TakeruK

I think I've seen this paper and the number of pages required to list the authors is longer than the paper itself (9 pages for the science, 24 pages for the author list). The NPR interview is fun and while I agree that it's common in my field to "err on the side of inclusion" when deciding whether or not to include someone as a coauthor, I don't think you get to 5000 authors that way! Instead, this paper, for the Higgs Boson, has that many authors because when building a giant experiment such as the Large Hadron Collider that represents decades and/or lifetime's worth of work and ~10 billion dollars, every single person that was involved in building the experiment is an author on the main result of that experiment. For papers like this, it doesn't make sense to think about "who did what" or how to distribute the credit. For this, everyone should receive equal credit. The point of these large (and risky) experiments is that everyone is important and you want everyone to "buy in". Including things like authorship order or specific statements of who contributed what would weaken the community aspect of these types of projects. Although this 5000+ author paper is an extreme case, in physics/astronomy, it's pretty common for big experiments/projects to have 50-100 collaborators that are all listed in some way that indicates equal credit (sometimes with a little bit more credit to the lead of that particular paper). One thing I think should change though is that big collaborations should be able to register their collaboration with the journal as something like the "XYZ Collaboration". Then papers can just list this collaboration instead of listing in ABC order (unfair exposure to some names and also prevents ridiculously long lists and/or forgetting a team member). The important part though is that each member of the collaboration should be linked to the registered collaboration name. That is, searching for Author X on Google Scholar or other database should bring up papers they are coauthors due to their collaboration membership. But this requires some kind of central ID system. A few are starting to happen (seeing more and more ORCiDs in my field) but no one system has dominated yet.

Yes, thank you for writing it more clearly than I did

I agree with all of Eigen's points. In fact, I'm about to give a talk where I have added another student's name to the title slide as a contributor but their name is not on the abstract because I submitted that abstract 6 months ago and the authorship changed since then. That's just the way it is. Also, I want to also second/highlight the point that that what's on the poster or talk is more important than an abstract booklet online or in print (even though that's the "official" one). Put it on the CV if you were on the poster and contributed at the level you describe here.

It might just be preference or field, but I would actually go with 2 professors from the other institution (the biologist you worked with and the immunologist your worked with) plus one professor from your current school. From the info given here, I'd choose Prof B from your current school but maybe Prof A is just as good if I knew the whole story. The reason for this ranking is that from my point of view (physical science), research LORs are the most important, and that for top students, it's pretty common for them to go to other institutions to do summer research. So, it's not strange at all if your LORs are not from your institution because you did research at other places. Since it only sounds like you have 2 research LORs, you should definitely pick those two and your third LOR should be a professor from your own school that knows you the best (sounds like Prof B to me here). But if you did another internship or other research position then you should pick that as your third letter.

I am going to tentatively give an answer based on my field (we also put preprints on arxiv) but from my past experience on the math/stats board, it seems like the way it works in my field tend to be different from the way it works in maths/stats! But I'll say how we use arxiv just to start the discussion. In my field, people use arxiv for a variety of reasons. The most common use is to wait until the paper is already accepted by the journal and then put it up on arxiv so people can read it right away instead of waiting for the 1-3 months it takes between acceptance and actual online (or even worse, print) publication. This also allows people without journal subscriptions to access your work for free (journals in my field all grant authors to put copies of their published articles on arxiv, as long as it's the version the author made themselves, not the fancy PDF created by the journal). However, another use is to put the submitted paper on the arxiv and specifically ask for comments so that you get "real" peer review alongside the journal's peer review process. An alternative version of this is to put a version on the arxiv prior to journal submission so that you get community review, incorporate those thoughts and then submit it to a journal. Of course, if you do this, you run the risk of someone trying to do the same thing as you scooping you! But in astronomy, sometimes the science is only possible if you have a certain telescope data set and as long as you are the only ones with access to that data, you are safe. Putting this information on the arxiv earlier also means that you can establish priority earlier. However, in my field, you will really need to follow up that arxiv posting with an accepted paper soon, because most journals will discourage their authors from citing un-peer-reviewed work. So an early version on the arxiv is a good way to get people's attention and cause them to look out for the peer-reviewed paper coming soon. It may be a good idea to time these types of postings prior to, during, or right after a major conference. And most rarely, some people will post articles on the arxiv that may be useful to the community overall but not really worth a peer-reviewed paper. For example, an astronomer wrote a very nice PDF describing distance estimation methods as a review article that is on the arxiv and many people refer to it and use it but it is not a peer reviewed article. This still brings many benefits to the author of this arxiv post though, as many people appreciate their work and recognize them as an expert. To answer your specific question about your specific case, I think that if you have developed something useful to other people, if you are sure that it is correct, then in the norms of my field, it would be better for you to share now rather than waiting. arxiv could be a good venue for this--at least there is an easy way to cite your work and arxiv is indexed. I'd go with your advisor's advice. In my field, you would eventually want a peer-reviewed article that people can cite so that you get credit for your cool tool, but arxiv citations aren't that bad either.

