Why the Dedication Page Deserves Proofreading Attention
The dedication page is the most personal part of any Malaysian postgraduate thesis. It is typically one or two sentences addressed to the people whose support made the research possible — a spouse, parents, children, a mentor. Because it is so personal and so brief, most students write it quickly and consider it finished. But a dedication page with a spelling error, a missing word, or an incorrectly spelled name is one of the most painful errors a thesis can contain. Proofreading your thesis dedication page carefully before submission is a small investment with significant personal and professional consequences.
The dedication page sits near the very front of the document, usually after the title page and before the abstract. It is one of the first things your supervisor, your examiners, and anyone else who reads your thesis will see. A dedication page that is cleanly written and correctly spelled contributes to the professional first impression of the whole document. One with errors in the names of the people it is meant to honour creates the opposite impression.
What the Dedication Page Contains and How It Differs From Acknowledgements
The dedication is not the same as the acknowledgements section. The acknowledgements are a formal academic section that credits supervisors, funding bodies, research participants, and institutional support. The dedication is a personal statement of who the thesis is for. Most Malaysian university thesis guidelines specify that a dedication page is optional but permitted. If you include one, it typically follows the title page and precedes the abstract in the front matter sequence. Check your faculty’s specific guideline for whether a dedication page is included in the front matter pagination or excluded from the page count entirely.
The format of a dedication is simple and brief. It does not require a heading — simply the text, typically centred on the page, in the same font as the rest of the thesis. “For my parents, whose sacrifices made this possible” or “Dedicated to Ahmad, Nurul, and Sufiya, with love and gratitude” are typical forms. Some students include a brief quotation that is meaningful to them. If you use a quotation, attribute it correctly — a misattributed quotation on a dedication page is an ironic error in a scholarly document.
Specific Checks for the Dedication Page
Proofreading your thesis dedication page requires checking several things that are specific to this page. First, verify that every name is spelled correctly. If you are dedicating the thesis to family members, confirm the spelling of each name — even names you have written thousands of times in everyday life can be misspelled in a moment of fatigue or haste. Ask the person you are dedicating the thesis to confirm the spelling they prefer, particularly for names that have multiple acceptable forms.
Second, check the grammar of the dedication statement. “To my beloved wife, Nurul Hidayah, who stood by me throughout this journey” is grammatically complete. “To my beloved wife Nurul Hidayah who stood by me throughout this journey” is also acceptable but uses different punctuation — make a deliberate choice rather than leaving punctuation inconsistent. “For my parents who’s support never wavered” contains a word choice error — “who’s” means “who is”, while the intended word is “whose”.
Third, if you have included a quotation on the dedication page, verify the exact wording, the author’s name, and the source. Quotations on dedication pages are often reproduced from memory or from informal sources, which makes them susceptible to small inaccuracies. A brief online search of the exact quotation text confirms whether your version is accurate.
Formatting the Dedication Page Consistently With the Rest of the Thesis
The dedication page should use the same font, font size, and margin settings as the rest of your front matter. If your thesis uses Times New Roman 12-point throughout, the dedication page uses the same. Centre the text vertically on the page or position it in the upper third of the page — which convention to use depends on your faculty’s template or your own aesthetic preference, but be consistent with any example provided in your faculty’s guide.
In the PDF version of your thesis, confirm that the dedication page renders correctly — that the text is centred as intended, that the font has embedded correctly, and that the page is not blank or corrupted. Proofreading your thesis dedication page may take only five minutes, but doing it carefully honours both the people named in it and the scholarly document it introduces.
