How To Compose A Dissertation Acknowledgement

A dissertation is a piece of written academic information that serves the purpose of testing the skills you acquire after researching a particular topic in a given period. Acknowledgment, conversely, is the act of recognition and appreciation.

What is A Dissertation Acknowledgement?

It is a written form of a “vote of thanks.” It appreciates and recognizes those who support you in various ways during your entire process of research and writing. It may include a professor who might have helped you in your research or a close member of your family that inspired you to do your research.

This section is found right after the title page and immediately before the abstract part. It should be brief, thus not exceeding one page.

Usually, it is considered informal hence allows the use of the first-person pronoun that is “I” and “we.”

Before writing a dissertation acknowledgment, it is vital to check with your institution to understand the format and guidelines advised by the school.

What does the dissertation acknowledgment contain?

Under this section, you can do the acknowledgments in two categories:

Professional Acknowledgement

Here, individuals who financed your research, and all academia personnel are recognized and appreciated.

They include funding bodies, professors, supervisors, laboratory experts, librarians, and editors.

While listing the professional personnel, you should be keen to mention their full names and titles. In other cases, when the involved parties are not comfortable with mentioning their full names, you can opt only to mention the first name.

In an instance where a group of people helped in accomplishing a task while undertaking the research and process of writing, we can use collective naming to avoid long mundane listing.

It is logical to mention Professional acknowledgments at the start because they have significant importance for your document. Therefore, it is wise to start from the most formal to the least formal.

Example:

“I take this opportunity to thank Mr. David Simons, CEO of Company Group Limited, for allowing me to use his company resources to facilitate my research.”

Personal Acknowledgement

A personal acknowledgment is important and heartfelt at your level. In this section, we appreciate family and close relations. They may include your parents, siblings, spouse, friends, God, or even your pet.

This list should, however, be limited to individuals whose role was inspiring and motivating during the research and writing work.

How to come up with the acknowledgment

Acknowledgment should be brief and straightforward. You could simply start by “I take this opportunity to appreciate/acknowledge/thank…”, or you could start by mentioning their role. For example, “My partner…” and mention how the said individuals have helped you during the research.

Example:

“I appreciate my pet for companionship and comfort during my long late nights of research.”

To conclude your acknowledgment, you can simply end by a final thank you or appreciation.

Many scholars ask why the dissertation acknowledgements are so important, as they seem to be of less importance. Also, many of them don’t compose this section properly; therefore, it leads to loss of grades.

The primary purpose of the acknowledgments is to mention all the people who made even the slightest contribution to your research and writing work. Such projects are usually involving and might take long periods of research, months, or even years.

It is impossible to do a dissertation on your own. You need help from other people. It is, therefore, courteous to appreciate all the people whose efforts have been reflected in your dissertation.

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