I also strongly agree with PizzaCat, with Eigen's note on the maximum number of citations. I guess this is where you might hurt some feelings because although maybe 5 people did things worth citing, you might only be able to cite the top 2 most relevant, which is a subjective opinion. But such is life! Westy: you mention that you are concerned about distinguishing original thought and previous thoughts. In my field, we accomplish this by writing our paragraphs so that this is clear. For example, an introduction to a paper in my field might sound something like: Also for the context of a writing sample, you definitely want to do a thorough literature review. This means after you come up with your ideas, you should look for others who have done similar work and write your introduction to place your work in context with the existing body of knowledge. I agree with Eigen that you don't have to worry about being thought of as "stealing" someone's idea if you thought of it first, and then found similar studies later (i.e. it's not plagiarism). But I think it is bad academic writing if you did not do a good literature review.

I think another important part of email etiquette is that if you are asking someone to do something for you (e.g. make edits), you should always be clear on a deadline for responses. This is good for both parties. If you ask me to make edits, I like knowing a deadline because I don't want to spend my time writing edits but then have it be too late for you to implement, thus wasting my time. And if you set a deadline, and I don't follow it, then you would have an "out" to avoid having to scramble to make the last minute edits.

I agree that it is hard to determine when it is only one sentence, out of context. But westy3789's question implied that the context was they wanted to use that idea but was not sure what would constitute plagiarism. Also, maybe I misunderstood your post, but I think that the example sentence from westy3789: is a statement of opinion, not a statement of fact. Since it is an opinion, or a thought from the author, the reader would expect these thoughts to be original to the author, unless otherwise stated. So if a writer were to do what westy3789 suggested, I believe it would be plagiarism, because the author is writing someone else's thought and since they do not state that it was not their original thought, then they would be misleading the reader into thinking the thought was their own. On the other hand, if the sentence was factual, I think in academic writing, you still need a citation to support this fact (unless it is a "well known fact" or "common knowledge"). So it would still be incorrect in academic writing to not have a citation if the sentence was a fact. In my opinion, for issues relating to academic honesty, intent and context matters. First: intent. If you came up with this idea on your own, of course it's likely that someone else already thought of it too. That's okay. It's not plagiarism. However, if you saw someone's idea and decided to copy it but just change the words to be more original then this is bad. In your first post, it sounded like this second scenario. In your followup post, it sounds more like the first scenario. Context also matters. If this is a small piece of writing, for example, a small weekly writing assignment for a class, then, in my opinion, it's not a huge deal if you went to other sources (Internet, conversations with friends etc.) for help generating ideas. However, if this is one of the main points in an academic publication, then you definitely should do your due diligence and make sure your thought is original. If your thought is not original, you must cite other people who have worked on it in the past. This is part of doing a responsible literature review. Academic work is built on previous existing work--you don't need your thoughts to be 100% original because most academic work takes existing ideas and then builds on them. But you have to properly credit those who came before you. For things in between (e.g. a class term paper), then it would depend on the expectations of the prof and the scope of your paper. Are you expected to do a literature review? Find out! It's hard to be perfect. Sometimes you are going to make mistakes and overlook a study you should have cited. Hopefully it is caught before it's too late and everyone leaves happy, but once in awhile, mistakes will happen. One academic mistake like this isn't going to get you banned from the field. I think this is where intent matters--mistakes are forgivable but malicious actions are not. (emphasis added). Exactly. Here, you describe a good literature review process and when you write the paper, you should acknowledge the previous work regarding your main idea (e.g. Donna Reed, Catcher in the Rye, etc.). In my opinion it fulfills a lot of purposes: 1. Gives proper credit to previous work, which is the currency of academia. You'll want others to do the same for you too. 2. It's honest and upfront about how you got to your ideas. 3. Strengthens your own work by showing the reader how your ideas fit in with the existing knowledge/field. So, there are lots of good reasons to properly cite and credit work!

