Who should you thank, in what order, and how personal can you be? Thesis acknowledgements are the only pages of a thesis that examiners do not mark, which is exactly why students leave them to the last night and then worry about tone. This guide gives a six-step method for writing thesis acknowledgements, sample sentences you can adapt, the funder wording that research councils expect, and the difference between acknowledgements and a dedication.
This article is part of our guide How to Write a Master’s Thesis by the Mastermind PhD team and relates to our Master’s Thesis support service. Sources last checked: November 2026.
What are thesis acknowledgements? Thesis acknowledgements are a short, usually optional front-matter section in which the author thanks the people and organisations that made the research possible: supervisors, participants, funders, technical staff, colleagues, family and friends. A dedication is a separate, even shorter page that offers the work to one person or group as a personal gesture.
Are thesis acknowledgements required?
In most universities they are optional. The University of British Columbia lists both the acknowledgements and the dedication as optional preliminary pages, and California State University, Stanislaus does the same in its thesis guidelines. Optional does not mean unimportant: the page is read by your supervisor, your examiners and anyone who later downloads the thesis from the repository.
There is one situation where part of the page becomes compulsory. If your studentship or project was funded, the funder’s terms usually require you to acknowledge that funding, and some ask for a set wording (see step 4 below).
| Element | Required? | Typical length | Tone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acknowledgements | Usually optional | Half a page to one page | Professional with a personal close |
| Funding statement | Often required by the funder | One or two sentences | Formal, fixed wording |
| Dedication | Optional | One to three lines | Personal |
| Contribution statement | Required at some universities when co-authored papers are included | A paragraph | Factual |
Where do the acknowledgements go in the thesis?
They sit in the preliminary pages, which are normally numbered in lower-case Roman numerals. The exact position varies. Some universities place them after the abstract and before the table of contents; UBC places the acknowledgements after the lists of tables and figures, followed by the dedication; Wisconsin-Green Bay places them after the dedication. Check the order in your own graduate school’s formatting guide rather than copying a thesis from another university.
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How do you write thesis acknowledgements in 6 steps?
Step 1: List everyone before you write a word. Go through your research diary, ethics application, emails and data-collection log. Typical groups are supervisors and committee, participants and gatekeepers, funders, lab or library staff, statisticians or data technicians, proofreaders, peers, and family. A list stops you forgetting the technician who rescued your data in month three.
Step 2: Decide the order. The common convention moves from academic to personal: supervisors first, then examiners or committee members (if your rules allow thanking them), then institutions and funders, participants, colleagues, and finally family and friends. Some writers place participants first in qualitative studies because the thesis would not exist without them; both orders are accepted.
Step 3: Be specific about each contribution. A generic “thank you for your support” says nothing. Name what the person did: “for reading three drafts of the methodology chapter”, “for granting access to the school sites”, “for advice on the multilevel model”. Specific thanks read as sincere and also record who contributed what.
Step 4: Write the funding statement exactly. UK Research and Innovation asks for “a sentence with the funding agency written out in full, followed by the grant number in square brackets”, for example: This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [grant number XXXX]. Ask your graduate school or grant manager for the studentship reference, and check whether your doctoral training partnership wants its own name added.
Step 5: Ask permission before naming people. UBC recommends that you have permission to include names of individuals, and warns that a thesis cannot be changed once it is in the library repository. This matters most for participants (normally thanked as a group to protect anonymity), for colleagues in sensitive settings, and for family members who may prefer privacy.
Step 6: Edit for length and tone. Keep thesis acknowledgements to one page for a master’s thesis and no more than two for a doctorate. Read the page aloud: humour and warmth are fine, private jokes and complaints about the department are not.
What should you include in thesis acknowledgements?
Useful content, in the order above:
- Supervisors: guidance, feedback, patience, specific turning points.
- Committee or advisory panel: comments at progression reviews.
- Participants and organisations: thanked collectively unless named consent was given.
- Funders and scholarships: fixed wording with the grant number.
- Technical and professional help: lab staff, librarians, data managers, a statistician who advised on the analysis, or a proofreader. If your university’s proofreading policy requires it, state the scope, for example “proofreading for language only”.
