If you’re in a rush, the following format should help you write your dissertation acknowledgements section in 10 minutes or less. It’s certainly not the only way to write the acknowledgements section, but it’s a fairly robust one. However, we have much more comprehensive guides if you want to spend more time getting this right. After all, the person marking your dissertation may also have helped you at some point. Miss them out at your peril!

To start, break down the acknowledgements section into 3 main paragraphs. Try and answer the questions (in bullet points) under each paragraph. We have suggested the proportion of words to be written for each paragraph. Having examined hundreds of dissertations at the undergraduate and master’s level, we find that the word count for an acknowledgements section is typically between 100-200 words. However, if your university has given you a suggested word count, use that.

Paragraph 1
The journey: Its challenges and how you overcame them
(20-30% of the total word count)

• What did you learn through the dissertation process?

For example:

Time management
Critical analysis
Bridging theory and practice
Dealing with people and/or organisations
Research techniques (e.g. broad versus focused research, critical literature review, collecting data, analysis, writing up, etc.)
How to work independently (long time frame)
How to ‘sell’ something you were interested in to academics, research participants, and/or organisations

• What challenges did you face?

For example:

Time pressures (meeting deadlines, dealing with overruns, balancing workload)
Getting access (to organisations and/or people)
Learning new skills / techniques (e.g. software packages, statistics analysis, content analysis)
New process (not like any essay, so no experience; not knowing where to start)
Financial pressures (e.g. limited budget to collect data; travel, transcription, data entry, etc.)

• How did you overcome these challenges?

For example:

Focused on securing access to the research organisations and/or research participants early in the dissertation process
Narrowed down research aims early on; set achievable research questions/objectives; avoided the danger of taking on something too broad
Wrote up chapter-by-chapter as the research progressed rather than writing up all at once when the data was collected and analyzed
Sought academic and technical advice and support from experts whenever needed; didn’t ‘hide in a shell’

Paragraph 2
Showing thanks: People and/or organisations that helped
(70-80% of the total word count)

• Who helped you with your dissertation?

For example:

Supervisor and/or tutor
Other academics
Research participants
Friends and family
An organisation
Financial sponsors
God

• How did they help you?

For example:

Read over drafts
Provided you with materials
Made suggestions
Challenged your ideas
Provided technical guidance
Gave moral support

Paragraph 3
Making announcements
(0-10% of the total word count)

• Do you accept responsibility for all the ideas in the dissertation and have you properly credited others through sound referencing?

• Is there anyone you want to dedicate the dissertationi to?

Related guides

Ways to structure the dissertation acknowledgments section
Explaining the dissertation journey, its challenges, and how you overcame them
Dissertation acknowledgements: Identifying people to thank, and thanking them properly