If you take someone else's idea and try to present it as your own, even if you changed every word to a different word, it is plagiarism. If you really really need to use that idea/thought, then you should cite the website and make it clear that this is not your idea. If this is for academic writing then I also think that a website is not a good place to source your ideas.

If you want a undergrad class ring and if it will make you happy, then do it Don't worry about what other people do or do not buy

Again, haven't witnessed or experienced one myself so I don't know. But it sounds fairly cloak and dagger-y: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Ring.

Yay, glad to hear you found a solution

In Canada, there are mostly only high school class rings. And maybe like <5% of the people in my class bought them. At the University level, I think class rings existed by some company that wanted to sell them but I did not know anyone who got one. People usually opted for things like sweaters or clothing as a memento. However, every engineer in Canada does have a special iron band ring that is awarded in some secret ceremony (I'm not an engineer so I don't know). But in Canada, you'll see a small iron band on the pinky finger of the engineer's writing hand if they chose to go through the ceremony (most engineers I know do it).

Email isn't the same as an electronic letter and I agree with fuzzy that unless you are discussing something in depth with someone you already know is invested in the conversation, you should always try to keep it to one topic per email and no more than a paragraph. The exception is when I email my supervisor to discuss some work we are doing and I know they want to know all the details that went into my plots. In that case, they are already invested in that email and I know they will read the whole thing!

The way I would think about this is to forget about the fact that GAs get tuition waivers and you don't. Since you didn't get a GAship, that part doesn't matter anymore. Instead, just consider these two things: 1. How much money will the TAship pay you? Even if it a salary not an hourly rate, still figure out how much money per hour it translates to. 2. How much will it cost you to pay for tuition and live in this town. With these two things, you can then consider how much debt you may or may not have to add for this degree. Is it worth it? Only you can answer that. Many people, like me, would not pay any amount for graduate degrees but you should make the decision that is best for you. Another thing you should consider is the effective hourly rate. Is this an amount you are comfortable with? You should also consider how much time your TA duties will take away from your studies. If you are only being paid a small amount for a lot of your time and labour, the extra pay might not be worth it. You might find your studies and/or research (if you are in a research based program) suffering because of your TA duties and then you will end up in more debt without a lot to show for it.

Some hotels outside of North America operate on the model where it's "pay as you go" for everything. There was one place I stayed at where you pay a price (up front) for just the room. Everything else was extra: towels, toiletries, housekeeping, etc. So you can really save a bunch of money if you brought your own thing and treated it like a hostel. Or you can pay the full price and get North American style hotel service. For this place though, they do require full payment upfront and if you cancel, you have to spend it at another hotel in their chain. I agree that in North America, paying upfront for a hotel outside of a special rate is sketchy but this seems to be a standard business model for some hotels outside of North America. The chain I was staying at has a huge amount of properties all over the world, so I trusted it more than a mom & pop type place that might not even exist!

