Graduate Students

undergrads in graduate classes

the_pesh_mode — Sun, 17 Nov 2013 01:52:33 GMT

First year graduate student wondering how people feel about undergraduates taking multiple graduate courses. I'm not thrilled by it. I can understand one class, but taking multiple classes doesn't seem right to me. Especially, since they are paying for undergrad tuition. Thoughts?

So, academia.edu...

tisiphone — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 19:52:20 GMT

To upload or not to upload? I've already got an account, for one reason or another. I was considering uploading my dissertation (once I've got an official score) and perhaps one or two of the papers I wrote this year that were more interesting. None have been published yet, and may or may not be, but building up a bit of a profile online might be good. I am uncertain about this, though. What are your thoughts?

Grad students strike back

coendou — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 02:28:09 GMT

People here might enjoy this:

http://porcupine-girl.tumblr.com/post/52888414188/the-top-is-an-email-from-our-department-secretary

My department tried to chide grad students for printing too much - during finals and mere days before quals. One student fought (snarked) back.

conference volunteering?

tisiphone — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 18:28:39 GMT

This is such a n00b question, but is volunteering for academic conferences worthwhile?(I mean as staff, rather than submitting work for it.) I can see positives (chance to network and learn some new stuff) and negatives (unpaid labour yay) - is there a specific answer to whether it's a good plan or a bad plan? The particular conference I'm thinking of is tangentially related to my interests, it's at my university (no travel costs) and it wouldn't interfere with anything important.

sample writing

the_pesh_mode — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 18:36:28 GMT

I am applying to grad. school in California. CSU Chico, Humboldt, and other places. I have already talked to their graduate coordinators. They told me not to send something too long, but not too short? They never really gave me a concrete number. How long was your sample? Thanks.

Is this cheating or not?

cainam_cisum — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 04:17:48 GMT

I am a TA but actually teach my own course. In the beginning of the semester one of the students gave me a letter from the Center of Disabilities that she needs special conditions because of her disease. Later this semester she emailed that she couldn't make to the midterm exam as she was not feeling good and asked to come at a different time. I agreed, came (just for her) to my office in my day-off, and just before the time we agreed on she emailed that she was again sick and asked for another make-up. Two days after (Sunday) she came to my office and finally started to write her exam. There was one moment during that time when I left my office and thus she was there alone. I was away for about 15 minutes. When I returned, she had her purse open (it was just next to her, on the desk) and I could see the papers with review problems and formulas sticking out from it. The purse was rather small and the papers stood vertically. So, basically if she wanted to read them, it was totally possible and moreover convenient. I know that when I left the purse was not there. I asked her to explain what is going on. She told me that she needed to find out time and this is why she opened the purse. The instructions written on the exam were: put everything away...this is a close-book exam.
What would you do? I feel that she cheated. Not only was the purse open but the useful (for the exam) papers were sticking out from it.

Care and Feeding of a Committee

kethryvis — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 21:59:49 GMT

MA candidate, THISCLOSE to finishing my thesis, so close i could almost shout... but still with a decent amount of work to do.

After a somewhat stagnant several years in my degree (i've been ABT since 2009) i finally kicked my arse in gear this year (unemployment helps) and have finished writing my master's thesis. i sent it to my committee three weeks ago with my advisor's blessing. i thanked them very much for their time in reading this monstrosity, and asked if they could return it by October 1 so I could start on revisions and whatnot to have it into Grad Studies by their Nov 1 deadline.

Today is October 1 and i haven't heard anything from my committee. i'm not panicked (yet), but i'm trying to think ahead on how to deal with this ever-shortening period of time i have if i want to graduate this semester. i haven't been bothering them in the last three weeks... they are very busy folks (one is the chair of my department, the other is C-level staff at my former employer), and i know i am on their lists of Things To Deal With. Plus, i don't want to be a giant bother.

What is the appropriate amount of time for me to panic and politely ask for their status on reading and commenting on my manuscript? The more time elapses, the more concerned i am that they will want major revisions that i won't be able to complete in four weeks. Also, i'm grappling with the ever-present Impostor Syndrome, compounded by the fact that i've languished in ABT land for three years, and practically disappeared for around two years (depression + employment make for bad thesis partners). i've worked really hard over the last nine months to get this thing piled into shape, but still kind of feel like i should be at the bottom of everyone's priority list, and am having trouble asserting myself to be moved up.

