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What happened

I reworked the on-topic section of the help centre to make it more helpful for its intended audience (new users), more specifically:

  • I referred to FAQs or other relevant Meta discussions where appropriate.

  • I added more guidance for some cases.

  • I moved some things around and included headings for better readability.

  • I mentioned some common off-topic and on-topic cases about which there seems to be a clear consensus.

  • I removed some convoluted wording around undergraduate and graduate students that are obsolete since one year or longer.

In my opinion, none of these changes should disagree with our definition of scope (as elaborated on Meta).

This question

Please have a look and post an answer if you disagree with any changes or to suggest improvements.

Previous version (for reference)

What topics can I ask about here?

This site is for academics of all levels—from aspiring graduate and professional students to senior researchers—as well as anyone in or interested in research-related or research-adjacent fields.

If you have a question about...

  • Life as a graduate student, postdoctoral researcher, university professor
  • Transitioning from undergraduate to graduate researcher
  • Inner workings of research departments
  • Requirements and expectations of academicians
  • University-level pedagogy

... then you're in the right place!

However, please do not ask questions about

  • Undergraduate admissions
  • Undergraduate life and culture (sports, nightlife, dorms, leaving the nest, etc.)
  • Suggestions or recommendations for a university, journal, or research topic (a "shopping question")
  • Preparation for a non-academic career ("What graduate degree will help me get a job as X?")
  • The content of your research, rather than the process of doing research

Please also see: What types of questions should I avoid asking?

New users (even users familiar with the Stack Exchange format) are invited to read our introduction to the site before posting.

Academic customs and procedures vary greatly across countries, universities, fields, subfields, workgroups and so on. Please state your question with as much context as you can to help ensure that you’ll receive a directed, relevant answer.

Can I ask questions about my specific situation?

You should not ask a question that will help only you, but rather a question that will help people like you. If your question is so limited as to be useful only to you, consider broadening the scope so others can learn from your question as well. As a general rule, if you’re asking about a particular institution, course, or journal, it’s likely your question is too limited in scope. Try to extract the fundamental question from the specific problem at hand.

Please look around to see if your question has been asked before. It’s also okay to ask and answer your own question.

If your question is not specifically on-topic for Academia Stack Exchange, it may be on topic for another Stack Exchange site. If no site currently exists that will accept your question, you may commit to or propose a new site on Area 51, the place where new Stack Exchange communities are democratically created.

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  • Looks very good to me!
    – Federico Poloni
    Sep 22, 2018 at 10:01
  • the new version is orders of magnitude better.
    – henning
    Sep 26, 2018 at 19:40

1 Answer 1

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The phrase "studying and teaching on the academic level" is not grammatical. I suggest "studying and teaching at the university level."

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    To nitpick, academic level is clearly grammatical; it may not be idiomatic though. Still, the Internet yields many examples of this term. I deliberately did not use university level because it excludes other institutions of higher learning (hence academic, because it can mean pertaining to an institution of higher learning), like colleges or the German Fachhochschulen. I could be precise by saying studying and teaching at institutions of higher learning, but I would guess that this can be easily misinterpreted (“How is a high school not an institution of *higher learning?”).
    – Wrzlprmft Mod
    Sep 28, 2018 at 6:10
  • @Wrzlprmft "I deliberately did not use university level because it excludes other institutions of higher learning" That's not a sensible interpretation. But you could say "tertiary" instead. You missed the main point, which is that teaching is performed "at" a level, not "on" a level.
    – Anonymous Physicist
    Sep 28, 2018 at 7:53
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    That's not a sensible interpretation. – I am not sure I agree, but most importantly, this is a relevant interpretation by readers we have to consider, be it correct or not. — But you could say "tertiary" instead. – Tertiary can include vocational training (like training to be a barber) depending on whom you ask. — You missed the main point, which is that teaching is performed "at" a level, not "on" a level. – indeed.
    – Wrzlprmft Mod
    Sep 28, 2018 at 8:36
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    I changed the respective point to “studying and teaching at institutions of higher education (universities, colleges, …)”. I hope this is sufficiently clear. I am still open for better suggestions though.
    – Wrzlprmft Mod
    Sep 28, 2018 at 8:37

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