How To Write Dissertation Acknowledgments: Guidelines And Examples

When you are approaching the end of your dissertation and concluding the long hours of work you have put in, now is the time to think about the acknowledgements section. This section is required in all dissertation projects no matter what topic you have chosen for your work and here are a few thoughts and examples to get you started on your acknowledgements section.

Formatting requirements

The acknowledgement section of the dissertation is immediately after the dedication or approval page of the work. The title should be ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS in all capitalized letters and it should be centered at the top of the page. The page numbering should be in roman numerals or ii and should be exactly 1 inch from page bottom. All sentences and text should be double spaced and the body of the text should be indented. This section can be as long as necessary to properly acknowledge those who worked with you throughout your writing.

Capturing the meat of the acknowledgement page

The acknowledgement section of the dissertation page is the one chance to recognize all the people who have contributed to the success of the project. It is much better to go overboard on giving credit than to risk leaving someone out for example:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank my brother, Bob Smith, for his work to keep my computer up and running while I composed. I would like to thank my mother, Mary Smith, for bring meals to my dorm room while I was writing and cleaning up all the used utensils that kept falling on the floor. I would like to thank my professor Matt Jones for encouraging me to select this topic for my writing and providing hours of expertise and coaching in the lab. Finally, I would like to thank the mail man who hand delivered the care packages to my room in the final stages of my editing.

It does not matter how you recognize the people who were there for you just that you remember to include them in your writing.

Remember important connections

One final example for an acknowledgement section shows the importance of recognizing those connections within your industry who aided your work.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank the president of XYZ Corporation for providing grant money so that we could complete this area of my research and for the two technicians who helped run the testing. By following these guidelines and suggestions you will have an acknowledgement page that augments your work and credit those who helped you.