Highest scored questions
45,751 questions
639
votes
14
answers
93k
views
How should I deal with becoming discouraged as a graduate student?
I am a third year (starting fourth year in the fall) PhD student in mathematics. I've passed all qualifying exams and am currently doing research. As far as I can tell, I am not doing poorly. I have ...
- 20.9k
397
votes
14
answers
41k
views
How to ask dumb questions
I am having trouble asking questions in seminars, conferences, and public talks.
As a graduate math student I often fail to keep up with speaker and more mature members of the audience at events like ...
- 3,201
358
votes
17
answers
68k
views
Upset by male classmates openly comparing female students according to physical appearance
I'm a female student studying computer science (CS). Some of the male CS students have given me a physical ranking compared to other female CS students, and it has me really upset, but I don’t know ...
- 2,329
343
votes
12
answers
63k
views
I don't want to kill any more mice, but my advisor insists that I must in order to get my PhD
When my supervisor pitched the PhD to me, it was all about analyzing "big data". I had BSc/MSc experience in wet-lab biology (mainly culturing cells), however I wanted to branch out into ...
- 6,171
318
votes
18
answers
40k
views
Should I share my horrible software?
After I had published my paper, some people asked me to share the software that I developed. At first, I was very happy that my paper attracted some attention, and I was happy to share not only the ...
- 17.8k
282
votes
9
answers
49k
views
How to effectively deal with Imposter Syndrome and feelings of inadequacy: "I've somehow convinced everyone that I'm actually good at this"
Imposter syndrome is a psychological phenomenon wherein an individual is convinced that they do not deserve the success that they have achieved despite (perhaps extensive) empirical evidence to the ...
- 20.9k
273
votes
20
answers
36k
views
How to avoid procrastination during the research phase of my PhD?
I just finished all of my coursework for my PhD program, and am entering the research phase of my degree with a topic already in mind. I've already started the research, but I'm already finding that ...
- 11.6k
269
votes
8
answers
25k
views
A paper I received to review has (independently) duplicated work that we are writing up. How to proceed in light of peer-review confidentiality?
I did some research with some collaborators, and we have been writing an article ("paper A") describing the work.
A few days ago I received a request to review an article ("paper B") that covers most ...
- 3,774
267
votes
19
answers
36k
views
Moral dilemma in unwittingly being paid to complete a student's work
I am a computer science freelancer who takes on medium-sized projects I can complete in a month or less. I was approached by someone who wanted a set of 12 tutorials at least 500 words each about ...
- 1,761
264
votes
8
answers
404k
views
How do you cite a Github repository?
I am working on a honours thesis and have developed a Fortran library that I would like to cite in it.
In some places they suggest to quote the documentation of the project but this is something I ...
- 2,743
252
votes
8
answers
22k
views
How to read papers without falling into a rabbit hole?
Often while reading a paper, I will see a citation that that seems more relevant than my current one. I'll switch to the new paper, only to experience a similar feeling. Or maybe I need to look ...
- 4,444
249
votes
14
answers
48k
views
Why do American colleges and universities have sports teams?
In the USA, college sports are popular, and colleges may offer scholarship based on athletic skills. Yet, universities spend significant money on sports, and nobody earns as well as the head of the ...
- 44.3k
242
votes
4
answers
45k
views
Sex worker student offering her (lawful) services
One of my students is an escort/stripper and she has offered me (and other faculty in my department) her "services". I am pretty sure my initial reaction of "thanks for letting me know, now can you ...
- 106k
238
votes
6
answers
30k
views
A published paper stole my unpublished results from a science fair
I'm in junior high, and earlier this year, we had a science fair. My science project was mostly experimental pure math, and came in first overall in our grade.
Today, I was doing some research on a ...
- 2,190
237
votes
15
answers
73k
views
I believe I have solved a famous open problem. How do I convince people in the field that I am not a crank?
I am interested in the situation where you have a very interesting result. For instance, you have solved a very important open problem. However, you are not known in the field and do not have any ...
- 2,471