Thanks for any advice you can toss my way. There really should be some kind of manual for How To Handle a Thesis Committee, and Impostor Syndrome.

Email for publication?

narfenugen — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 20:09:57 GMT

I have upcoming article related to my graduate work. I'm currently using my university email as the author contact. But I finished my degree since the article was first submitted and it looks like my that email will expire a couple of months after printing. So, I need to change the email listed on the proof pages before returning them.

Would okay to list my everyday personal email address? Or, is that likely to result in lots of unwanted spam, and I should create some new email address only used for that article?

My new Science blog

galicola — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:42:30 GMT

Dear all,
I would like to invite anyone who is interested in fluorescent microscopy to my new blog:
green fluorescent blog (http://greenfluorescentblog.wordpress.com/).

Mendeley vs EndNote

cheez_ball — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:33:06 GMT

I'm in the process of writing my dissertation and manuscript for peer review. I just started inserting references and noticed that -ack!- Mendeley isn't reading my references correctly. First author, journal title, etc are all messed up. It's early enough in the process that I can scrap Mendeley and use EndNote for everyone (my campus has EndNote available for free). Should I dump Mendeley for EndNote or correct everything manually after the writing is all done?

Suggestions? Pros and cons of doing each?

Zotero's not an option because I'm using a PC for my writing.

EDIT on 5/23/12: My problem ended up being McAffee. I deleted that and installed MSE instead. Mendeley works almost perfectly now. And it's letting me edit references after they're imported into the document. Things are running far smoother than when I wrote my last grant proposal using EndNote.

Teaching/Grading

cainam_cisum — Tue, 08 May 2012 23:42:41 GMT

I am a PhD student in math and this semester I was teaching an upper-level undergraduate course (juniors and seniors, math majors mostly). This is not the first time I am teaching this course, so I do have some experience. Now I am grading the final exams and I have no idea which grade I should give to one of the students.

The syllabus states that the grade is determined according to their performance in several components: homework, one midterm, class participation and the final. Each component has a different weight. To get a B one needs to have 70%. The student I am talking about has around 90% for the homework and 95% on the midterm. I suspect that she cheated on the midterm but I cannot prove it. Of course, I cannot prove that somebody helped her with her homework either. She never participated in class. And her grade on the final (under my careful control) is only 48. Also, a few weeks before the final she started to come to my office and ask some questions that I couldn't expect from someone who got 90+ on the midterm. Moreover, she emailed me with a few similar (very silly) questions before the final and at the end of her message, after her signature there was a link to her facebook and twitter account. So, I was curious and went to her twitter and read many nasty comments about me and the course I am teaching. This is not illegal but rather unpleasant as she played very nice person during my last office hours.
If I calculate her course grade according to the syllabus, it's a B. Now I understand that I have to change the grading policy in my syllabus but for the current class it's too late. I just think that the student in question didn't demonstrate on her final that she deserved a B.
I wouldn't consider myself as a mean person who simply wants to get revenge. So far I have had very good evaluations from my students and was "promoted" from a TA to a "Course instructor". I thought that probably I should email her and tell her what I think (that she deserves at most C+) and probably give her an opportunity to retake the final (if she knows her stuff - she will get a better grade). At the same time I really dislike her attitude and double game. What would you guys do?

What We Should Call Grad School

cheez_ball — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:22:36 GMT

This is more relevant to people in sciences but should still be humorous to most grads. Enjoy!

http://whatshouldwecallgradschool.tumblr.com/

mintyfreshsocks — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:53:26 GMT

I was wondering:

To all you folks who are gearing up to write a dissertation and defend next year, what are you doing to keep yourself in mental/physical shape? Are you setting goals, preparing battle plans, retreating into a dissertation den?

Anyone else setting up an accompanying long-term goal project (I'm basically doing a 101 in 1001 thing) in order to keep themselves from going crazy over dissertating/the job market?