Good point, Pol. It also says that Universities may set their own requirements, and my University certainly did, which was why I was under the incorrect impression that it was strict requirement, not a suggestion. However, I see that this was due to my University's rules not NSERC/SSHRC.

Some hotels will have different rates that have different cancellation policies. For example, one chain I regularly stay at will give you a discount if you book 21 days in advance and pay upfront for the non-refundable rate. If you end up needing to cancel, then it is up to the hotel to decide if they will refund your money or if they will just allow you to use the amount paid as credit towards another stay at the same hotel. For one trip, a snowstorm closed all the roads to our destination and we had two separate hotel bookings in that area. One refunded the non-refundable rate due to weather and the other refused to do so. We were able to rebook the other hotel for a different night when the weather improved though. From that experience, I now realise that the difference between the non-refundable discounted rate is not really worth it, especially now that I know the slightly-less discounted AAA rate is actually refundable 24 hours prior to the stay!

Check the terms and conditions of your booking. For most hotels, what happens is that you give them your credit card # when you reserve the room but they do not charge it until after you finish your stay. If you don't show up, then you will either get charged 1 night or the entire stay, depending on the terms of your booking. Also, when you arrive and check in, they might put a hold or pre-authorization on your card to make sure you can pay for the whole stay. But in general, when it comes to hotels, unless you are booking a special cheap rate, you always pay after you leave. This is why whenever I think I might go somewhere (e.g. a conference), I just book the hotel dates immediately and then cancel if I change my mind. The above applies when you book through the hotel directly. However, a check at Booking.com and similar sites (e.g. Expedia) shows that you might also not have to pay until later (some number of days prior to your stay). So, you should check the fine print on your booking and perhaps call the hotel and confirm your reservation. My spouse worked for a hotel before and have told me that lots of things screw up when you book through a third party like Expedia or Booking.com. Personally, I always book directly with the hotel, instead of adding the complication of a third party!

Unless this school has a really weird dynamic, no one should even care! If they remember, they might even be happy to have you come. Maybe they will tease you a bit about making the "wrong choice" but it should be all in good fun. And if the other grad students, for some weird reason, want to give you trouble, then that's highly unprofessional and well, at least you know who to avoid in the future!

For the tags that I remember getting, it will list all the airport codes that your bag will travel through. This should match your own itinerary! The final code listed is where you pick it up and it's usually formatted different from the others. If you are not sure, just confirm whether or not your bag will be "checked through to your final destination" as you give the airline agent your bag.

Agree with fuzzy--you just have to ask! Also wanted to provide another viewpoint: just because they haven't decided yet does not mean there might not be enough spots. Each department runs things differently and at my last school, they don't assign them until 2 weeks prior to the term start date but everyone who was supposed to TA got a spot!

Keep in mind that some of these things are actually illegal for landlords to ask for in some places. (However it doesn't stop them from asking for it!) For example, in California, it is not allowed to have a security deposit more than 2 months worth of rent and it is also illegal to require a certain income in order to rent. It is legal though, to ask for proof of income, so in practice, they can apply the "1/3 rule" quietly and find some other random reason to reject you in order to get around the law.

It depends on your airlines and you will have to check with them. I have flown separate airlines with connections before and it was no problem (United and Air Canada) -- my luggage was always checked through to the final destination. Turkish Airlines is a Star Alliance airline (i.e. same group as United and Air Canada and many others), so I think you will be fine. Especially since you booked it all on the same ticket/reservation!

I base it on previous interactions with the person. For example, my advisor often will send emails that just say "Thanks" or "OK" or "Sounds good." etc. So I do the same. For people I don't know at all (academics at other schools), I always send more emails--I figure that them being annoyed that I sent an extra email is less bad than them thinking I am ungrateful without a thank you. For people in my department, I often will see them in the coffee room that day so I just say thanks in person. I usually just ignore the "Thanks" type emails from my students so I figure that if the other person doesn't like it, it probably isn't that hard for them to ignore it too. I never respond to a thanks with a "you're welcome" and no one does that either.