- Peers: writing groups, office mates, co-authors of included papers.
- Family and friends: the personal close.
What should you leave out?
- Thanks to examiners before the viva, if your regulations treat that as inappropriate; many writers add examiner thanks only in the final version.
- Criticism of anyone, even disguised as humour.
- Confidential details: participant names, client names, health information.
- Claims about authorship. If others contributed to data collection or analysis, describe it in the contribution statement or methodology rather than only in the thanks.
- Anything that would embarrass you in ten years, because the thesis stays public.
Sample sentences for thesis acknowledgements
These sentences show the structure; replace the details with your own:
- “I am grateful to my supervisor, Dr [Name], for her careful reading of every chapter and for pushing me to sharpen the research questions in the first year.”
- “I thank the teachers and pupils of the four participating schools, who gave their time during a demanding term.”
- “This work was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council [grant number XXXX].”
- “Thanks to the staff of the [Library] special collections for access to the archive and help with digitisation.”
- “Finally, to my parents and to [Name], for their patience during the long months of writing.”
How is a dedication different from acknowledgements?
UBC describes the dedication as “usually quite short” and “a personal rather than an academic recognition”. It is a separate page, often a single line placed in the centre, with no heading at some universities. Examples: “For my mother, who taught me to read.” or “To the memory of my grandfather.”
| Feature | Thesis acknowledgements | Dedication |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Thank contributors | Offer the work to someone |
| Length | Paragraphs | One to three lines |
| Audience | Academic and personal | Personal |
| Funding wording | Belongs here | Never |
| Heading | “Acknowledgements” | Often none |
Use a dedication only if it means something to you; leaving it out is common and carries no penalty.
Common mistakes in thesis acknowledgements
- Writing them before the thesis is finished and forgetting people who helped late.
- Misspelling names or titles; check every name against an email signature.
- Missing or incorrect grant numbers.
- Using a different spelling convention from the rest of the thesis (“acknowledgments” in US style, “acknowledgements” in UK style).
- Overlong pages that read like a speech.
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Frequently asked questions
How long should thesis acknowledgements be?
For a master’s thesis, half a page to one page is typical; for a PhD, one to two pages. Your graduate school may not set a limit, but examiners appreciate brevity.
Should I thank my examiners?
Many writers do not thank examiners in the submitted version, because the viva has not yet happened. You can add thanks in the final corrected copy if your regulations allow.
Can I thank God or a religious community?
Yes. Acknowledgements are a personal section, and religious thanks are common in many countries. Keep it brief and respectful, as you would any personal note.
Do I need to acknowledge a proofreader or statistician?
Some universities require you to declare third-party proofreading and its scope. Thanking a statistician who advised you is good practice, and the analysis decisions remain yours to explain at the viva.
Is “acknowledgements” or “acknowledgments” correct?
Both are correct. “Acknowledgements” is the British spelling and “acknowledgments” the American one; match the convention used in the rest of your thesis.
Sources
- University of British Columbia, Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. Preliminary pages. https://www.grad.ubc.ca/current-students/dissertation-thesis-preparation/preliminary-pages (accessed November 2026)
- UK Research and Innovation. Acknowledging your funding. https://www.ukri.org/manage-your-award/publishing-your-research-findings/acknowledging-your-funding/ (accessed November 2026)
- California State University, Stanislaus. Guidelines for the thesis and dissertation. https://www.csustan.edu/sites/default/files/2023-09/guidelines.thesis.dissertation_2324.pdf (accessed November 2026)
- University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Format and style manual 2024-25. https://www.uwgb.edu/getmedia/95278156-cf78-425b-b899-b1d196fa2b03/UWGB_FormatStyleManual_2024-25pdf.pdf (accessed November 2026)
- Dunleavy, P. (2003). Authoring a PhD: How to plan, draft, write and finish a doctoral thesis or dissertation. Palgrave Macmillan.
Sources last checked: November 2026. This article is general educational guidance and does not replace your university regulations or your supervisor’s instructions. How we prepare our content.