A thesis or dissertation is an integral part of every master’s or Ph.D. level student as it holds marks and impacts your degree. It defines a student’s ability and knowledge about a particular subject and shows how a student conducts his research.
Working on this crucial part, a student has to go through various things which are not very pleasant. But the good thing is that there are many individuals and organizations that help a student complete the thesis and dissertation.
A student’s thesis has a particular part that is meant to show gratitude to all the authorities who had helped you to complete your work.
In this article, we will learn about this unique part that is acknowledgment. This article includes the purpose and way of writing an acknowledgment for thesis and dissertation.
What Is an Acknowledgment for Thesis and its Purpose?
Acknowledgment is not a formal part of the thesis; instead, you can call it an informal but crucial part as it lets the reader know about the type of person you are and the people or organizations who have helped you.
Most commonly, you try to be respectful and informal both at the same time while writing an acknowledgment.
The primary purpose of writing an acknowledgment for a thesis is originally to thank every person who had helped you in completing your thesis because it is a daunting task that might not have been achieved without the help of those people.
The purpose of acknowledgment is not to increase your marks or create a positive impact on the evaluator; instead, it’s just a way of showing gratitude and humbleness towards those who were there when you needed them.
What Are The Types of Acknowledgment?
Acknowledgment is a part of your thesis where you are free to choose whom you want to thank, there are no hard and fast rules, but yes some universities or organizations who help you have specific rules, so you must follow them.
Talking about the types of acknowledgment, there are two types, including personal and professional.
The more important one is the skilled part because of course those authorities will notice your gratitude, and it will be an excellent benefit for you in future in case you need some help from them again. Apart from this, it would be unfair if you do not thank those who have helped you.
Professional Acknowledgment
While writing professional acknowledgments, you have to thank the proofreaders, participants in research, colleagues, lab assistants(if any), professors, organizations, or any other professional authorities who helped you.
Personal Acknowledgment
This one is even more informal and does not make a more significant impact, but still, you can show your close friends, family members, partners, and all other people standing there to help you without any kind of benefit from you.
How To Write Acknowledgment For Thesis and Dissertation?
Writing acknowledgments is not a difficult task, but still, you must take everything seriously as it could be helpful for you. So here are some things which you should take care of while writing an acknowledgment.
1. List The People Who Need To Be Thanked
Making a list will help you through your acknowledgment because we know it is a time taking task to make it as presentable as possible. So what if after you complete your acknowledgment and forget about an essential person or authority that should have been added?
It would be a moment of frustration; therefore, you must try to give yourself a moment and remember about everyone who helped you. The best thing will be to divide the people and authorities into categories.
For example, you can divide your list into different parts, like those who helped you most, those who had given you moral support, and the organizations who assisted you.
2. Create An Outline of Your Acknowledgment
The next step involves making a general outline of the acknowledgment that will act as a map for you when composing your final draft. It is preferred that acknowledgment is not very long as it should not be boring and explain everything; instead, it should be short and good to read.
For example, you can keep your acknowledgment as one page long, or sometimes your university has specifically assigned lengths that you must follow to make everything up to the mark.
3. Use Friendly and informal Language.
Acknowledgment is a part of the thesis and dissertation that is totally dependent on you, which means that it is a personal part of the whole thesis; therefore, you should use informal language. However, you must not act silly or unrespectable while using colloquial language because you are still talking to authorities. You can use first-person pronouns.
For example, instead of saying, “I would never have completed this without the help of my best friend.” You can say, “I would like to thank my friend, who helped me with…….”
4. Add Variety To Your Acknowledgment
You must try to add creativity in your acknowledgment. Try to use multiple phrases as you will be continuously thanking different people one by one, so there is a chance of using similar words, but you should not.
The most important thing is that every student will add acknowledgment in their thesis and dissertation, so how would your acknowledgment convince the authorities? The only way is to differentiate it by adding beautiful words that look authentic and trustworthy. It should not feel like the use of different terms or flattery.
For example, you can use phrases like my sincere appreciation, my most tremendous thanks, I am thankful for the help, and many other defining terms.
5. Talk About the Things In Detail
While talking about each individual and authority from the list you have made, you must add a record of what that person or authority did for you?
This makes your acknowledgment much more authentic and not just a use of words; instead, an acknowledgment with facts would be preferred over the one that only thanks to the individuals without telling about what they did.
But the important thing is, do not go into deeper details, but still explain the things that would be most accountable.
For example, I would like to thank Mr. Robert for leading me to all the information about the diabetic patients, and also to get the records of the last five years.
6. Do Not Make It Fake
It might happen that when you are composing the acknowledgment, for making it look good, you get too deep into adding the words and phrases that it starts looking fake, or you may say something far from reality. This will create a negative impact instead of creating a positive one.
You should acknowledge it as it is not fake, nor written from a cold heart. It must look like it is written with actual words that came just out of the heart with pure feelings. Also, add how important this was for you to add more authenticity to acknowledgment.
For example, you can say, Miss Jasmine, have all my heart and gratitude for helping me to find all the data that I required. She was morally supportive, and her humor was the most helpful thing to give support and relaxation during the daunting research task.
7. Use Appropriate and Full Names
Writing about every person is essential, but you know what is even more important? Use correct spellings and information about each individual and authority. If you use wrong information or spellings, it will create a negative impact which would be even more than not writing acknowledgment.
The best strategy for this is to confirm the names, spellings, and every other information about professional authorities from legal resources to avoid any kind of mistakes and thus present your acknowledgment with everything best.
An acknowledgment for a thesis written with wrong spellings or information creates an impression that you are a careless person, and this acknowledgment is neither written from the heart. Still, also you have shown an extreme level of ignorance because the name is the most important thing for any person or organization.
Wrapping Up
Acknowledgment for thesis and dissertation is commonly underestimated, considering it not a crucial part. However, if you plan to do more research in the future, then adding this part and making it as good as you can is beneficial for you. Also, the authorities can have the benefit of advertisement, in a way that other individuals and concerns will know that they are good enough to help others without any particular self selfishness.