Summer Academic Working Groups

drenilop — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:53:10 GMT

Dear colleagues,

I am pleased to announce the formation of Summer Academic Working Groups for the 2012 season. Summer Academic Working Groups (SAWG) are clusters of academics working in related fields or on related topics who agree to exchange work in progress and feedback on a regular basis during the unstructured summer months. Participants often find that the deadlines provided by such a group are at least as valuable to their summer productivity as the feedback itself.

Participation is open to academics of all levels and disciplines, and there is no charge to participate. More information and the registration form are available at http://lpowner.jayandleanne.com/sawg.

Please feel free to circulate this announcement widely.

Questions about two different schools and their programs

serendipity_15 — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:29:51 GMT

I was wondering, anyone here currently in or was in George Washington University's community health program? Or is there anyone here currently in or was in Drexel's public health program? If so what do you think about Drexel's community health oriented classes/program?

Graduate School Is a Means to a Job

lifeofbai — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 05:44:47 GMT

Graduate School Is a Means to a Job

I thought this was a pretty good article in The Chronicle; it gives some really good advice. It is geared more towards the humanities/social sciences so some of the advice applies more to those areas (e.g. going on the market while ABD... that seems to be much more common in these fields). But most of the advice can be applied to all different disciplines.

Selling MCAT books, for around $10!

ruchirahni — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:42:22 GMT

I'm not sure if this is taboo in this community- my sincerest apologies if it is. But I figured I would try. I'm going to put it underneath a cut just in case it's out of place or offensive.

ExamKrackers 1,001 Questions in MCAT Physics, brand new- $10 + shipping,

Princeton Review HyperLearning Physical Sciences Review, brand new- $30 + shipping

Princeton Review Hyperlearning MCAT In-Class Compendium, brand new- $20 + shipping (it's an interesting array of passages with the answers in the back, I did it before test day and it helped me a lot)

Kaplan MCAT 45- These passages are hard but they're great to challenge yourself with directly after you study a certain section. For example, when I had Genetics down pat, I did all the Genetics problems. The hard questions cemented the material in my head. $15 + shipping

ExamKrackers Organic Chemistry, gently used- $12 + shipping

ExamKrackers Physics, new- $15 + shipping

and MCAT for physics, a thin volume with lots of passages, new- $2

I'm flexible on all the prices. Please do compare on Amazon if you have issues with any of them! No books have any writing in them whatsoever. You can comment here or e-mail me at chiofruchi@gmail.com if interested. Thanks, everyone, and good luck in your grad school journey!

one more question.

silver_rider — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:20:31 GMT

I'm getting to a point where I cannot manage my articles: there are some that I printed out, some that are saved for future considerations, some that are not particularly useful for research. How do you keep them all straight? Do you use RefWorks for this too? I've only used it to create bibliographies at the very end. What is your research/citation management system?

Translation Masters

perrinleaflock — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:04:45 GMT

Hi all

I'm asking on behalf of a friend who's not on LJ. She is planning to do a Master's in Translation, with a focus on English and Mandarin. Can anyone suggest where would be a good place to do it in? Thanks!

scholarship sea changes.

silver_rider — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:54:39 GMT

I'm interested in recent titles on the changing nature of the academy -- publishing, accreditation, teaching, research. Have you come across any books or articles about the ways in which technology might be affecting that. I've read Borgman's Scholarship in the Digital Age and recently stumbled on Kathleen Fitzpatrick's Planned obsolescence : publishing, technology, and the future of the academy. Do you have any to share? Merci bien!

Computer Capabilities for PC or MAC (Stata, SPSS)

juicy_eli — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:36:57 GMT

This is basically a question for those who are in the social sciences, or who use STATA and/or SPSS.

I've been wanting to sell my PC laptop, and purchase a Mac (probably a Pro, not sure). However, have any of you used STATA or SPSS on a Mac? Thoughts? I would also like to hear input from those who have used it on both a Mac and a PC. Pros and cons of both (computers). Which do you prefer to use when running STATA or SPSS?

Thanks! Happy New Semester!

