The Master’s Thesis as Creative Enterprise

ABSTRACT

Writing a master’s thesis is challenging and involves a significant investment of time and intellect. It can also be generated by an impassioned drive, especially when shared by an advisor who encourages personal creativity in the subject matter. This reflection paper draws on such an experience by a Smith alumna, class of 1977. It addresses the influence of great mentorship on a thesis subject derived from two deeply held interests, the poetry of Anne Sexton, a Pulitzer Prize–winning poet, and her suicide at age 47, and the clinical relevance of messages revealed within particular forms of personal narrative.

KEYWORDS:

• Smith SSW master thesis
• poetry and suicide
• language of creativity
• Marjorie Kellogg
• PhD

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Wendy B. Rosen

Wendy B. Rosen, PhD, is a clinical social worker in private practice in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She has taught at Smith College School for Social Work and for several years had been on the faculty of the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute at Wellesley College.