Do I have to acknowledge my dissertation supervisor when they never even replied to any of my emails?

Question

My dissertation is just for an undergraduate degree, but acknowledgements are required. I have sent two direct emails to the internal supervisor who was assigned to me, one introducing myself and one asking for advice. There have also been several emails where they have been copied into, just to keep them up to date with my progress.

I plan to acknowledge and thank other staff members (academics and counsellor), my external supervisor and a friend.

I have never received a reply from this internal supervisor. Do I have to acknowledge them if they've never bothered to respond to a single email let alone help in any way? Alternatively, or perhaps additionally, I'm considering excluding them altogether from the title page and cover sheet where I'm required to name my supervisors.

EDIT: Just wanted to thank everyone for their insight and suggestions. I'm still considering which path to take and in the meantime I have mentioned the lack of response to my course leader again, just in case there's still an alternative route at this point.

Answer 1

Don't do things that will come back to haunt you. Name them on the title page as required, certainly.

As to the other, I won't advise, but it is possible that the advisor saw no need to give you feedback if they felt that you were making appropriate progress otherwise. If you sent an email and specifically asked for a reply then they should have done so, but if it read as "informational" then a reply might not be considered necessary.

If they are required to approves/sign your work for credit and graduation then it is better to go along even if it seems unfair. First, protect yourself. Don't bite the big dogs.

Answer 2

A story from ancient Greece:

Diogenes was knee deep in a stream washing vegetables. Coming up to him, Plato said, "My good Diogenes, if you knew how to pay court to kings, you wouldn't have to wash vegetables."

"And," replied Diogenes, "If you knew how to wash vegetables, you wouldn't have to pay court to kings."

So the question is, would you rather be Diogenes or Plato? Perhaps you prefer to be truthful with some cost to your reputation, or perhaps you prefer to be polite with some cost to your sense of personal integrity. It really depends on which you value more highly, and we can't tell you what to value.

That said, we can tell you what the cost to your reputation might result in: a supervisor who may be unwilling to write a reference for you when you graduate, or who may write a less glowing reference than otherwise; who may not think highly of you if you apply for a postgraduate course at the same institution, and may be unwilling to supervise you if you do; and who may be in a bad mood while grading your project. On the other hand, the cost to your integrity is fairly small, and you likely won't even think about simply having written their name in your acknowledgements section after a few months or a year.

Still, if you are Diogenes the Cynic, then I can't say it's wrong to leave their name out. In that case, though, do leave them out entirely; it would be unnecessary and rude to damn them with faint praise or say anything negative about them.

Answer 3

Here's how I solved this problem once. I simply wrote something along the lines of "I thank Prof. X for agreeing to supervise my studies". Looks like an entirely valid acknowledgement - people not aware of Prof. X not having done any supervision at all won't notice how I actually have nothing to thank for except signing an agreement.

This way, I did not have to express fake gratitude but neither had to potentially cause trouble by leaving out an "important" person.

Answer 4

First: their name on the title page and the cover sheet is not an acknowledgment whatsoever, it is just a bureaucratic formality. Sure, it is an implicit acknowledgment, they are in the front page, but it is simply because they officially accepted and (most likely) they did the final review of your submitted thesis. If anyone discover that you plagiarized material for your thesis, they will have some issue as well.

Second: there are two sides to their silence.

• the obvious "you did not have such a big relation, they did not care", which is somehow understandable, considering the pandemic and the total lack of empathy that people have in the academia (i.e., they did not understand that even an encouraging "good job, keep on" can be tremendously helpful).
• you actually were doing a good job on your own, so among the bazillion things to do, a bachelor student is somehow after the least important thing. I don not share this view, but it is a common view forced by the extreme load imposed on people in the academia.

So, who cares about being polite? since they did not complain, it means you did a good job, they did not help, so do not acknowledge them, stick to the bureaucratic requirements of placing their name on whatever sheet of page required, but simply ignore them in your acknowledgement.

Answer 5

Perhaps the subject of your dissertation was assigned (possibly in discussion with you) by him/her; if so, already one reason to acknowledge.

As a supervisor, s/he equally is ultimately in charge to let you access his/her research group to use lab space, technical equipment (like computers and glassware), consumables (like chemicals), group specific know-how (directly or/and by fellow co-workers in the group); surely worth an acknowledgment, too.

While interaction of the PI with the day-to-day business may vary (e.g., due to the size of the group, his/her engagement in teaching, organization of the group), his/her work contributes to keep this running e.g., by grant writing, establishing collaborations with other groups. In addition, preparing publications, reviewing other publications, participation in commissions of uni/professional societies demand attention, too. As an undergrad, many facets of this work may not visible to you (yet).