me is that the second half of the semester is not calculus but "finite math". This week's topic is game theory, which I've…
user71118
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80
votes
12 answers

How to avoid sleeping in lectures?

It's not that I cannot hold my attention - I find it a lot easier to put in sustained effort during research - literature surveys, practising derivations, and coding. I also find myself actively engaging in 1-1 (or smaller groups) discussions over…
Manoj Kumar
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80
votes
7 answers

To avoid legal battle, in bussiness world reference letters are written extremely terse. How do academics get away with this?

It seems to be accepted wisdom in the business world that reference letters for former employees should be extremely terse. They should confirm that the employee worked there, and essentially nothing else: To whom it may concern: Ellen Ripley was…
Nate Eldredge
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80
votes
7 answers

Are TED presentations academically credible?

Many people, including myself, are fascinated by TED speakers. They provide us a new perspective. For example, see the TED talk The best stats you've ever seen by Hans Rosling. However, when I talked about this to an anthropologist, he said that the…
Ooker
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80
votes
17 answers

Should I learn to use LaTeX to write up a History Masters Thesis?

So I reviewed the "What are the advantages or disadvantages of using LaTeX for writing scientific publications?" question on this forum and am sitting on the fence at the moment whether or not to use LaTeX to write up my masters Thesis. I get the…
gman
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80
votes
11 answers

I noticed an error in a graded exam during office hours. Should I give the student the lower grade?

You are a professor. A student comes to you with a question on an exam they have taken and received back. The student wrote 5 as the answer to a question, and they want to defend why 5 is a correct answer and they should receive full marks. Their…
user75811
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80
votes
14 answers

How did researchers find articles before the Internet and the computer era?

I find it hard to write a literature review, even though I have Google, the Internet, and all free, very easy to search for information tools. I have to search for days to find a piece of information that is related to my research. I really would…
asmgx
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80
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11 answers

Does it violate academic social norm to email someone around midnight?

I do this often because this is when I wrap up the stuff for my day. But I wonder if it is considered intrusive. I imagine a scenario where a phone that is linked to gmail rings due to my email, and that wakes up the person I intend to email. Can…
Shamisen Expert
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80
votes
5 answers

My supervisor misjudges my knowledge

I started working on my master thesis a few weeks ago. When I talk to my supervisor and try to discuss new ideas she always starts to explain very basic material that is only tangentially related. Sometimes even repeating what she said in our last…
Alex bGoode
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79
votes
12 answers

I was pushed to submit a mediocre paper to a conference. To my surprise it was accepted. How to save face?

I wrote a paper under pressure from my supervisor who gives high importance for publishing. I feel that both the conference and my paper are mediocre. What is done is done. How to distance myself from this evil mistake hanging in IEEE Xplore with my…
user58480
79
votes
9 answers

Can I use images showing up in Google search for my presentation slides without violating any copyright?

I am teaching a freshman science course for the first time and I am doing also outreach activities in high schools. To be able to attract the young generation to science one has to connect the concepts with everyday applications. So I build my power…
New Science Faculty
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79
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13 answers

How to deal with a nosy fellow graduate student?

There is another graduate student at my school working in the same area as me that is extremely nosy about my work. His curiosity definitely goes beyond the normal amount of "What are you working on?" chit-chat that I have with other graduate…
annoyed
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