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Can I add some music bands in the acknowledgement section of my bachelor thesis? I used to listen these bands during all my 3-year long studies and during all the writing of my thesis, so I think they helped me quite a lot.

Voxis
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    Of course, if you are an electronic engineer writing a thesis on power converters you should absolutely acknowledge the AC/DCs. And if you are a physicists working on particle accelerators, you should acknowledge the Van der Graaf Generator band ;-) – Massimo Ortolano Sep 21 '16 at 22:15
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    I did it in mine. You are quite free to put whatever you want in the acknowledgement section. The game in the lab where I did my PhD was to read the section to find the hidden jokes. Just remember that what you write there will stay there forever... – Taladris Sep 22 '16 at 00:36
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    I've flagged this as a possible duplicate because even though the question is different the answer is essentially: "Thank whoever you want to thank." – jakebeal Sep 22 '16 at 00:51
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    The duplicate flag is for actual duplicate questions, not questions that admit the same answer. Canonical counterexample is 2+2 and 2×2. – R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE Sep 22 '16 at 05:52
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    @R.. We don't want to have a separate question for any possible thankable subject. That could serve as a canonical answer. – Massimo Ortolano Sep 22 '16 at 07:21
  • @MassimoOrtolano - I agree with the concept you have expressed. However, the girlfriend etc. question isn't worded in a general enough way. How about you write a general question, in canonical form? I haven't figured out the "community" thing yet -- perhaps that would be appropriate, though? – aparente001 Sep 22 '16 at 20:17
  • @aparente001 Usually the need of canonical Q&A is firstly discussed on meta (see [tag:canonical-question]). In this case, I don't know how the question could be formulated in a general way with an answer that says anything different from those already existing, or which simply becomes a list of thankable subjects. – Massimo Ortolano Sep 22 '16 at 20:48
  • @MassimoOrtolano - see if these options give you some ideas: "What am I allowed to put in my thesis acknowledgements section?" "Can an acknowledgement section of a thesis contain _______?" – aparente001 Sep 22 '16 at 21:59

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The only two unwritten rules of thesis acknowledgment sections are as follows:

  1. Thank your advisor. (Preferably first. Yes, even before God if you're religious.)

  2. Don't say anything outright offensive.

Other than that, go nuts!

  • Yes I forgot to say that I first thanked my advisor, my co-advisor and my family.. :D – Voxis Sep 21 '16 at 21:24
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    I'm definitely going to be acknowledging Subway Restaurants in my thesis then. – NauticalMile Sep 22 '16 at 00:33
  • Agreed -- a thesis is a rare "individual" piece of work, and you can certainly use the acknowledgements to offer whatever personal thanks and comments you like. (Note: I'm a professor, and have read many dissertations.) – Raghu Parthasarathy Sep 22 '16 at 01:02
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    I thanked Gygax, cola manufacturers, and "the states of Alaska and confusion". Have fun... – keshlam Sep 22 '16 at 03:59