Information Technology Reference
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This language has more “power” than the functional form.
Here the author must assume that “power” will be understood in a consistent way
by the reader. Such use of quotes indicates woolly thinking—that the author is not
quite sure what “power” means, for example.
This language allows simpler expression of queries than does the functional
form.
More rarely, words can be quoted to indicate irony. The expression “in their 'method-
ology' ” can be interpreted as
in their so-called methodology
, and is therefore insult-
ing. This is not an appropriate use of quotes.
Acknowledgements
In the acknowledgements of a write-up you should thank everyone who made a con-
tribution, whether advice, proofreading, coding, or whatever: include research stu-
dents, research assistants, technical support, and colleagues. Funding sources should
also be acknowledged. It is usual to thank only those who contributed to the scien-
tific content—don't thank your parents or your cat unless they really helped with
the research. Topics and theses often have broader acknowledgements, however, to
include thanks for people who have helped in non-technical ways. Consider showing
your acknowledgement to the people you wish to thank, in case they object to the
wording or to the presence of their name in the paper.
There are two common forms of acknowledgement. One is to simply list the
people who have helped with the paper.
I am grateful to Dale Washman, Kim Micale, and Dong Wen. I thank the
Foundation for Science and Development for financial support.
Even in this little example there is some scope for bruised egos—Kim might wonder
why Dale was listed first, for example.
The other common form is to explain each person's contribution. On the one
hand, don't make your thanks too broad; if Kim and Dong constructed the proof,
why aren't they listed as authors? On the other hand, too much detail can damn with
faint praise.
I am grateful to Dale Washman for discussing aspects of the proof of Propo-
sition 4.1, to Kim Micale for identifying some technical errors in Theorem 3,
and to Dong Wen for helping with use of the debugging tools. I thank the
Foundation for Science and Development for a year of financial support.
I am grateful to Dale Washman and Kim Micale for our fruitful discussions,
and to Dong Wen for programming assistance. I thank the Foundation for
Science and Development for financial support.
