I am currently writing a paper for a conference and i wanted to know the general guidelines for writing acknowledgements. The rule is to acknowledge the grant body and colleagues who have provided assistance or criticism.

My question here is, I have a friend who helped me in generating a graph which is used in the paper. I had been struggling with it for few days and my friend was able to generate the graph using a different software. It was quite simple but really important. I would like to acknowledge this help. But, I am not sure how to do so, and if it is normal since there is no direct contribution. Any advice?

I started my PhD in mid October of this year and it is for a duration of 3 years. I am currently two months into my PhD and I feel completely lost.

In the beginning I was really positive and excited about working and now I feel everything is a burden. I enjoy doing research but now I can't even focus on reading a paper. I don't feel motivated to work and whenever I motivate myself to be productive, I just feel lost and confused and I don't know where to begin.

After I joined the team, a few people left and new students and post-docs will be joining in January. So right now the room I work in is mostly empty. I feel really lonely in lab and back home. I hardly talk or interact with people. I have had a few breakdowns in the past couple of weeks.

I am worried and I don't know how to overcome this.

Any advice will be really helpful.