Quick answer: Acknowledgements go near the front of your dissertation (usually after the abstract), run to one page at most — most are 150–300 words — and thank people in a conventional order: supervisor first, then other academics and technical staff, funders or institutions, participants, colleagues and friends, and family last (family get the emotional closing line, not the opening). Write warmly but professionally, name people properly with titles, and mention specific help rather than generic gratitude. Full examples for the common situations are below — adapt their shapes, not their sentences.
It is the only page of your dissertation written entirely in your own voice, and students routinely leave it to the literal last hour — then stare at a blank page, suddenly unsure whether humour is allowed, whether the cat should be thanked, and whether forgetting anyone is a catastrophe. It is not: acknowledgements are unmarked, universities impose almost no rules beyond placement and taste, and the conventions are simple once laid out. This guide is the final piece of our dissertation chapter series (start with the abstract, which sits just before this page in most formats) and it is deliberately practical: the order, the tone, the pitfalls, and model texts for the situations students actually face.
Who to thank, in what order
- Your supervisor(s) — always first, by name and title (Dr / Professor), with a specific sentence about what their guidance did. Second supervisors and advisors follow.
- Other academics and university staff — lecturers who advised, lab technicians, librarians, statisticians, ethics or administrative staff who genuinely helped.
- Funding bodies, sponsors and host institutions — if your project was funded, many funders require acknowledgement in a specified form; check the grant conditions. Placement hosts and organisations that gave data access belong here too.
- Participants — thanked collectively and anonymously (“the nurses who gave their time to be interviewed”), never named.
- Colleagues, cohort and friends — fellow students, study partners, proofreaders of drafts (student proofreading is fine to acknowledge; professional services are usually acknowledged discreetly or not at all, per your university’s conventions).
- Family and partner — the closing position is the place of honour in this genre: the people who carried the non-academic weight get the last, warmest lines.
Anyone who does not fit the list — a teacher from years ago, an author who inspired the topic — can appear briefly in the middle sections. Keep it to one page; gratitude dilutes past that.
Tone: warm, specific, brief
The register that works is professional warmth: first person, plain sentences, real feeling expressed plainly. Specificity is what separates memorable acknowledgements from form letters — “for teaching me that a research question is a promise” lands; “for all your help and support” evaporates. Two failure modes to avoid: the Oscar speech (a page and a half, every acquaintance named, private jokes explained to no one) and the grievance page (acknowledgements are never the place to settle scores with a department — examiners read this page, and it colours the reading of everything after it). Light humour is common and safe in the family/friends section; keep it gentle and brief.
Examples
Example 1 — Standard undergraduate dissertation
I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr Amelia Hart, for her guidance throughout this project — particularly for challenging my first research question until it became a better one, and for feedback that was always honest and always useful. Thanks are also due to the staff of the university library, whose literature-search sessions shaped the early stages of this work. I am grateful to the twelve practitioners who gave their time to be interviewed; this dissertation could not exist without their generosity. To my friends on the course — especially Priya and Tom — thank you for the library days and the perspective. Finally, to my parents and my sister: thank you for everything that never appears in a bibliography.
Example 2 — Masters dissertation with funding and a workplace setting
This research was supported by [Funder Name] (grant number XX/0000), whose support I gratefully acknowledge. I thank my supervisor, Professor Daniel Okafor, for his expertise and patience, and Dr Lena Weiss for methodological advice at the design stage. I am indebted to the team at [Organisation] for access, time and candour, and to every participant who shared their experience with me. Colleagues in the MSc cohort made the difficult months considerably less difficult. My deepest thanks go to my partner, Sam, who read drafts, absorbed deadlines and never once suggested I was easy to live with during submission week.
Example 3 — Short and simple (when you genuinely have a small list)
I thank my supervisor, Dr Rachel Cohen, for her clear direction and encouragement from proposal to submission. I also thank the participants in this study for their time and honesty. To my family — thank you for believing this was possible on the days I did not.
Short is not rude. A sincere half-page beats a padded full one.
A note on difficult cases
If your supervision experience was poor, the convention is a brief, neutral line — name, title, thanks for their supervision — and nothing more. If someone central to the project has died during it, a single dignified sentence is entirely appropriate (“…and to the memory of…”). If your institution or faith matters to you, a brief dedication line is common and accepted. All three are handled by the same principle: sincerity, brevity, no scores settled.
The final-week checklist
Write the acknowledgements after the conclusion and abstract are done, when you know the project is really finished — the page reads differently, and better, once the outcome is certain. Check names’ spelling and titles twice (a misspelt supervisor is the one typo in the dissertation everyone notices). Confirm placement in your university’s required front-matter order — typically: title page, abstract, acknowledgements, contents, then chapters. And if the reason you are writing acknowledgements at the last hour is that the chapters themselves only just made it, remember for next time — and tell your friends — that chapter-by-chapter support exists from the proposal onwards on our dissertation help page, from £20 per 1,000 words.
Then submit, and let the page do its quiet work: it is the one part of the dissertation your supervisor will certainly read twice.
Dissertation acknowledgements questions
Should I thank the participants who took part in my study?
Yes, briefly and without naming them. A single collective sentence thanking participants for giving their time is both courteous and consistent with the anonymity you promised them in your ethics process. Never include details that could identify an individual, a small workplace or a specific class in a school-based project.
Is it appropriate to thank a partner or friends who supported me emotionally rather than academically?
Yes, this page is the one place in the dissertation where personal thanks are expected. Keep it warm but concise, usually in the final section after academic and professional thanks. One or two specific lines — for encouragement during fieldwork or patience in the final month — read far better than a long list of names with no context.
What if my relationship with my supervisor was difficult — do I still need to thank them?
A short, professional acknowledgement is still the right move. You do not need to write warmly or at length; a neutral line thanking them for their guidance and feedback fulfils the convention and reflects well on you. The acknowledgements page is read as a matter of record, so restraint is wiser than either effusive praise you do not mean or a pointed omission.
Can I include a light-hearted line or an inside joke in my acknowledgements?
A gentle touch of personality is acceptable in moderation, particularly in the closing lines about family and friends. Avoid jokes in the formal opening thanks to supervisors, funders or institutions, and avoid humour that depends on context a stranger will not share. If you are unsure whether a line will still read well in five years, leave it out.