Hi all,

just wondered what people's views are regarding getting help from others. I have heard that everything needs to be your own work, yet it seems a bit strange not to use reseources available. For example is it allowed to ask the secretary to check for spelling mistakes, to get advice from a professor you happen to know or from for example a statistician regarding assessing how big your research population needs to be? Any views?

the majority should be your own work but getting help with various technical details is fine as long as you give the correct acknowledgements so then it is easy to identify what is your contribution.

I even heard of people hiring editors and spell-checkers for their theses.

I have known one Ph.D student (who spent 3 months in our lab as an exchange student) who had one person doing his prep-HPLC (me, sucker that I was), someone else doing his mass spec, someone else doing NMR, and so on. He then collated all the data and wrote it up it as his own. When we pulled him (and his supervisor) up, they were both adamant that it was acceptable for a student to receieve "help" of this nature, and that as it was for a thesis, not a paper, he did not have to acknowledge other labs I'm not sure if that's true, but it's certainly unethical.

Most people I know have had analyses done by someone else (usually because the instruments were not working in their own department) but they always acknowledge that in their final thesis.

Sorry Rick, I think I used your post as an excuse to rant...he was "een akelig ventje", as I believe the expression is.


I can't see what's wrong with asking the secretary to check spelling etc, and I think if you know a wise and friendly professor it would be daft not to ask their advice (just thank them profusely in your acknowledgment).

He Juno!

how come you know expressions like "Akelig ventje? Do you speak Dutch?

That definitely sounds dodgy juno. It shouldnt matter whether it is a paper or a thesis.

Hoi Rick,

Ik heb een beetje Nederlands geleerd, maar wanneer ik de taal spreken, Nederlanders lachen (een ook mensen van Belgie, natuurlijk)

In April woon ik een vergardering in Amsterdam bij; ik moet mijn Nederlands verbeteren...damn those moeilijk reflexive verbs!

Jewel, I thought it was dodgy too (not to mention rude).

Hoi Juno,

maar dat is heel indrukwekkend hoe goed je Nederlands schrijft.
Zo je hebt een vergadering in Amsterdam, heel goed. Heb je Amsterdam al gekeken?; een merkwaardige stad.

(Just for the the non-dutch: good how well you write Dutch, have you seen Amsterdam: remarkable city!

There are people who I intentionally avoid helping because I know they will not acknowledge it.

I don;t know what happened with all those smileys; I didn't add that many! I'm not a smiley nutter.

Jewel: I learned my lesson. I don't mind a bit of give and take, but when it's all take, I decided to tell him to bugger off. Was a good feeling too!

people like that are what branding irons were invented for!

Or heavy boots and arses

Hi Jewel,

maybe you referred to me: I do appreciate your answers to this question and your help.

Sorry that I did not specifically state that.

By the way that is for all who put in a remark: Thank you!

Rick, I think Jewel was referring to my comment about the annoying man who worked in our lab. I'm sure it was not aimed at you!