Why should I acknowledge my advisor in thesis

[Anka]

Sorry if this is posted before and mind my English (not a native speaker).

I am almost finished writing my thesis.I know its a general practice to thank advisor in thesis acknowledgment section. I don't see any reason to acknowledge my advisor. He was totally absent during my master's program. He is well known researcher in his field. Most of time he was busy collaborating with his former PhD's and other colleagues. He never gave me any opportunity to involve in the project so I decided to work on completely different topic for my thesis research. His behavior was same for other students and  2 of his students drop out of the program. He took weeks to respond to my emails/general inquiry. I understand that advisors are busy but this was his job. We only met like 7 times during my 3 years of masters degree.

The only thing in which he help me during master was signing some ethics form for data collection.

Should I acknowledge my advisor. What kind of statement should I write.

Do you think I am overly critical of my supervisor.

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

Do I think you're overly critical based on the information presented here? Not at all, though this may not be the whole story. It sounds like your advisor didn't fulfill his role by ever actually advising you.

Should you acknowledge your advisor even though they've been absent for most of the thesis process? Yes, you should. Not doing so will raise red flags and, since he is well-known in his field and an established researcher, those red flags will reflect poorly on you. In addition, slighting him like that, whether he deserves it or not, might make him think twice about being your reference for either further schooling or a career. If he is that well-known, this again will look bad for you. Furthermore, acknowledging him doesn't necessarily raise his prestige, but it can raise yours, assuming you meant well-known in the sense he's respected in your field for his work.

That being said, your acknowledgement doesn't need to be waxing poetic about his many virtues. You can simply thank him for being your advisor and helping you through the process (he signed papers and agreed to be your advisor so technically, this is true). A sentence or two and you're done without lying and without snubbing him.

Probably not the advice you want to hear, but I think this is the most likely to get you through without potentially causing backlash. I'm not an expert though. If anyone else has experience with this sort of thing and disagrees, I'd love to hear from them.  

[serenade]

I was faced with this dilemma during my MA program (my MA advisor and I had a major falling out) so I wrote polite, but not enthusiastic, thanks to him in my acknowledgements. You don't have to thank him first (though I did) nor does what you write about him have to be as lengthy or specific as what you write in your thanks to other people. I agree it would be a mistake to ignore him altogether for reasons stated in the post above, but you're also not required to go overboard in thanking him for stuff he didn't do. Sorry, these kinds of situations are real bummers, been there. 

[fuzzylogician]

My $.02: thank him. Keep it brief, it doesn't have to be effusive, but say something. He is a prominent researcher and you are only getting started. You have a lot to lose by seeming to be (or actually being!) on his bad side. He has nothing to lose either way. Whatever he did or did not do so far, make the best of the situation. That includes having the name of a prominent researcher on your thesis as your advisor, and at least giving the appearance that he supports your work. Don't throw away this main benefit that he can still give you because you're upset with him, even if you have every right to be upset. 

[rising_star]

Why should you do it? Because it's proper etiquette. That's really it. No one's saying you have to effusively praise your advisor or talk about your awesome late night chats in the coffee shop, but you should acknowledge and thank him. Because, let's be honest, if you advisor doesn't sign off, you don't have a completed thesis and a degree, right? So follow proper etiquette.

[Anka]

Thank you kind fellows for advice. I guess by not mentioning his name I will be in loss. It will not effect his reputation in any way. I feel the need to ask this question because my external committee members help me a lot during my thesis and advisor was not available most of time.

Thinking about my 3 years of master make me angry and extremely depress. My advisor is also one of the reason for my current state. I can't get out of the feeling.

[serenade]

8 hours ago, Anka said:

Thinking about my 3 years of master make me angry and extremely depress. My advisor is also one of the reason for my current state. I can't get out of the feeling.

I remember that feeling. It's awful. But once you finish up and this is behind you and you don't have to think about your advisor any longer, things will get much, much better. Might take some time, but I hope it's encouraging to know that the way you feel now is not the way you'll always feel. Before long, this experience will be a distant memory.

[dr. t]

“A wise man does not burn his bridges until he first knows he can part the waters.”

[Anka]

On 2017-01-15 at 11:08 PM, telkanuru said:

“A wise man does not burn his bridges until he first knows he can part the waters.”

What that means

[nugget]

This is an expression. It means that a person who is wise does not tarnish relationships or get on someone's bad side until they know they are strong and mighty, and can basically do it all on their own without any help from others.