-J

A question, particularly to folks in the humanities.

mintyfreshsocks — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:18:09 GMT

I'm in linguistics, writing a grant to be read by people in the broader humanities. At one point I have to refer to things like that and if in the sentences below:

Max knew that Gretchen would be late.
Gretchen didn't know if Max would be upset about it.

My question---especially to those in the humanities---is what do you call things like that and if in these sentences? I'm afraid that the linguistics terms for them might be too obscure, and I'd like to avoid confusing the readers.

Canisius College

miss_meliss_a — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:40:00 GMT

Hi everyone. This is probably a long shot, but I figured I'd try! Does anyone know of/have experience with Canisius College and their Masters in Anthrozoology? The couple of students I've been in contact with love it, but I am trying to get more feedback. Thanks!

Bibliographic Database Question

bratty_jedi — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 14:51:59 GMT

My school has RefWorks so I've long used that to organize my dissertation and teaching sources (separate accounts). I have a couple of problems with the program, however, and am interested in either having someone better at using RefWorks than I am tell me how to make it work for me, or in getting suggestions on specific programs that might work better for me.

Problem 1: I'm a historian. I do lots of archival research. RefWorks is terrible about handling archival materials. I've played around with it enough that I have some things that make it kind of work, but if there is something out there that natively works better with archival material, I'd be very interested in giving it a try. Given the idiosyncratic reference preferences of individual archives, I suspect it just isn't possible to design a program that can handle them, but I'd love to be proven wrong.

Problem 2: Searching Folders and Subfolders. I'd love a program that uses folders and subfolders but allows for general Boolean searching of things like the intersections of folders. Here is what I'd ideally like to be able to do:

If I have a book on Baptism among slaves in South Carolina in the 1840s, I want to be able to drop it in the following kinds of folder chains "Topic: Race: African Americans: Slavery," "Topic: Religion: Christianity: Baptist," "Region: South: South Carolina," and "Era: 1800s: 1840s." When I put the book in each of the end folders, I want it to also go in the containing folders and then I'd like to be able to search by those so that it would come up if I wanted to know what I had on Baptism among slaves in South Carolina in the 1840s but also if I just wanted to know what I had on religion in the 1800s.

With RefWorks, you can have folders and subfolders, but if you put something in the end folder, it isn't added to the containing folders and, more importantly, you can't search for the intersections of folders. All you can really do is see a list of your folders and the contents of each individual one. Up to now, I've been using the descriptors or tagging field within RefWorks to try to achieve what I want because you can do Boolean-type searching on descriptors. The problem there is you can only search by the exact wording of the descriptor so every sub level has to be listed on its own. My descriptor fields are starting to be a jumbled mess that look like "Topic: Religion," "Topic: Religion: Christianity," Topic: Religion: Christianity: Baptist." Plus, there is no auto-complete or ability to just select descriptors, so I have to fully type out each descriptor every time I want to add it to a new source or search by it and remember things like did I use "Baptist" or "Baptists" when I first made the descriptor. I've debated just doing descriptors like "Baptist" and "Christianity" without grouping them together, but then when I look at the alphabetical list of descriptors because I want to know, for example, how many and which religions I have sources about and which important ones might I be missing, I can never find the descriptors of a similar type because they are just all jumbled together and it is a big mess.

One thing I love about RefWorks is that it is online. Being able to access my sources from any computer is a huge plus. It's annoying when the internet is out, but I have that problem far less often than I want to access my database from a computer not my own. I'd really like an online database, but if there is something out there that will solve my folder / tagging problem in particular, I might be willing to take it even without online access. I'm willing to pay for a program or service, but it can't be a lot as I am, of course, a broke grad student.

x-posted to historygrads

miss_meliss_a — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:50:49 GMT

Hi everyone. I graduated with a BS in Human Services in June and am researching grad programs. I can't decide whether I should go for a master's in school counseling, mental health counseling, or social work, or possible occupational/rehabilitation. The decision will affect which school I would apply to. My main thing is wanting to work with kids/youth, but I would also like to major in something that will have good job opportunities. I'm also interested in involving animal assisted therapy into a future career, which is why I am semi-considering occupational/rehabilitation, because I know the possibility of AAT would be high in those fields. Thoughts/advice? Thanks!