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1500 questions
77
votes
12 answers
My math students consider me a harsh grader. Is my teaching attitude wrong?
I am a math major grad student at a big public school, and we need to do TA every semester.
I got assigned to lower level classes last couple semesters, and it's been quite difficult for me. Even though I am a pretty nice person in general, I have…
initial_D
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77
votes
4 answers
During review, I found a superior solution. What now?
I received a journal paper for a review. The paper suggests a solution to an important problem, but the solution is very complicated and has mediocre performance. While reading the paper, I thought of a different solution, which is much simpler and…
Erel Segal-Halevi
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77
votes
6 answers
What do you do to keep your mind sharp?
When I started at university I could perform with a fresh mind all of the time -- doing a problem set all weekend without reduced performance.
A couple of other students and myself seemed to be several times faster and have larger working memories…
bigmoney
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77
votes
11 answers
Is it unethical to cite a paper or book that you have never looked at?
Suppose I see that Book X is cited by several papers with reference to some particular Fact Y. I wish to cite Fact Y. As far as I know, Book X is the only reference for Fact Y.
I have never looked at Book X. Nonetheless, I cite it like this:
'Fact…
user10885
77
votes
9 answers
What to do about top students making other students lose confidence?
About once a year, I end up with a section with a student who is well ahead of others in the course. Often, these are students auditing the course, but sometimes are senior students attending 100-level courses or students majoring in the subject…
Village
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77
votes
6 answers
Do you need to read a whole article before citing it?
During writing my academic paper, I need to cite a definition in a scientific paper. The other part of the paper, is irrelevant to my work.
I have been advised that if you will cite a paper, you need to read that paper entirely. But in this case,…
dresden
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77
votes
9 answers
Is transferring to another university an option for an unhappy PhD student?
I've heard of people transferring between graduate schools because of their advisor moving to another school and taking their students with them.
Do students ever transfer for other reasons? If a student isn't happy at the school they choose, could…
Liana
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77
votes
8 answers
A published paper is a literal translation of my own unpublished work. What can I do?
I found out that my supervisor in college translated an unpublished article of mine (in Chinese) into English verbatim and published it in a top journal, without any quotation marks or acknowledgments. I have amounts of email records 5 years ago as…
Zhan Chung
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77
votes
10 answers
I found an error in my exam that caused me to lose time on other questions, resulting in a lower grade. How can I appeal?
I'm a student in college, and while I was taking a linear algebra exam, I noticed that there was a mistake in the last exercise. Our exam is composed of two parts: multiple questions and exercises. I usually prefer to start with the second part…
laura
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77
votes
7 answers
What standards should I apply when evaluating a PhD thesis from a weaker university?
I have been asked to serve on the examination committee for a PhD thesis. It's in the area of machine learning. It's from a university in a developing country. My job is to provide a written report, recommending whether to award the degree (possibly…
jmmcd
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77
votes
4 answers
One reviewer in the committee rejected my Ph.D. defense but he didn't attend
Update on Feb 27
The extension is confirmed. I can get the different reviewer, but sadly the graduate school will be able to make a replacement for me next semester.
My additional advice for others who come here to read later.
Going to the…
Jan
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77
votes
11 answers
The lecturer supposed to grade my presentation fell asleep while I held it. Should I complain?
TLDR:
I am attenting a seminar where the grade is based entirely on a talk I hold. The responsible lecturer fell asleep during the talk multiple times, and I am worried about my grade, feel insulted and am unsure how to communicate these…
Jonas Schwarz
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77
votes
15 answers
Why do you need to study a subject at a university level to teach it at a high school?
If you want to teach mathematics at a high school for example, then why do you need to study it at a university? You will learn new stuff, but you won't teach anything of that at a high school.
Stallmp
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76
votes
4 answers
Should I do anything if I am cited for something that wasn't in my paper?
I’ve just read a paper in which a previous paper of mine has been cited. The line in which the citation happens is something like:
It has been shown that technique X is successful in this problem [citation for my paper].
However, in my paper, I…
Michael Stachowsky
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76
votes
12 answers
Is it reasonable to require students to bring a laptop to every lecture?
In the next academic year,
I'll be teaching a class on how to use a statistical software package
(the R programming language).
I foresee that each class will have two parts:
a lecture and software demonstration,
and time for the students to get…
I Like to Code
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