Besides thanking my thesis advisor, can I acknowledge other professors who have guided me along the way during my master's program or is the acknowledgements section really only for thanking the advisor?
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I guess the norm might depend on your country and even your university. Try to find some other thesis in your department and see how it looks like.– Arctic CharCommented Jan 22, 2017 at 2:51
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2I think this is a case where you get to decide for yourself.– Anonymous PhysicistCommented Jan 22, 2017 at 3:05
2 Answers
You might want to peek at a few other examples to make sure there's no institutional norms, but you can often acknowledge whoever you want, and indeed its a good place to acknowledge more personal contributions.
For example, in mine I acknowledge:
- My advisor
- The other members of my committee
- Some colleagues who provided data
- A family member who used to be a member of a profession who I asked a few questions about
- Several fellow students
- My funding sources
- StackOverflow and CrossValidated
- My favorite purveyor of caffeine.
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1+1, but I wish I could +2 for the "favorite purveyor of caffeine". Somehow I don't think my advisor would take that well.– tonysdgCommented Jan 22, 2017 at 7:28
I actually think students have a strong tendency to "overacknowledge" in their theses, papers, presentations etc. After all, a thesis, a paper or a presentation by a student is or should reflect the work of the student, not the work of Peter, Paul and Mary who helped this student.
It's always a matter of personal preferences of course but, aside from those directly involved in supporting the results of the thesis or unless you present results as spokesperson for a group, acknowlements are IMO a case where less is more.