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Being a scientist

Being a scientist. Some modest advice Student/supervisor relationships Planning your degree/ what’s next Time management Academic integrity. Some modest advice for graduate students Stephen C. Stearns and Raymond B. Huey. Nobody Cares About You

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Being a scientist

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  1. Being a scientist Some modest advice Student/supervisor relationships Planning your degree/ what’s next Time management Academic integrity

  2. Some modest advice for graduate studentsStephen C. Stearns and Raymond B. Huey • Nobody Cares About You • Psychological Problems are the Biggest Barriers • Write a Proposal and Get it Criticized • Manage Your Advisors • Start Publishing Early

  3. Some modest advice for graduate studentsStephen C. Stearns and Raymond B. Huey • Be active and independent • Be a professional • Learn to write proposals and grants • Surround yourself with good people

  4. Back up your data!!!

  5. Student-supervisor relationships • The student duality • Expectations • Funding • Work habits • Amount of supervision • Writing drafts

  6. Student-supervisor relationships • Annual progress report/ committee meeting • Problems? • There is help! • Be professional • Document

  7. Planning your degree • What do you want your thesis to look like? • Make a calendar of expected time at SFU • Work backwards from intended defense date • Mark important dates • Scholarship deadlines • Conferences • Self-imposed deadlines

  8. Graduation timelines PhD Corrections & printing 4 wks 4 wks Defense Submission to library (last business day of term) Graduation Approval of thesis Final copy to committee http://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/writing/theses

  9. Graduation timelines MSc, MET, MPM Corrections & printing 4 wks 2 wks Defense Submission to library (last business day of term) Graduation Approval of thesis Final copy to committee http://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/writing/theses

  10. Plan in bite size Good plan Bad plan • Lit review of topic x • Data entry for exp y • Design experiment z • Write methods for exp z • Write thesis • Publish paper • Collect data Pay attention to your plan!

  11. Planning what’s next • Plan well in advance • Make contacts • Apply for funding

  12. Time management • Analyse how you spend your time • What did you achieve? • Were you efficient? • How much time did you spend on thesis/ research? • How much time did you spend on unimportant stuff? • What didn’t get done?

  13. Time management matrix Urgent Not urgent Important Not important

  14. Common procrastination excuses • The perfectionist ‘…but I want it to be perfect’ • The crisis maker ‘…but I only work well under pressure’ • The one with good excuses ‘…but I’ve been reading papers • / organising samples’ • The one-track mind ‘…but I need a big chunk of time to do it’

  15. How to avoid procrastination • Recognise you are doing it • Divide large tasks into smaller pieces • Make an arbitrary start • Set deadlines and keep them • Reward yourself • Keep working

  16. Academic integrity Academic integrity is a cornerstone of academic reputation (for you, your supervisor, and the university) The university • Provides resources to help you to do the right thing, e.g., • www.lib.sfu.ca/help/writing/plagiarism • learningcommons.sfu.ca/ • Imposes penalties when necessary; these can be severe.

  17. Academic integrity Students have a responsibility to know the rules. The rules apply to thesis work as well as coursework, including drafts. The rules can be found at http://www.sfu.ca/policies/Students/index.html If you are not sure, ask. If you think you are sure, ask anyways.

  18. Academic integrity Writing and plagiarism Collection and presentation of data

  19. Plagiarism Exact copying without quotation marks Patchwriting (making only superficial changes) Not attributing ideas/data to source Self-plagiarism

  20. Patchwriting vs. paraphrasing Original: Drought, high salinity, and low temperature are the most common environmental stress factors that influence plant growth and development and place major limits on plant productivity in cultivated areas worldwide. Rabbani MA et al. 2003. Plant Physiology 133: 1755-1767. Patchwriting: Drought, high salt levels, and freezing temperature are the most common environmental stress factors that mayaffect plant growth and development and place significant limits on plant productivity in agricultural areas worldwide (Rabbani et al 2003).

  21. Patchwriting vs. paraphrasing Original: Drought, high salinity, and low temperature are the most common environmental stress factors that influence plant growth and development and place major limits on plant productivity in cultivated areas worldwide. Rabbani MA et al. 2003. Plant Physiology 133: 1755-1767. Patchwriting: Drought, high salinity, and low temperature place major limits on plant productivity in cultivated areas worldwide and are the most common environmental stress factors that influence plant growth and development (Rabbani et al 2003).

  22. Patchwriting vs. paraphrasing Original: Drought, high salinity, and low temperature are the most common environmental stress factors that influence plant growth and developmentand place major limits on plant productivity in cultivated areas worldwide. Rabbani MA et al. 2003. Plant Physiology 133: 1755-1767. Patchwriting: The most common environmental stress factors that influence plant growth and developmentare drought, high salinity, and low temperature (Rabbani et al 2003).

  23. Patchwriting vs. paraphrasing Original: Drought, high salinity, and low temperature are the most common environmental stressfactors that influence plant growth and development and place major limits on plant productivity in cultivated areas worldwide. Rabbani MA et al. 2003. Plant Physiology 133: 1755-1767. Paraphrasing: Agricultural productivity is limited in part by environmental stresseson crop plants, and the greatest reductions in yield are caused by drought, high salinity, and low temperature (Rabbani et al 2003).

  24. Plagiarism of structure Point B Point A Point C Point D

  25. Point A Point B Point C Point D

  26. Tips on avoiding plagiarism Understand the material. Take notes in your own words. Paraphrase as your write. If you "cut and paste" with the intention of paraphrasing later, put quotes around text you have cut, and include citation RIGHT AWAY. Integrate ideas from more than one source. Ask supervisor/instructor how much “editing” by others is OK.

  27. Collection and presentation of data Problem: • pressure to publish/ obtain a certain result Types of dishonesty • Fabricating data • Falsifying/ misrepresenting data • Using confidential data/ ideas

  28. Misrepresenting data Removing outliers

  29. Misrepresenting data?

  30. Misrepresenting data?

  31. Misrepresenting data?

  32. Misrepresenting data?

  33. Misrepresenting data?

  34. Misrepresenting data • Removing outliers • Selective use of statistics, e.g., • t-test p = 0.04; Wilcoxon p = 0.07 • Selective reporting of experiments, data sets

  35. Collection and presentation of data Try to avoid bias, including in the language that you use, e.g., • The objective of my study is to show that factor X affects trait Y

  36. Why are applications rejected? Biased position Grant submitted to SSHRC: Detrimental effects of popularizing anti-evolution's "intelligent design theory" on Canadian students, teachers, parents, administrators and policymakers. http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2006/04/canadian_sshrc_.html

  37. Collection and presentation of data Try to avoid bias, including in the language that you use, e.g., • The objective of my study is to show that factor X affects trait Y • The objective of my study is to determine whether factor X affects trait Y • Given that we know that factor X affects trait Y, the objective of my study is to determine the mechanisms through which factor X affects trait Y.

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